Rejecting undated mail ballots disproportionately impacts communities of color in Pa., data shows

[FakeNoose]

(link) https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2022/11/pa-election-2022-mail-ballot-rejection-analysis/?mc_cid=4bcc1594f2&mc_eid=3ab2f24ac3

Pennsylvania’s policy of rejecting undated and incorrectly dated absentee and mail ballots is more likely to impact voters from communities with larger nonwhite populations, a Votebeat and Spotlight PA analysis of data from three urban counties has found.

Earlier this month a deadlocked Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that undated and incorrectly dated mail ballots should not be counted in the Nov. 8 midterm election, the latest development in a years-long dispute over these flawed ballots. Under state law, a person who casts a mail ballot must sign and date a declaration on the outer envelope.

In reaction, some counties released lists of voters who had submitted these types of flawed ballots in an effort to have them rectify the error before the end of Election Day so that their vote would be counted.

- snip -

Oprah Means, a 35-year-old African-American mother of three from Duquesne, Allegheny County, was one such voter. Her ballot was rejected for having an incorrect date — defined by the state Supreme Court as falling outside Sept. 19 to Nov. 8 — and she could not recall what date she wrote that would have been disqualified. She said she was “not at all” surprised to hear there was a racial disparity among rejected ballots.

“It felt like it was done on purpose to me,” Means said, noting that her ballot had been submitted for weeks before she was informed, at 7:40 p.m. on Election Day, that there was an error.

- more at link -

Why isn't the USPS datestamp good enough?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. I don't think the Post Office routinely date stamps mail anymore.

Certainly most of mine arrives without one.

I do wonder how so very many people can fill out a ballot incorrectly. Or how different a mail-in ballot is from the one you get at a polling place.

I do my voting early in person, and that way I know my ballot is valid, because it goes through a machine that at least checks for mistakes. It's probably not actually counted then, I don't know.

I do know Pennsylvania is, somewhat surprisingly, one of the few states that still has only mail-in or Election Day voting.

It seems as though the states that do only mail-in voting, just don't have these problems.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

2. Why isn't USPS timestamp good enough?

Because the GOP has long known of the data described in the article.

Simple answer to your question.

[MichMan]

3. Are voters in districts with higher minority populations more likely to vote by mail?

That would make sense if that was the case. Other than that; why?

The article never really says why the percentage of rejected ballots is higher in areas with a higher minority population?

They do mention that those areas trend a little older, but that doesn't really explain why people were unable to apply a proper date on a mail in ballot? The study says that since they actually have no idea of the racial make up of those who mailed in flawed ballots, that they can only surmise based on zip codes only. In addition, the number of rejected ballots overall is quite low and the study only covers three larger counties, so any smaller rural counties are omitted from the study.

[FakeNoose]

4. Right - they don't know how many rejected ballots were mailed by minority voters

But they can say for sure that certain zipcodes have a higher percentage of minorities, thus assumptions for those voters have been made. Rural counties don't have enough minority voters to make a difference. Another thing is that rural voters are far less likely to request mailed ballots.

I've voted by mail in every election since 2020 and I can say for sure that it's easy to miss the instructions (or be confused by them). There's too much info on the outside envelope and it's all in 8 point type. Whoever designed that ballot envelope is practically daring us to get it wrong. "Oh look, we fooled another one! In the circular file it goes."

[MichMan]

5. Everyone understands that mistakes can be made when filling them out

What would make it be more likely in some areas and not others ? I think the study asks more questions than it answers.

Rejections in rural counties as a percentage may or may not have been higher. Since they didn't look at them, they don't know. That type of information may have changed the entire premise of their study (or supported it even more).