It isn’t often when you are actually waiting anymore for something to come in the mail.

Think about it. Bills, fliers, catalogs … not much to make you race out to your mailbox on a daily basis.

However … may I offer for your consideration – the humble election ballot.

Yes, the mail ballot. These have been in use since it helped soldiers cast ballots during the Civil War. Mail voting has been increasing nationwide since the 1980s and in Pennsylvania since the adoption of Act 77.

Nearly 900,000 Pennsylvanians applied for a no-excuse, mail ballot for last April’s presidential primary. More than 1.4 million requested them for the 2022 general election.

They are popular with Keystone State voters.

So, now that Vice President Kamala Harris is officially the Democratic nominee and former President Donald Trump is the Republican nominee … and you have made up your mind on your candidate of choice … you may be ready to vote early.

Bring it on. Where’s my ballot?

If only it was that easy.

On Tuesday, Al Schmidt, Secretary of the Commonwealth, transmitted to each county board of elections a list of all candidates, as known to exist at that time, to be voted on at the November election. Along with this list is a statement of form in which they are to be placed.

Now the work begins.

Preparation

County election offices must now finalize their ballot for the 2024 general election. All information to be included must be gathered, reviewed and proofread. Procedures must be developed for recording the audio ballot for accessible marking devices, ensuring that pronunciations are correct.

Ballots need to be confirmed that all applicable state laws are met relating to contest order, party order, order of candidate names, placement and wording of contest headers and other design elements.

Translations must also be done to ensure that non-English speaking populations can understand ballot language. This is often done for Spanish speakers, although some counties will also provide Chinese translations as well.

Election officials must ensure that ballot target areas are located clearly next to each candidate’s name and that all target areas for free of any folding lines, timing marks, and other ballot text or images. If ballots are double-sided, procedures must be in place to ensure target areas do not overlap with those on the opposite side of the page.

“No, I will be the pattern of all patience; I will say nothing.” – William Shakespeare

Printing

Did you ever wonder why a ballot seems to be printed on “heavy” 80# paper stock? Probably. Did you ever wonder about the ink used on that ballot? Probably not.

Both are vital for the success of the scanning equipment.

For presidential elections, counties are required to print a ballot for 100 percent of their registered voters. For a smaller county such as Adams, that could mean printing approximately 75,000 ballots. For a major metropolitan area such as Philadelphia, that print job entails more than 1.05 million ballots.

Counties must also print a supply of provisional ballots for use on election day. These ballots are printed so that cannot be run through the optical scanner. They must be hand-reviewed for approval and then submitted to the DOS to be added to vote totals.

All this takes time, especially with the Labor Day holiday at the beginning of September.

“Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.” – John Quincy Adams

Test Decks

Typically, samples of the ballot are returned to the county for review. These “test decks” are marked by election officials and run through their scanners to ensure that the ink, paper quality and timing marks pass inspection. If there are any mistakes, corrections go to the printer and the process continues.

“He that can have patience can have what he will.” – Benjamin Franklin

Mailing

County election offices have been utilizing print shops that also serve as mail-order houses to assist with the mailing of absentee ballots to those who have requested them. Once ballots are given the “OK” to go out, offices send these mail houses electronic lists of names and addresses of registered voters that have requested absentee ballots. Addresses are affixed to envelopes and delivered to the United States Post Office.

“Have patience with all things, But, first of all with yourself.” – Saint Francis de Sales

USPS Delivery

Now that the first batch of envelopes has been handed off to the Post Office, it is their turn to deliver your mail ballot to the address you provided the election office. That could be anywhere from 1-5 days depending on your location.

“Patience and Diligence, like faith, remove mountains.” – William Penn

Summary

Pennsylvania’s election laws state that September 16 is the first date that county boards of election must begin to process official applications for civilian absentee and mail-in ballots. That is 50 days prior to the November 5, 2024, general election date.

Boards may opt to begin to process applications earlier if they deem appropriate.

October 21 is the last day to register to vote in the election, while October 29 is the last day to apply for a mail ballot.

Remember, patience is a virtue.

Steve Ulrich is the managing editor of PoliticsPA.

This article was originally published in PoliticsPA.