Pennsylvania is trying anew to help voters using mail-in ballots in the battleground state avoid mistakes that might get their ballot thrown out in 2024’s presidential election and beyond.
In a new directive Wednesday, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration asked counties to start using a standard set of instructions to explain how to complete mail-in ballots, among other steps.
Shapiro’s top election official, Secretary of State Al Schmidt, said some counties already use these methods.
Voters completing a mail-in ballot must put their completed ballot into an inner secrecy envelope, insert that into an outer return envelope, and write their name, date and signature on the back of the outer envelope.
In the 2023 primary, counties rejected about 17,000 mail ballots, or almost 3% of all mail ballots cast, the Department of State said. Almost half of the rejected ballots arrived after Election Day, while about 20% were thrown out for lacking a date and 15% for lacking a secrecy envelope. Smaller numbers were thrown out for incorrect dates (8%) or lack of a signature (5%), the department said.
Most mail-in ballots are cast by Democrats, and Pennsylvania is again expected to be a closely fought battleground in next year’s presidential election. Democrat Joe Biden beat Republican Donald Trump by slightly over 80,000 votes in 2020.
