Community Updates & News

Find Your Nearest Drop Box

Montgomery County Board of Elections operates multiple secure ballot drop boxes throughout the County to help voters meet the November 3, 2026 deadline. Residents can deposit mail-in ballots and absentee ballots at a secure ballot drop box as an alternative to returning their ballot by USPS mail. Ballots are collected from the drop boxes daily by County Security and stored securely at the Voter Services office. Remember, you may only return your own ballot to a secure ballot drop box.

Find your nearest drop box.

Volunteer to be an ICE Poll Observer in Ambler, Lansdale, Norristown or Pottstown

Please volunteer to be an ICE Poll Observer in Ambler, Lansdale, Norristown or Pottstown on Election Day. These are the most vulnerable areas where ICE may show up. The goal is to be supportive presence at the polls & to alert the MCW Tipline & other tiplines should ICE show up near a polling location or any voter intimidation at the polls. You will be in groups of 3 to 5 people. PLEASE help our neighbors by being a safe presence.

Last day to apply for a mail-in ballot is Oct. 27

If your Election Day plan involves voting by mail, your last chance to apply for a mail ballot is Tuesday, October 27. Your application must be received by the County by 5 p.m., according to Voter Services.

Any qualified voter may apply for a mail ballot. Voters who are already approved as annual mail-in voters do not need to submit a new application for each election within a cycle (Primary and General). If you are unsure if you are an annual mail-in voter, check your status before re-applying.

When you are ready to cast your vote, return your mail ballot to a secure ballot drop box near you!

Apply to vote by mail

Check your mail-in voter status

Find a ballot drop-box location

Track your mail-in ballot

Last Day to Register to Vote is Oct. 19!

The last day to register to vote in the upcoming election is Monday, October 19. If you're already registered, this is also your last chance to make any updates to your registration, like changing your name, address, or political party, according to Montgomery County Voter Services. Use this link to update your voter registration.

Mail-in ballots are on the way!

Mail-in ballots are on the way, according to the Montgomery County Democratic Committee! If you’ve already requested one, keep an eye on your mailbox in the coming days.

Once your ballot arrives, take a few minutes to review the instructions, complete it carefully, and make a plan to return it AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Use a drop box if you can: Montgomery County’s secure ballot drop boxes will be open 24/7 starting at noon on Monday, September 21, through 8 p.m. on Election Day.

FIND A BALLOT DROP BOX HERE

Upper Merion officials to send solicitor to data center zoning meeting

Rachel Ravina of The Times Herald reports that elected officials in Upper Merion Township have authorized a solicitor to attend an upcoming zoning meeting to formally oppose zoning variance requests related to a proposed massive data center cluster. Read the full article.

Pa. elections chief: ‘Nothing has changed’ following Trump mail-in ballot order

Amid a national legal battle over the use of mail-in voting ahead of this year’s midterm elections, Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt said Wednesday that Pennsylvanians should be confident in the state’s election process and security, according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. Read the article here.

Mapquest Refuses to Rename Lake Ontario as Apple and Google Bend the Knee

You may have seen that both Google Maps and Apple Maps have caved to the clownishly idiotic executive order to change the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America. Turns out that a lot of people aren’t very pleased with that decision to bend the knee to the demented wannabe dictator.
Downloads of mapping service Mapquest have recently soared, notes an article in Forbes.

As of August 31, said Forbes, the MapQuest app was sitting at the No. 3 spot for free apps in the U.S. App Store and the No. 1 slot for navigation apps, just ahead of Google Maps.

If you want to show support for Mapquest and your outrage at Apple and Google, you can find Mapquest here.

Shapiro says he would welcome Pennsylvania ban on Flock cameras

Gov. Josh Shapiro said he would welcome bipartisan legislation banning Flock cameras across Pa. amid concerns about privacy and potential misuse, according to NBC10. Read more here.

To learn more about Flock and Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs), check out Deflock. You will see that there are a number of ALPRs at the King of Prussia mall.

Shapiro Executive Order All But Stops AI Data Centers in PA

In a stunning and surprise development, Governor Shapiro has issued an Executive Order that severely limits data center development in Pennsylvania. This order has the effect of “blocking speculative, irresponsible data center projects from moving forward, giving local communities more power over data center development, and protecting Pennsylvania residents.” It’s very possible that the hyperscale data centers projects proposed by O’Neill are virtually dead in the water at this point. Read more here.

