With Election Day just days away, Philadelphia voters who haven’t returned their mail-in ballots are running out of time. And one simple mistake could prevent their votes from being counted.
More than 186,000 Philadelphia voters requested mail-in ballots for the 2026 midterm election, and election officials and community advocates are reminding residents to follow the instructions carefully and return their ballots before the 8 p.m. deadline Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Voters should place their completed ballots inside the yellow secrecy envelope, then put that envelope inside the larger return envelope. They must also remember to sign and date the outer envelope.
Adamary Sosa, vice president of community and corporate relations at the community organization Xiente, emphasized the importance of following every step.
“You don’t want one little thing to then be discarted later and your vote doesn’t count, the vote is the one thing that we have, the one tool that we have to be able make change and raise our voices,” Sosa said.
With Election Day approaching, Sosa is urging voters who still have their mail-in ballots to avoid sending them through the U.S. Postal Service because of the limited time remaining.
“Its going to take a long time to get there and we do have a cutoff by 8pm Tuesday,” Sosa said.
Philadelphia voters can instead return their completed ballots at any of the city’s 38 ballot drop boxes.
Ballots can also be returned at satellite election offices or City Hall.
Voters who made a mistake on their mail-in ballots still have an opportunity to address the issue.
Vanessa Caracoza, deputy executive director of the Philadelphia City Commissioners, said voters can visit one of the city’s 10 satellite election offices or City Hall for assistance.
“You can visit one of our 10 satelite election offices or City Hall to fix that and make sure that your vote count this election,” Caracoza said.
For Philadelphia voter Andria Bibiloni, voting by mail was a practical decision because she won’t be in town on Election Day.
“I always vote in person at my local voting place but this year I realized I was going to be out of town on Tuesday,” Bibiloni said.
After receiving her ballot, Bibiloni filled it out and returned it right away.
“I feel relieved that I just got it done, you know these are midterm elections and a lot of people think it doesn’t make a difference but it does,” Bibiloni said.
With the election approaching, officials and community advocates are encouraging voters to make sure their ballots are completed correctly and returned on time.
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC Philadelphia. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC Philadelphia journalist edited the article for publication.
