US mid-term polls: Around 3400 mail-in ballots face risk of rejection

Washington [US], November 9 : Around 3400 mail-in ballots are facing the risk of rejection because of incorrect information, missing dates or missing secrecy envelopes, CNN reported citing an election official in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia City Commissioners' Chairwoman Lisa Deeley called the incident a real tragedy for the Pennsylvania voters saying, "It creates a really unfair disenfranchisement to thousands of voters."
Earlier this week, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court barred local election officials from counting ballots with missing or incorrect dates on the return envelope, CNN reported on Tuesday.
Deeley further said that Supreme Court's decision coming so close to the election actually reinforced people's mistrust in the process.
She also released the affected voters' names and requested them to take immediate steps to get replacement ballots.
CNN reported citing officials that the number of at-risk ballots is expected to grow.
Earlier on Sunday, Allegheny County published the list of more than a thousand voters who returned mail-in and absentee ballots with no date or with an incorrect date, which is defined by the Supreme Court's order.
"I am extremely disappointed in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's decision with regard to undated and incorrectly dated ballots," CNN reported Deeley as saying in a Saturday statement.
"Handwritten dates are not material and the lack of such a date should not be a reason to disenfranchise a voter," she added.
Although the election officials are working to reach out to those whose ballots have been rejected fixed, Deeley said that since a lot of those ballots were submitted weeks, the concerned people might be out of town or unavailable to come.
Earlier today, the US midterm elections got underway as millions of Americans headed toward their polling booths in Virginia, Maryland and Washington D.C, The Washington Post reported.
According to CNN, there is a total of 435 seats, where lawmakers serve two-year terms. Currently, the situation is a little shaky for Democrats as Republicans are only 5 seats away from gaining the majority to control the chamber.
So, while Democrats will be trying to maintain the balance in the mid-term election, Republicans would try to strive harder to increase their current control of governorships and state legislative chambers.
Apart from those 435 seats, there are 35 seats in the 100-seat senate on which the representative will fight against each other. The chamber where incumbents serve for six years is split 50-50, and Democrats currently have controlled since Vice President Kamala Harris wields a tie-breaking vote. But Republicans only require a net gain of a single seat to take control, reported CNN.
Earlier, US President Joe Biden predicted that Democrats will "surprise the living devil out of a lot of people" in today's midterm elections, Fox News reported.
Meanwhile, former US President Trump is expected to announce a third White House campaign soon after the midterm elections, reported New York Times citing people familiar with the matter.
Trump is mobilizing support under his famous "Make America Great Again" campaign.
According to CNN, this movement is built around the notion that the cultural values of a largely White, working-class nation are under threat.