In a directive earlier this month, the Department of State told counties that they should now preprint ballot return envelopes with the full, four-digit year in the date field, leaving voters to fill in just the month and day alongside their signature.
“We conducted an analysis after this election of why ballots were rejected,” said Al Schmidt, Pennsylvania’s top election official. “We didn’t see a significant number of ballots missing the full year, but there were some, and every vote is precious in every election.”
