Some Philadelphia mail ballots arrived with return envelopes already sealed. Here's what voters should do.

[RandySF]

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.



https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/mail-ballots-envelope-sealed-closed-philadelphia-20241001.html