What Pa. voters should do if their mail-in ballot arrives with return envelope stuck shut

As the first mail-in ballots go out in Pennsylvania, some voters have reported their election packets are arriving with the return envelopes already sealed.

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The Pennsylvania State Department said the humid weather is the culprit, wetting the adhesive strips on the envelopes and causing them to stick before they’re delivered. Voters should contact their local elections office if they encounter this situation for guidance on what to do, according to the department.

While the Philadelphia Inquirer reported this has happened to some voters in that city, York County's chief operations officer and chief clerk, Greg Monskie, said he has not heard of any mail-in voters in his area facing the envelope problem. But if it does happen, the office can’t simply print a new return envelope, since each one has a unique barcode, Monskie explained.

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Instead, his county’s office would advise the voter first to carefully open the envelope and place their ballot inside enclosed in the secrecy envelop, he wrote in an email. Then, they should tape the return envelope shut and initial it so officials know the voter’s ballot is enclosed.

Alternatively, the voter could bring the mail-in ballot to the York County elections office to have it canceled and vote there with a new ballot or at a polling place.

You can find contact information for your local election office on the state department’s website.

Bethany Rodgers is a USA TODAY Network Pennsylvania capital bureau investigative journalist.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Pa humidity is causing problems with mail-in voting envelopes