Source: SFGate
“Thousands of vote-by-mail ballots in San Francisco have arrived at residents’ doorsteps with a long slit on the outer envelope this week, leading some community members to believe that they’ve been deliberately tampered with. However, after contacting the United States Postal Service, the city’s Department of Elections was able to figure out why, and has a much more mundane explanation for the ripped envelopes. After receiving reports of the torn envelopes and contacting USPS, the department found that the machines packing the mail-in ballots caused the tears, and USPS has switched over to packing them manually, the city said in an Oct. 7 news release. If the four ballot cards and return envelope are intact, voters can still send them in for processing.” (10/10/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/torn-ballots-san-francisco-22468392.php