I don’t think this is a political question as it is procedural and non-partisan, but if it is, can a mod please move it to the politics forum for me?
Question: I have been reading about the PA mail in ballots and how the return envelope now has the year pre-printed on the envelope (eg: 2024). But some official images show it as pre-printed as 20YY not 2024, where I guess the voter has to overwrite the YY.
Is there anyone here who is doing mail in voting from Pennsylvania who has received their ballot and who could tell me which it is? DM-ing is fine if that’s preferable.
I’m just guessing here … but maybe the official image is a non-year-specific image intended to be reused without modification for illustration purposes.
Call your town hall and ask to speak with the voter services office.
That’s the best way to get real time, accurate help. Do not rely on the rest of us (who live in different states with different protocols) for accurate information. It’s too important.
In PA, you absolutely have to date the outside of the outer envelope, or your vote won’t count (thanks to PA State Supreme Court decision earlier this month.) I have not seen a mail-in ballot, but the graphic on PA.gov shows boxes to write in each numeral of the date, with the 2 0 for the year already filled in but every other box blank. It looks to be straight-forward and obvious, and is right below the signature line.
Scroll down to Step 3. It’s a graphic not an actual image of the ballot, but in my experience the instructions are always very clear. Seeing this graphic made me feel better after hearing the news reports about ballots not being counted if the voter does not date it after the signature.
This is partly why my family all decided to vote in person. I would hate for my ballot to be discarded for some clerical “mistake.” PA should take a look at how Colorado does mail in voting.
I asked my nephew who lives in PA. He got his mail in ballot yesterday. The 2024 is preprinted on the return envelope.
He said that he has read that in the primary election some people crossed out the 2024 and wrote in their birth year!!! It is a trivial thing but makes me wonder about their mental capacity to vote!