Cure your ballot: 3,000+ Philly mail voters have a chance to fix errors

Are you one of the more than 3,000 Philadelphia mail voters whose ballot is at risk of not being counted?

If you already cast a mail ballot for the November general election — or you’re wondering why you never received a ballot you applied for — check the list posted below to make sure there isn’t a problem with it.

If there is, you have a chance to fix it and make sure your vote counts.

The Office of City Commissioners has been updating its list of ballots that have errors or are undeliverable. The list has been getting longer as more ballots are received, and as of Friday afternoon it had 3,293 names. The issues include:

No signature on the exterior envelope
No date on the exterior envelope
Incorrect date on the envelope
No secrecy envelope (aka a “naked ballot”)
Undeliverable, possibly due to a wrong address
Unverifiable identification

Elections officials haven’t yet started counting the votes in the mail ballots — they’re not allowed to do that until the polls open at 7 a.m. on Nov. 5, per Pennsylvania law.

But Philadelphia has machines that sort the sealed ballots in advance, separating them into groups by zip code. The machines can tell if a secrecy envelope is missing just by the weight of the whole mail ballot package, and administrative staff can tell by looking at the outer envelope if the date or signature isn’t there.

A little shy of 2 million ballots were requested for this election across Pa., including more than 206k in Philadelphia. As of Friday morning, 65% statewide and 63% in the city had been returned, per Dept. of State data.

How to fix a flawed mail ballot

Some of the Philadelphia voters on the list are marked as having unverifiable identification. They should fill out an ID verification form and submit it along with a picture or photocopy of an acceptable ID, if available, to phillyelection@phila.gov or via fax to (215) 686-3398. Those are due by Tuesday, November 12. 

The other voters on the list made errors when completing their ballots, or their ballots were never delivered to them because the addresses were wrong, or there was a problem at the post office. 

They can get a replacement ballot at the County Board of Elections office in City Hall Room 140 or any of the city’s 10 satellite election offices.

The City Hall office is open 9 to 5 Monday through Friday, and 10 to 4 on Saturday and Sunday. It can be reached at (215) 686-3469. The satellite offices are open weekdays 10 to 6 and 10 to 4 on weekends.

Replacements can be filled out and submitted on the spot, or deposited in one of the city’s many secure drop boxes (here’s a map). Check our procrastinator’s guide to all the candidates for a refresh on who’s who.

Ballots can also be mailed in, but remember they must be received at the Board of Elections by 8 p.m. on Nov. 5, and postmarks don’t count. Make sure to mail the ballot at least several days before they’re due.

Mail ballots may not be turned in at polling places on Election Day.

Another option is to request that a replacement ballot be mailed to you by filling out this form. But again, make sure you have enough time left to receive it, fill it out and send it back in time.

If you or someone you know is on the list but can’t get to an election office in time due to a disability, they can authorize a designated agent to pick up and/or return their completed ballot. A designated agent form is available at the City Commissioners’ website.

If you’re on the list but aren’t able to get a replacement using the instructions above, you can request a provisional ballot at your polling place on Election Day. Provisional ballots are the last to be counted.

Below is the list of ballots with errors, which is searchable by name.

The post Cure your ballot: 3,000+ Philly mail voters have a chance to fix errors appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY.