So Many Envelopes! or How Your Mail-in Ballot Protects Your Privacy

Casting a vote by mail can seem like complicated process with so many envelopes. But each step in the process has a purpose, including keeping your ballot private and secure. Below is an explanation of why there are so many steps and what the purpose of each step is.

An mail-in absentee ballot comes with three separate envelopes. Let’s start with the smallest one and work towards the largest.

The smallest envelope that comes with an absentee ballot is usually a tan color. This is called the privacy or secrecy envelope or sometimes just a ballot envelope. The ballot—and nothing else!—goes directly into this envelope. The privacy envelope is used to ensure that all absentee voters have a confidential ballot. If a voter forgets to use this envelope, the vote will still be counted. Election officials will place the ballot in a privacy envelope to be counted later, as long as all the necessary information is provided on the signature envelope.

The middle envelope is the signature envelope. In Minnesota for the 2020 November election, registered voters do not need a witness signature, due to a court order. If you do not register to vote for the general election by Tuesday, October 13, 2020, you will need a witness. They serve to verify proof of residence. A witness must be a registered Minnesota voter or a public notary. The signature envelope is also labeled with a barcode which is used to track the status of the ballot. Each ballot has a unique barcode, and only one code can be assigned to any one voter at a time, which ensures a voter can only vote once.

After the signature envelope has been date stamped, it is kept in a locked room until the absentee ballot board confirms the information on the signature envelope. The information that is confirmed includes the voter registration information, and, if there is a witness, that they are a Minnesota registered voter or a public notary. If the information is incomplete or not able to be verified, the ballot is rejected and the voter is notified. Accepted ballots are then stored in a locked room until they can be counted (14 days before Election Day in 2020). When ballots are ready to be counted, the tan privacy envelope is removed from the witness signature envelope and separated. After being separated, the tan privacy envelope is taken to the area where votes will be counted. Ballots are then removed and counted. Since there is no personal information on your privacy envelope, when ballots are counted, election officials do not know who the ballot they are counting belongs to. This is how ballots are kept confidential.

The third, and largest envelope, is the mailing envelope, sometimes called a return envelope. When you have completed the information on the signature envelope (and placed the privacy envelope containing your ballot into the signature envelope), then you place it inside the mailing envelope. The mailing envelope does not contain any personal information. If there is a problem with your ballot, election officials will notify you usually either by email or phone, so your ballot does not have (or need) your return address. Similarly, you do not need to place a stamp on your mailing envelope if you are returning your absentee ballot by mail; absentee ballots have pre-paid postage.

If you are returning your absentee ballot by hand to your local election office, you should still place everything into the mailing envelope.

If you are concerned about your ballot arriving at the election office or being counted, you can track your ballot online at mnvotes.org/track.