Secrecy envelopes will cause electoral chaos, official warns
By MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Philadelphia’s top elections official is warning of electoral chaos in the presidential battleground state if lawmakers there do not remove a provision in Pennsylvania law that, under a days-old court decision, requires counties to throw out mail-in ballots returned without secrecy envelopes. Lisa Deeley, chairwoman of the three-member board overseeing Philadelphia’s elections, wrote Monday to the state Legislature’s presiding Republicans to urge them to back legislation to remove the requirement. Some 30,000 to 40,000 mail-in ballots could arrive without secrecy envelopes in Philadelphia alone in November’s presidential election, Deeley estimates, and the state Supreme Court’s interpretation of current law forces election officials to throw them out.