Over 1,200 Absentee Ballots in Philadelphia Have Been Rejected Due to Errors

By Courtney Cohn

Joseph H. Conyers, principal bass in the Philadelphia Orchestra, puts his ballot in the ballot box in front of City Hall, as musicians and Staff of The Philadelphia Orchestra deliver absentee ballots to City Hall before Departing on a tour of China, in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

Over 1,200 absentee and mail-in ballots in Philadelphia have been rejected as of Tuesday because they are misdated or undated, lack a signature or are missing an inner secrecy envelope, according to data from the Philadelphia City Commissioners’ website. 

Pennsylvania has some of the strictest laws in the country regarding which ballots can be counted. Many states reject ballots with signature issues, but it is much more uncommon for states to not count undated or misdated ballots and ballots missing envelopes.

This has led to numerous lawsuits from voting rights groups trying to stop voters from being disenfranchised just because they made minor ballot mistakes. 

However, on Oct. 7, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declined to weigh in on a petition from voting and civil rights groups arguing that mail-in ballots with missing or incorrect outer envelope dates should be counted under the state constitution’s Free and Equal Elections Clause. This leaves the law in place for the 2024 election, but litigation concerning this issue will continue.

In the city of Philadelphia, 1,262 ballots had date, signature and envelope issues, which make up around 5% of the over 24,000 ballots that have been cast so far. Voters still have two more weeks to submit their ballots.

The majority of the state’s counties, including Philadelphia County — which includes the city of Philadelphia — notify voters with ballot errors and allow them to cure their ballots. 

Specifically, the Philadelphia County Board of Elections sends voters an email if their ballot has an error, and the city goes a step further and posts a public list of the voters’ names.

To ensure their vote is counted, a Philadelphia voter can request a replacement ballot online or in person at one of the satellite election offices. They can also go to their polling place on Election Day to cast a provisional ballot.

Read more about Philadelphia’s policies on ballot errors.

Learn more about undated and misdated ballot lawsuits in Pennsylvania.