Some Philadelphia mail ballots arrived with return envelopes already sealed. Here's what voters should do.
Mail ballots began going out to Philadelphia voters last week. But in some cases, the return envelopes and secrecy envelopes provided to voters were already sealed when ballots made their way to voters’ homes, according to multiple voters who flagged the issue to The Inquirer.
The issue is causing frustration for Philadelphia voters, who are poised to play a key role determining who wins the White House in November.
But those voters can still cast their ballot by mail either by requesting a new envelope or by cutting the sealed envelopes open and taping them shut before returning them, said City Commissioner Seth Bluestein, a Republican on the three-member panel that oversees the city’s elections.
In a post on X, the Pennsylvania Department of State said humidity across the state had led to the prematurely sealed envelopes and urged voters to contact their local election offices if they encountered issues.
It’s unclear how many envelopes were sealed, but roughly 10,000 mail ballots have already been returned, indicating it was not a universal problem for Philadelphia voters, Bluestein said.
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When voters request a mail ballot, they receive an envelope containing their ballot, a return envelope, and a secrecy envelope. Those envelopes are supposed to arrive unsealed so that voters can place their ballot inside them before mailing it back. According to state law, voters must place their ballot in the secrecy envelope in order for it to be counted.
If one or both envelopes arrive sealed, a voter has two options: request a new envelope or cut the envelope open and tape it closed before returning the ballot, Bluestein said. If voters choose to tape their envelopes, their votes will still be counted, he said.
The city commissioners provided directions on how to request a new ballot in a post on X. Voters can request replacement materials by calling the Philadelphia Office of the City Commissioners at 215-686-8683, requesting a new ballot online, or visiting one of the city’s seven opened satellite election offices; the locations are listed at https://vote.phila.gov/about-us/satellite-election-offices/.
