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After years of uncertainty around undated ballots, Pa. announces changes to the ballot envelopes to reduce voter errors
Philly Inquirer link: https://www.inquirer.com/news/pennsylvania/mail-ballot-pa-new-envelopes-2024-election-20231129.html
HARRISBURG — After years of uncertainty about what counties should do with undated or incorrectly dated mail ballots, Pennsylvania has simplified the mail voting process in an effort to reduce voter errors.
The Pennsylvania Department of State on Wednesday rolled out new envelope language and formatting for the 2024 primary for all 67 counties in the hope of decreasing common voter errors that can end up disqualifying votes. Even Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney failed to date his mail ballot in November’s election, according to the Philadelphia City Commissioners’ preelection list of mail ballots with errors, and a spokesperson for the mayor said he would correct it.
Rejected mail ballots make up a small percentage of votes — only about 3% of the 597,000 total mail ballots cast in the 2023 primary — but mean that thousands of citizens’ choices aren’t counted due to small errors. And small numbers of votes have decided the outcome of several Pennsylvania elections in recent years. The 2022 Republican U.S. Senate primary between Mehmet Oz and Dave McCormick, for example, was decided for Oz by fewer than 1,000 votes statewide. And a Montgomery County township supervisors race is still tied because of how the county chose to count misdated ballots in the recent election.
“Now with six elections behind us with mail voting, it’s become clear that there are some technical mistakes that voters sometimes make when completing mail-in ballots, and we want to do what we can to mitigate the opportunities for that to occur,” Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt said in an interview. The new mail ballot envelopes will include simpler language, shading for where a person must sign and date the envelope, and will prompt voters to write in the date with a prefilled “20? at the start of the year.
- more at link -
The Pennsylvania Department of State on Wednesday rolled out new envelope language and formatting for the 2024 primary for all 67 counties in the hope of decreasing common voter errors that can end up disqualifying votes. Even Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney failed to date his mail ballot in November’s election, according to the Philadelphia City Commissioners’ preelection list of mail ballots with errors, and a spokesperson for the mayor said he would correct it.
Rejected mail ballots make up a small percentage of votes — only about 3% of the 597,000 total mail ballots cast in the 2023 primary — but mean that thousands of citizens’ choices aren’t counted due to small errors. And small numbers of votes have decided the outcome of several Pennsylvania elections in recent years. The 2022 Republican U.S. Senate primary between Mehmet Oz and Dave McCormick, for example, was decided for Oz by fewer than 1,000 votes statewide. And a Montgomery County township supervisors race is still tied because of how the county chose to count misdated ballots in the recent election.
“Now with six elections behind us with mail voting, it’s become clear that there are some technical mistakes that voters sometimes make when completing mail-in ballots, and we want to do what we can to mitigate the opportunities for that to occur,” Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt said in an interview. The new mail ballot envelopes will include simpler language, shading for where a person must sign and date the envelope, and will prompt voters to write in the date with a prefilled “20? at the start of the year.
It's about time, Pennsylvania!