Flock Cameras Threaten Privacy

Flock Safety's network of Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) cameras has expanded rapidly across the United States, with the company saying its technology is now used by thousands of law enforcement agencies and communities nationwide, according to an article in Newsweek.

Privacy-focused mapping site FlockHopper, which tracks Flock and other ALPR cameras, currently identifies more than 120,000 camera locations across the U.S., showing the sheer scale of the growing surveillance network.

But as the network grows, so too does resistance from privacy advocates, civil liberties groups and some local residents, with critics arguing that the cameras constitute intrusive mass surveillance.

Maddow Covers Citizens Bank

Rachel Maddow recently covered the protests and win against Citizens Bank. You can watch the segment here.

Cheltenham Township to pull some $9 million from Citizens Bank

Cheltenham Township is closing its two remaining Citizens Bank accounts over the bank’s financing of companies that run detention facilities, despite the bank’s announcement it would no longer lend to those companies, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Click here to read the story.

Residents show up to oppose Upper Merion data centers

The community continues to voice its opposition to the creation of data centers in Upper Merion. At the latest meeting on July 22, a large crowd gathered, noted 6ABC.

HUGE WIN! Citizens Bank to cut financial ties with CoreCivic and GEO group

On Friday, July 17, Citizens Bank issued a statement that it plans to cut financial ties with CoreCivic and GEO group.

According to an AP story: "Citizens Bank said it plans to wind down its financial relationship with two private prison companies that have been government contractors under the Trump administration to help run immigration detention centers, bowing to public pressure from advocates and left-leaning city governments."

Upper Merion Indivisible has been protesting Citizens Bank’s financial support of CoreCivic and GEO since last September. At least once a month, come rain, snow, or ice, we’ve been at the Bryn Mawr branch with our energy and our signs. We were one of the very first groups to participate in this protest, along with Philadelphia Indivisible. Over the past year, these protests have grown to over 125 protests against Citizens Bank in 15 states.

Recently, a Boston interfaith group started an institutional campaign and began withdrawing $1 million a month of investments in Citizens for multiple months, totaling $20 million lost to the bank. Then, a church group in Cleveland joined and withdrew $1.7 million. In the past month, Jersey City, NJ ($265 million) and Montclair, NJ ($64 million) withdrew all their city governments’ investments in Citizens Bank. These four groups alone total $351 million in lost investments for the bank. Our determination and dedication have helped our immigrant neighbors. This is a huge victory!!

Citizens Bank: The Losses Mount Up

Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO) has already withdrawn $3 million in pooled assets from Citizens, with over $20 million pledged to be withdrawn if the bank doesn't change course; Greater Cleveland Congregations have now joined the campaign, pledging $1.7 million to date. Jersey City has started the process of withdrawing an estimated $265 million from Citizens because it doesn't want taxpayer dollars at a bank that is "continuing to finance and profit from the detention of immigrants." The Montclair, NJ City Council has committed to removing $64 million out of Citizens. Politicians with campaign accounts at Citizens are feeling the pressure from constituents to close those accounts or be seen as complicit in the harm CoreCivic and GEO are causing to our immigrant communities.

Learn more here.

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More Bad News for Citizens

Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO) has already withdrawn $3 million in pooled assets from Citizens, with over $20 million more pledged to be withdrawn if the bank doesn...

Paying the Price for Cruelty: ​Citizens Takes a $265 Million Hit

Jersey City (NJ) is withdrawing a whopping $265 million from Citizens Bank because of its support of ICE prisons.

Upper Merion Indivisible protested on Saturday June 6 against Citizens Bank

Upper Merion Indivisible protested on Saturday June 6 against Citizens Bank’s funding of ICE detention centers at the Bryn Mawr branch. We joined thousands of people across the co...

911 calls from non-English speaking community members in Montco dropped last year as ICE ramped up its operations

An analysis from Montgomery County shows that 9-1-1 calls for non-English speakers dropped in months where ICE was escalating its presence in Montgomery County and the country.

Residents make their voices heard about Upper Merion data centers

Large attendance at Township Building Planning Commission meeting.

Hunger strike at Moshannon

Nearly 100 people detained at GEO Group's Moshannon Valley Processing Center are on a hunger strike to protest the abysmal conditions inside the facility.