Did you cast a mail ballot for the November general election? Check the below list of names to make sure there isn’t a problem with what you sent in.
If there is, you have a chance to fix it and make sure your vote counts.
The Office of City Commissioners released a list of more than 1,825 Philly voters whose mail ballots were received with errors. 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”)
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. 7, 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.
Procrastinator’s guide to the 2023 November election in Philadelphia
About 1 million mail ballots were requested for this election across Pa., including about 110k in Philadelphia. As of Thursday, 63% statewide and 58% in the city had been returned, per Dept. of State data.
The most common error was lack of date on the return envelope, making up nearly 75% of the Philly ballots needing to be cured.
Any Philadelphia voter on the lists below can get a replacement ballot at the County Board of Elections office in City Hall Room 140. The office will be open 9 to 5 on Friday, 10 to 3 on Saturday and Sunday, 9 to 5 on Monday, and and 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday (Election Day).
These replacements can be dropped off at one of the secure locations throughout the city, or returned right there at City Hall. Check our procrastinator’s guide to all the candidates for a refresh on who’s who.
If you or someone you know is on the list but can’t get to the City Hall office in time due to a disability, they can authorize a designated agent to pick up and/or return their completed ballot.
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.
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the number of mail ballots requested and returned.
