Wife’s ballot envelope didn’t have her return address or a bar code to identify that it was her’s

Submitted by ProducePete t3_ydgz2b in Pennsylvania

My wife got her ballot a full week before mine and we didn’t realize that it was odd that she was missing a return address. She sent her ballot in, I then got my ballot a few days later and noticed that mine had a return address and a bar code. We’re assuming her ballot is lost to the ether now and she’ll probably need to vote by provisional ballot.

The reason I’m posting this is so people can be aware of this. Check your ballot return envelopes to make sure it has a return address and bar code. If it happened with my wife’s ballot I’m sure it’s happened to others. If you don’t have them, call your county office.

Edit: In case people still sees this post, my wife called the county office and they, astonishingly, were able to find her ballot and record her vote.

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universe_point t1_itsh6ju wrote

I don’t really understand… didn’t she write her return address on the envelope and sign the envelope which would identify it as hers? Mine didn’t come with my return address already on it, it came with 3 blank lines for me to fill it in myself, plus I was required to sign and date the outer envelope in place of signing the voter rolls book that you normally sign upon entering a polling place on Election Day.

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ProducePete OP t1_itsrrod wrote

Mine wasn’t blank, it had my full name and address in the return address spot and had a barcode underneath to identify the ballot as mine. I just got an email today saying that my ballot was received but my wife, who mailed it in several days before me, hasn’t received any confirmation of them receiving it. Also the PA ballot tracking site says that they haven’t received it.

My wife called the county office and they said that the barcode under the return address should have, and needed to, be there to associate the ballot with her.

From PA Dept of State site about the process of mail in voting, “The outer envelope includes both a unique correspondence ID barcode that links the envelope to the qualified voter’s application and a pre-printed Voter’s Declaration that the voter must sign representing that the voter is qualified to vote the enclosed ballot and has not already voted.“

So if it wasn’t there, contact you county office

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universe_point t1_itstpme wrote

My county office already contacted me and told me my ballot had been received… because I wrote my return address on it and signed it.

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ProducePete OP t1_itt1d3l wrote

Interesting okay, well we’ll give it a few more days then. We’re waiting on a call back from the county office as well.

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orangesfwr t1_itt3alq wrote

Can also do vote on Demand at Board of Elections office in your county. It is essentially voting by mail, in person, early.

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tinacat933 t1_itsfjub wrote

Did you report this to you elections office so they can investigate

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ProducePete OP t1_itsse5z wrote

Yes, she’s waiting to hear back from someone with what to do

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discogeek t1_itsincb wrote

You can contact your county election office. Since ballots aren't opened until Election Day, they'd have it marked as received or not, but not much else. It's legal and standard for the election office to tell voters if their ballot was received or not, and she can ask if the printing error disqualifies her ballot.

Her vote definitely isn't lost, you might have to do a few phone calls to confirm and fix but it's not all that difficult.

Good luck.

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pekepeeps t1_itspol0 wrote

Public alert: before engaging with the trolls, simply touch their avatar, see that they have a new account and are here to sow discord. This will unfortunately get worse the next few weeks.

Type ignore under their name and just downvote instead of using any brain effort they do not deserve.

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ProducePete OP t1_itssol3 wrote

What is this referring to?

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pekepeeps t1_iud4xu7 wrote

Apologies on late reply. Near elections, people buy and sell Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok accounts. Or they buy farms of users to start new accounts. In bulk. Corporations do this, politicians do this, even countries do this to get their propaganda out. In some cases real dangerous crap for sure. People still fall for it as I see “real” people arguing with these types of accounts instead of saving their energy.

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notallwonderarelost t1_itsjk4u wrote

The envelope you actually mail doesn’t have a return address on the front.

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ProducePete OP t1_itssbww wrote

Mine did and I got an email about the county receiving my ballot whereas my wife didn’t have one or the barcode and they haven’t gotten hers, or at least they don’t know they got it.

From the PA Dept of Stste site, “The outer envelope includes both a unique correspondence ID barcode that links the envelope to the qualified voter’s application and a pre-printed Voter’s Declaration that the voter must sign representing that the voter is qualified to vote the enclosed ballot and has not already voted.“

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Dispatcher12 t1_itsz49k wrote

The barcode label is on the back, where you sign and date.

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quietreasoning t1_itskwmj wrote

Are you by chance not registered to the same party? Just curious..

