Cobb County Residents: Where Is The Small White Envelope They Usually Send?

Press release from the Cobb County Government:

April 27, 2020

We all know how hard it has been to communicate virtually with one another. Well, here’s another example. The Secretary of State’s office contracted with a vendor in Arizona to mail out the absentee ballots for the June 9, 2020 general primary. The vendor started mailing out the ballots on April 22nd and some of the first voters to receive them said, “Hey, where is the small white envelope they usually send?” Instead of creating a white inner envelope and an outer envelope printed with an Oath, the vendor created a white paper “sleeve” as the inner envelope. Apparently, the artwork being sent back and forth for approval looked the same as an envelope, until the miscommunication was recently discovered.

The instructions say to enclose and securely seal the voted ballot in the smaller of the two envelopes, but don’t worry, the white folded paper sleeve will work just fine. Please put your voted ballot into the white paper sleeve and then place it into the Oath envelope, sign the Oath and return the ballot.

Do not tape or staple the paper sleeve, because the ballot might become damaged as we remove it. You might ask, “Why are there two envelopes in the first place? The answer is, to ensure ballot privacy. As we prepare the ballots for counting, we separate the voted ballot from the outer envelope that identifies the voter’s name, so that we never see how any person has voted. In this case, the Elections Office will handle this sleeve in the same way as a sealed envelope.

This press release was produced by Cobb County Government. The views expressed here are the author’s own.