How 'Naked Ballots' Could Cause Election Chaos In PA, U.S.

PENNSYLVANIA — As controversy over mail-in ballots and concerns over the security of the 2020 election continue, officials in Pennsylvania warned that a new rule could cause up to 100,000 ballots statewide to go uncounted. It's brought renewed national focus to the pivotal role the Keystone Stone could play this election season in determining the political trajectory of the nation.

The concern is over a ruling made last week by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court stating that "naked ballots," or ballots mailed in without the second secrecy envelope over the ballot which covers the identity of the voter, cannot be counted. There are concerns the nuance of this step will be overlooked by tens of thousands of voters.

Given that Pennsylvania could very well be the decisive factor in the presidential election, the ruling sets the state up "to be the subject of significant post-election legal controversy, the likes of which we have not seen since Florida in 2000," Philadelphia City Commissioner Lisa M. Deeley wrote in a recent letter to state legislators, urging them to take action.

As the 2020 election intensifies, Joe Biden's lead over President Trump has narrowed both in Pennsylvania and nationally. The Democratic nominee now leads Trump by 3.8 points, according to an average of recent polls from RealClearPolitics. As recently as late July, Biden's lead in the state stood at nine points.

With the race narrowing, analysts are reminded of the 2016 presidential election, which saw Trump defeat Hillary Clinton by a margin of just 44,000 votes in the Keystone State. "You can see why I am concerned," Deeley notes.

The issue is drawing national attention. "Right now, it looks like Pennsylvania is going to be the single most important state of the 2020 election," Chris Hayes said on MSNBC Tuesday night, arguing that a statewide educational campaign was needed to ensure voters understood the need for the secrecy envelope. The issue was also covered by CNN's Erin Burnett.

The decision not to count naked ballots was overshadowed last week by another Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling, which extended the deadline to count mail-in ballots in the state by three days, to Nov. 6. Officials are hopeful this eases concerns of voters that their ballots might get lost in the shuffle on Election Day, or that the Postal Service might not deliver them in time.

But Deeley says that not counting naked ballots poses the far greater risk to this most fundamental aspect of democracy.

"I hope you consider this letter as me being the canary in the coalmine," she writes.

Concerns over voter fraud seem to have spurred the controversy in the first place. In the Pennsylvania Supreme Court case decided Sept. 17, Boockvar vs. Pennsylvania Democratic Party, election officials argued that naked ballots are still sealed in an envelope and will not cause any fraud. "No voter should be disenfranchised for failing to place his or her mail-in ballot in the secrecy envelope before returning it to the boards," argued Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar.

The court, however, determined that "when a ballot arrives at the county election board without the protective shield of a sealed privacy envelope, the election official cannot guarantee that the ballot travelled from the voter’s hand to the county election board without compromise," according to the majority ruling written by Justice Max Baer.

Deeley also argues that in addition to possibly disenfranchising a hundred thousand voters and compromising the election, the secrecy envelope makes votes more time-consuming to count. Votes are tabulated twice as fast — 24,000 an hour as compared to 12,000 an hour — without the secrecy envelope, she says.

"This is not a partisan issue," she writes. "We are talking about the voting rights of our constituents, whether they be Democrats, Republicans, or independents, whose ballots will be needlessly set aside."

In addition to Pennsylvania, fifteen other states around the country require a secrecy envelope.

To request a mail-in ballot or register to vote, see the VotesPA website here. Oct. 27 is the deadline to request a mail-in ballot.