Secretary of the Department of State Basil L. Merenda announced yesterday in a press release that a total of 8,478,509 Pennsylvanians are registered to vote at one of the state’ss more than 9,200 precincts in the General Election today. “This is a very critical election in which Pennsylvanians will vote for a new U.S. Senator, members of the U.S. House, a new governor, many state Senators and all state House members,” Merenda said.   “I urge every registered voter to go to the polls to make these important choices.”