Republican PAC mailer with vote-by-mail applications has postal flaw: Lebanon officials

With more voters taking advantage of mail-in ballots with the upcoming 2024 presidential race, officials say residents are having post office issues submitting application forms provided by a Republican PAC to register for mail-in voting.

Over the last week, Republican registered voters have contacted the Lebanon County’s Bureau of Registration and Elections saying applications for mail-in ballots provided by a third-party mailer were rejected. The mailer was distributed by the The Republican State Leadership Committee PAC, or RSLC PAC, and contain two mail-in ballot applications with the local election office address already printed on them.

The problem comes with the middle application, which contains the resident's mailing address on the opposite side, Elections Director Sean Drasher said. This means one application has two different addresses on each side of the form, which can be a problem for United States Post Office sorting machines.

"So it's taken to the postal center, and if it is facing the right way in the machine it goes through because (the PAC) filled in our address on the blank side," Elections Director Sean Drasher said. "But if it goes through facing the other direction, it has the voter's own address on it, and it's sent back to them."

The mailers are part of the RSLC PAC, the Sentinel Action Fund and the Keystone Renewal PAC's campaign in Pennsylvania to gain more than 200,000 new Republican mail-in voters during the 2024 election cycle. The outreach efforts are to inform disengaged voters and swing voters about their options and encourage them to request a mail-in ballot.

The RSLC PAC did not respond to request from the Lebanon Daily News Tuesday to comment on the issues with the mailers.

Almost two days after registered voters have submitted the PAC's application, the packet would be sent back from USPS because of a rejected address. Drasher said his office has been receiving daily calls and complaints over the last few weeks, with residents asking why elections officials have been rejecting their applications.

"It's making people concerned that there's a problem where none exists at all," he said. "And I know that's not what the group is trying to do. They are trying to do something good, but it's just a simple design flaw in the mailer."

The York County Elections & Voter Registration Office also has received a few calls, wondering why "the elections office" sent back the requests, chief clerk Greg Monskie said.

Amy Gulli, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of State, said the department encourages and promotes safe, secure, and convenient practices for registered voters to cast their ballots, including voting by mail.

"If an outside entity promoting voting by mail chooses to reformat the mailing pages of the forms prescribed by the Secretary , as this PAC did, they should consult the U.S. Postal Service on best practices to ensure that any mailing reaches the intended recipient." she said in an email to the Lebanon Daily News. "Voters can also request their mail-in or absentee ballot online or in person at their county election office ."

The elections office is accepting the RSLC PAC's application should residents wish to bring it to their 400 South 8th Street location. Drasher also suggested residents willing to mail in the PAC application take a marker or other type of writing implement and cross out their home address from the packet.

As of Monday afternoon, Lebanon County’s Bureau of Registration and Elections have received 8,661 applications from both Republican and Democrat voters requesting a mail-in ballot.

Duplicate applications

The RSLC PAC's direct mailers were sent to registered Republican voters in the Lebanon County area, whether they were signed up for mail-in voting already or not. Drasher said mailers like this makes some voters believe there is a problem with their application.

"By sending it out to everyone, it's confusing because a lot of these people are already signed up for mail-in ballots," Drasher said. "So we're having people getting very angry about that."

At least 30% of the RSLC PAC's mailers sent in to the elections office were duplicate applications, according to elections officials. Some residents have sent in the application more than five times, submitting it each each time they received the mailer to apply.

Registered voters cannot sign up for more than one mail-in ballot, according to Drasher. The elections office has to record every application it receives from residents. But even with multiple applications, the registered voter will only receive one ballot to fill out.

"So we can say that we got it, but it doesn't change anything," he said. "It just wastes staff's time."

York County also deals with voters sending in duplicate requests for mail-in or absentee ballots during every election, Monskie said.

Election officials have said there are no free range mail-in ballots being distributed. Mail-in ballots that are sent out by the elections office have been specifically requested by registered voters.

Election Info

The Pennsylvania 2024 general election is scheduled for Nov. 5. The last day to register to vote is Oct. 21. The last day to request a mail-in or absentee ballot is Oct. 29.

Residents looking for more information can visit the Lebanon County Voter Registration Office website at http://www.lebcounty.org/depts/Voter_Registration or contact them by phone at 717-228-4428.

York Daily Record reporter Teresa Boeckel contributed to this story.

Matthew Toth is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at mtoth@ldnews.com or on X at @DAMattToth .

This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: Republican PAC mailer with vote-by-mail applications has postal flaw: Lebanon officials