Did you cast a mail or absentee ballot for the April 23 primary election? Check the lists of names below to make sure there isn’t a problem with the ballot you sent in. If there is, you have a chance to fix it and make sure your vote counts.
The Board of Elections, aka the City Commissioners, released two lists over the weekend. One is of 231 Philly mail voters whose identification it hasn’t been able to verify. The other is of 1,755 voters whose ballots had certain errors, such as no signature on the exterior envelope.
There’s still time to fix the problems, but it’s important to act quickly, especially for voters in the second list with ballot errors. They have to remedy the mistakes before voting ends on Tuesday at 8 p.m., while those on the first list have until next Monday.
How to fix ballot envelope errors
The 1,755 ballots on the longer list had at least one of these problems:
- No signature on the exterior envelope.
- No date on the exterior envelope.
- Potentially incorrect date on the envelope.
- No secrecy envelope (aka a “naked ballot”).
- Undeliverable ballot.
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.
In addition, the envelopes were redesigned this year to reduce confusion and errors, and now have a small hole that helps voters and election staff check them. When correctly packaged, a yellow secrecy envelope is visible through the hole; if you only see the white of a ballot, that’s a problem that needs to be addressed.
The most common error was a missing signature on the exterior envelope, which accounted for 638 of the listed ballots. Another 281 had no internal secrecy envelope; 117 had no date on the outside; and 219 had potentially incorrect dates. 500 ballots were undeliverable to the voters, possibly because of errors in the addresses on mail ballot applications.
The City Commissioners recommend getting a replacement ballot, either at the County Board of Elections office in City Hall Room 140 or at the Satellite Election Office at 4029 Market Street. On Primary Day, they’re both open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Voters can receive, fill out, and submit their ballots on the spot at either location, or they can get a ballot, complete it, and take it to any of the election drop boxes around the city. If they can’t get to the office because of disability, they can authorize a designated agent to pick up and/or return their completed ballot.
Another option is to head to your polling place Tuesday and cast a Provisional Ballot, but the commissioners say a voter should only do so if they are unable to request a replacement ballot at the City Hall or the Satellite Office before the end of Election Day.
Here’s the lists of ballots with errors, which is searchable by name.
How to fix ID verification problems
The shorter list is of 232 Philly mail voters whose identification the Board of Elections hasn’t been able to verify. Some of the voters didn’t submit required proof of ID with their mail ballot applications; others did submit proof, but the board hasn’t been able to verify it “due to a technological issue.”
Without verified proof, the board says it can’t count the ballots.
Identifications must be verified by next Monday, April 29, for the vote to count. The Board of Elections recommends contacting the office at (215) 686-3469 or phillyelection@phila.gov so a staffer can talk the voter through verification.
Another option is to email or fax over a photo or photocopy of an acceptable photo ID. The fax number is (215) 686-3398. There’s an optional form you can use on the City Commissioner’s website, which lists acceptable forms of ID.
“It is critical that the board receive this information by Monday, April 29, 2024 or the board will not be able to count the voter’s mail-in/absentee ballot,” the board says.
The Board of Elections says it has received nearly 800 mail and absentee ballots from voters whose proof of ID it originally couldn’t verify, but was subsequently able to verify 549 of those.
Here’s the list of ballots with verification issues, which is searchable by name.
