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This year, Election Day is Nov. 5. All registered voters in the commonwealth can either vote by mail ballot or in person. Voting by mail has been an option for all Pa. voters since 2020.

If you choose to vote by mail, here is everything you need to know — from deadlines to how to fill out your ballot and more.

When is the deadline to request a mail ballot?

You need to request your ballot by 5 p.m. Oct. 29.

Another important deadline: You must register to vote by Oct. 21. You can check your voter registration status online.

If you miss the deadline to request a mail ballot and cannot vote in person on Election Day because of an emergency, you can request an emergency absentee ballot.

How do I request a mail ballot?

You can request a mail ballot online. You can also download the application — available in English, Spanish and Traditional Chinese — and either mail it or submit it in person to your local county election office.

You’ll need your PennDOT ID number or Pennsylvania driver’s license number, or the last four digits of your Social Security Number to apply. Here’s more information about the identification you’ll need.

Another option: You can go to your county election office and request, fill out and submit your mail ballot all at once. In the Greater Philadelphia area, mail ballots are currently available in Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. They are not yet available in Bucks, Chester and Delaware counties.

Voters with disabilities also have the option of applying for an accessible remote ballot — after first applying for a mail ballot — that can be filled out electronically. This is an option for you to vote privately and securely if you use screen readers or other assistive devices.

The Department of State recommends submitting the request for an accessible remote ballot within 24 hours of submitting your mail ballot request.

How do I fill out my mail ballot?

Begin by reading instructions on the mail ballot. Mark your choices on the ballot using blue or black ink. Be sure to complete the front and back of each page.

Then, place your mail ballot in the yellow envelope marked “Official Election Ballot” that you received with your mail ballot. There should be no stray marks on the envelope. If you do not seal your ballot in that official election ballot envelope, it won’t be counted.

You then must seal the yellow envelope in the pre-addressed outer return envelope, which was also provided with your mail ballot. On the outer return envelope is a voter’s declaration form. You must sign and date the voter’s declaration. If you do not sign and date the voter’s declaration, your vote will not be counted.

If you’re mailing it to your election office, check and see whether your county requires paid postage — and if so, how much postage you need.

Full directions can be found online.

How do I return it?

You can mail your ballot to your county election office. You can also drop it off in person at your county election office or county election satellite office.

Many counties also have designated monitored and secure drop boxes. You can also return your mail ballot there.

For the Greater Philadelphia area:

• Bucks County drop box locations can be found here.
• Chester County drop box locations can be found here.
• Delaware County drop box locations can be found here.
• Montgomery County drop box locations can be found here.
• Philadelphia County drop box locations can be found here.

Pennsylvania law requires that you drop off your own ballot. The only exception is if you have a disability and fill out a designated agent form, which allows another individual to drop off your mail ballot for you.

You can track the status of your mail ballot online after you’ve mailed or submitted it.

When is the deadline to return my mail ballot?

If you’re returning your ballot by mail, it must be received by 8 p.m. on Nov. 5. A postmark by or even before Nov. 5 does not matter if the ballot has not been received by 8 p.m. on Nov. 5.

If you don’t think you have enough time to mail it before Election Day, you have a couple of options:

• You can drop off your mail ballot at one of your county’s secure drop boxes, or drop off your mail ballot at your local county election office before 8 p.m. on Election Day.
• On Election Day, you can bring your blank mail ballot to the polls and surrender it and the outer return envelope and vote in person. If you did not vote by mail but do not still have your mail ballot or the envelope to surrender at your polling place, you can vote by provisional ballot.

And anyone who knows the Woolrich native and retired Woolrich Inc. executive knows that he likes to be busy.

They should also know that he has a dry, yet endearing sense of humor.

You know, when you’re just not sure if he’s serious or joking?

But make no mistake, Conrad is serious when it comes to Kiwanis.

PHOTO PROVIDED
Matt Wise, left, of the Kiwanis Club of the Bald Eagle and Nittany Valleys, poses with Conrad Schlesinger at the combined Pennsylvania-New Jersey District Kiwanis Convention in Reading in August.

He is about to end his term as Pennsylvania Governor of Kiwanis International, a volunteer job that has taken him to numerous communities and clubs across Pennsylvania to talk about the virtues of being a Kiwanian.

About serving others, especially kids.

The Kiwanis International motto is “Serving the Children of the World,” with its various clubs taking on hundreds of community service projects, primarily to benefit kids.

Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers that aims to improve the world by helping children and communities. Kiwanis clubs sponsor nearly 150,000 service projects each year and raise over $107 million.