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ProducePete OP t1_itsrwb5 wrote

We are registered under the same party

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quietreasoning t1_itssf3i wrote

Thanks. As another has said, the difference might be one is a mail in and other is absentee. Nearly the same thing but could account for the differences seen.

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ProducePete OP t1_itstaga wrote

Both are mail-ins but that a good thought. We are scratching our heads. We’re just assuming some sort of clerical error but if it happened to one it probably happened to others.

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quietreasoning t1_itstsal wrote

In any case, good to point out even if it's innocent nothing. It's a time for vigilance these days with people attempting to undermine election integrity. Thank you for voting.

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[deleted] t1_itsop9p wrote

[deleted]

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quietreasoning t1_itsppky wrote

The parties don't but individual people do. It would be the most interesting thing to know while investigating deviations in received absentee ballot packets.

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[deleted] t1_itsq5tv wrote

[deleted]

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quietreasoning t1_itsr8hx wrote

If OP and their partner received the same thing but one was incomplete and they happen to be registered to different parties, that would be particularly suspicious. That is obvious, doesn't need to be implied. It would warrant investigation. It would take all of five minutes to investigate and find if your theory or something else innocent was causing OP's issue. But really, chill out with the implication sensitivity.

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Reynard1981 t1_ittvnlx wrote

At least she can always vote in person.

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WeJustDid46 t1_itsa52j wrote

Please vote in person. That’s the way to get rid of these trumpeters.

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BeltfedOne t1_itsajbl wrote

NO! I can vote by mail and I will not let those assclowns take that away. My ballot will be photographed and they can call if there are any questions. Fuck the GQP.

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WeJustDid46 t1_itsbk7i wrote

I understand your frustration, I do. However, with all of this BS going on let’s get rid of these insurrectionists first, then we can guarantee the Mail in vote.

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EmergencySundae t1_itscv68 wrote

Any other election I would vote by mail. I can’t this year because of the shenanigans the GQP has been pulling.

Plus I want a decisive election night victory for Shapiro so we don’t need to deal with Mastriano trying to overturn things for a week.

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BeltfedOne t1_itse8mm wrote

Fuck that. Fuck them! I do not yield to their nonsense.

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narwhalfinger t1_its8l78 wrote

I got a link to get a mail in PA ballot through a text. I live in South Carolina.

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TheRainKing89 t1_itsg7wi wrote

And if you try to get one they’ll realize you live in South Carolina and not Pennsylvania and you won’t be able to vote, you turd. Stop promoting non Sense. Jesus Christ

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tinacat933 t1_itsfco6 wrote

Ok and let me guess, you used to live in PA and you wouldn’t be able to get it with you SC address so this is a non point

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ThatGuyOutBackMUT t1_itsel32 wrote

And now you get down voted because you said what the left can't bear to admit. Imagine that.

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JoshuaIan t1_itsewqp wrote

We'll admit it when you prove it in court instead of failing 60+ times, motherfucker

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your_late t1_itsfbv8 wrote

But this guy got a random text so the elections are fake. Surely he would've gotten his mail in ballot as a non registered out of state voter /s

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ktappe t1_itsfark wrote

Getting an application in the wrong state is not voter fraud. Maybe instead of trying to claim voter fraud over and over again, you should learn what it is first?

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Wordnerdinthecity t1_itseuh9 wrote

A lot of get out the vote organizations have outdated lists. My sister still gets mail here urging her to vote and she moved out of state ~6 years ago! It's nonsensical to assume fraud when bad database management is FAR more likely.

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tinacat933 t1_itsffh9 wrote

Admit what?

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ThatGuyOutBackMUT t1_itsgam5 wrote

That the system isn't fool proof and needs to be amended.

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tyrael459 t1_itshulb wrote

Yea, notification is obviously off. But it would be caught further down the line. Parts of the system aren’t perfect, for sure, but you’re being deliberately coy and broad with your language. I’ve seen your comments. You know full well it would get caught if they tried to go through with it.

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ycpa68 t1_itsgb11 wrote

There's nothing illegal about receiving the ballot application, turning it back in is what is illegal

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ThatGuyOutBackMUT t1_itsgfyn wrote

There's a lot of shit being pulled from thin air here. Who said it was illegal?

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MulberryDue1179 t1_itsadgp wrote

And the mystery votes begin

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tyrael459 t1_itshk0e wrote

What do you mean? She’s a real person, so what the hell is the mystery? If it gets lost in the mail, her provisional ballot on Election Day will go through. If it makes it to the elections office and gets counted, her provisional ballot won’t go through.

Are you just being dense on purpose?

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