Philadelphia election official warns ‘naked ballots’ may invalidate up to 100,000 votes
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The top election official in Philadelphia is warning that a minor technicality in a new state Supreme Court ruling could cause as many as 100,000 mailed ballots to be rejected statewide in the November election, a potentially significant statistic for a state that President Trump won by about 44,000 votes in 2016.
Lisa Deeley, the Democratic chairwoman of Philadelphia’s election board, warned in a letter to lawmakers this week that the court’s requirement of an additional envelope for voters to mail back with their ballots could disenfranchise tens of thousands of voters in her city and many more statewide.
At issue is the use of “secrecy envelopes,” which are designed to protect the privacy of the voter. A voter returning an absentee ballot must insert the ballot into the secrecy envelope, and then insert that envelope into a larger envelope that carries the mailing address and postage.
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