Indeed, it was the idea of helping kids, Conrad said, that “lit a spark in me,” prompting him to take on leadership as Pennsylvania Governor.

BOB ROLLEY/Special to The Express
Outgoing Pennsylvania District Governor of Kiwanis International Conrad Schlesinger, of Woolrich, poses with the Home Club Governor banner at a recent Kiwanis Club of Lock Haven meeting.

Conrad has a story to tell. His biography includes serving as lieutenant governor of Divisions 12N and 14 during the 2021-22-year; serving as governor-elect at the District Convention in Erie in August 2022, and then elected governor at the District Convention in Scranton in August 2023.

“I have been district governor during the 2023-24 administrative year. To be a lieutenant governor, a Kiwanian must have served a term as a club president, secretary or treasurer. To be elected as district governor, a Kiwanis must have served a term as lieutenant governor,” he explained.

“When I became the Lock Haven Club secretary,” Conrad said, “I attended a regional council led by Trustee Matt Wise.” Wise served as Pennsylvania District membership coordinator during Conrad’s term as governor and has known Conrad for over 20 years.

“I met Emily Reed at the regional council meeting and she shared her commitment to Kiwanis as the chair of the Young Children Priority One Committee of the district,” Conrad related. “She is a reading specialist in the Dillsburg area, and I quickly learned how passionate she was about Kiwanis and especially about the opportunities for children to have access to books.

“That lit a spark in me. There were other individuals at that meeting as well who were very passionate about Kiwanis and its purpose. During my second year as a lieutenant governor, I received a call from two past district governors,” he said.

“We chatted about a few things and then I soon realized the real purpose of the call was to find out if I was interested in running for district governor. I indicated that I was interested. I was recently retired and felt I had the time and hopefully enough experience in Kiwanis to take on that responsibility. The rest is now history.”

Kiwanis has a proud history in Clinton County.

And Conrad, so far as records show, is only the third local Kiwanian to serve as Pennsylvania governor. The first was the late T. E. Teach, a Kiwanis Club of Lock Haven member, in 1955. The other was Dean Wetzler in the 1983-84 administrative year. He was a member of the Kiwanis Club of Mill Hall.

This past Kiwanis year, Conrad spent a lot of time on the road and away from his wife, the former Rosemary Savrock, and their kids. They include son Michael and his wife, Stacie, and their two kids, and daughter Danielle Darwin, and her husband Christopher and their kids.

Conrad has five grandchildren, Evan, Mattison, Liam, Eloise, Crosby and Alistair.

Local club members are honoring Conrad for his service as Pennsylvania Governor today (Thursday) at the club’s regular meeting at noon at the Sons and Daughters of Italy Lodge.

Matt Wise, meanwhile, has a special relationship with Conrad.

In fact, it was Matt who seconded Conrad’s nomination for governor. (J. Michael Williamson, the Lock Haven Kiwanian with the most years (55) in the club, nominated Conrad for governor.)

“It really was an honor and a privilege,” Matt said. “I have known Conrad for over 20 years and first met him while I was in high school (I was good friends with his daughter, Danielle).” Matt offered an excerpt from his speech about Conrad:

“I’ve known Conrad for many years, longer than I have been a Kiwanian. There are certain words that come to mind when I think of him: Thorough, thoughtful, precise, caring, analytical, compassionate, strategic, intentional and family — just to name a few! Conrad and I have shared many valuable conversations during our journeys to clubs and events. Our families remain close to this day,” Matt said.

“His year as governor was not without its ups and downs. He helped our district to navigate a new leadership structure and the transition from an executive director model to something more volunteer-based. It could not have been easy for him, but we all got through it. The thing about volunteer-based organizations is that we become friends with those with which we work. As a result, Governor Conrad had to hold his own friends accountable. We owe him a lot for keeping us on the right track and for pushing us to do what was needed to see Kiwanis succeed in Pennsylvania. He was the right leader for the right time.”

“There is no doubt that Conrad cares about Kiwanis, and more importantly he cares about community — our children and our families. He has continued to encourage and support clubs. In the time that I’ve had working side-by-side with Conrad, I can tell he is a true servant-leader. I am proud to call him a fellow Kiwanian, but even more proud to call him a friend,” Matt concluded.

Kiwanis clubs in Clinton County remain active, though like all service clubs, they would love new members. From building beds for kids to supporting kids with special needs to donating money to numerous causes that help children — and even picking up litter along roads here — the Kiwanis clubs keep on keeping on at a time when service clubs in general are seeing membership declines, particularly a lack of new younger members.

So why are so few young people getting involved in service clubs in their communities?

“I believe the commitment of time is part of the issue,” Conrad said. “Some Kiwanis clubs meet weekly, like the Lock Haven Kiwanis, others like the Kiwanis Club of the Bald Eagle and Nittany Valleys meet twice a month, one week for their board meeting and one week for a member meeting or service project or social event.”

Why should more young people get involved in service clubs in their communities?

“Being a Kiwanian provides an opportunity for fellowship, networking and getting involved in the community,” Conrad said

Conrad was asked what else he would like people to know about Kiwanis and public service in general.

“During the combined New Jersey-Pennsylvania District Convention in Reading in August, Michael Mulhaul, Kiwanis International president-elect designate, talked about an interesting concept that I would like to share. It’s called, ‘Step in, Step up, Step out.’ The meaning of that statement is this: Step in to join a Kiwanis Club; Step up to take on responsibilities in the club, serve as an officer where you can in the club, if the timing is right; and finally Step out to take on additional responsibilities in the district and beyond. There are many opportunities for personal growth in Kiwanis, however, the time must be right for you as you take on additional responsibilities.”

Back to that dry sense of humor.

Kiwanis Club of Lock Haven President Joe Waltz knows all about that humor.

“Upon first meeting Conrad, I thought he was this serious, earnest and solemn individual. Boy was I wrong. Upon getting to know him over a short period of time, especially as club president, I realized he could not only take being kidded, but he could also dish it back … big time,” Joe said.

“An example is recently at the Sleep In Heavenly Peace bed build. He called me over to ask me to pick up a broom so he could take a picture of me to prove to people that I do actually work. Later at that same event, I walked over to tell him I was leaving to help deliver these beds. He looked me in the eye and, in all seriousness, said, ‘I have one piece of advice for you, when you put the beds together, the legs go down.’

“Sage advice, I thought.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson is demanding that Volodymyr Zelensky fire the widely respected diplomat who has represented Kyiv in Washington since 2021 after she arranged for the Ukrainian president to visit a munitions plant in a battleground state with a Democratic governor.

In a letter released by Johnson’s office on Wednesday, the Louisiana Republican accused Ambassador Oksana Markarova of interfering in the ongoing US presidential election by helping set up the trip by Zelensky to the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant in Scranton, Pennsylvania, over the weekend.

During his visit, Zelensky inspected production lines where the 155mm artillery shells used by his country’s forces are being produced. He did so alongside the state’s governor, Josh Shapiro.

While inspecting the plant, he told workers: “It is in places like this where you can truly feel that the democratic world can prevail. Thanks to people like these — in Ukraine, in America, and in all partner countries — who work tirelessly to ensure that life is protected.”

What appears to have irked Johnson is the fact that no Republican officeholder was invited to the plant visit, along with the fact that Shapiro, who was considered a front-runner to be Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate before she selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, is a top surrogate for the vice president.

In his letter, the House Speaker claimed that Markarova enabled Zelensky to interfere in the election because the manufacturing plant “was in a politically contested battleground state” and the tour led by Shapiro “failed to include a single Republican because — on purpose — no Republicans were invited.”

“The tour was clearly a partisan campaign event designed to help Democrats and is clearly election interference. This shortsighted and intentionally political move has caused Republicans to lose trust in Ambassador Markarova’s ability to fairly and effectively serve as a diplomat in this country,” he wrote, adding that the veteran diplomat “should be removed from her post immediately.”

Zelensky, who is in the US to attend the UN General Assembly this week, also irked Republicans by criticizing former President Donald Trump in an interview with the New Yorker.

He said the ex-president, who was impeached for attempting to blackmail the Ukrainian leader into announcing a fake investigation into Joe Biden when he was a candidate for president in 2019, “doesn’t really know how to stop the war even if he might think he knows how.”

Trump has frequently claimed, without evidence, that he could end the nearly three-year-old war “in 24 hours” by forcing Zelensky to make some sort of deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a known ally of the ex-president.

At a rally on Monday, he claimed Zelensky wants Democrats to win the election “so badly” and repeated the claim the next day.

Numerous Republicans have opposed US assistance to Ukraine since the war began in 2022, with some repeating Russian propaganda about Zelensky during official House proceedings.

Zelensky is set to visit Washington on Thursday, where he is scheduled to meet with Senate leaders from both parties as well as President Biden and Vice President Harris.