SNAFU or voter disenfranchmisement? You decide.

As all rational people should, I vote by absentee ballot. I don't like to feel rushed when I am making my voting decisions. I voted on Saturday, and mailed off my ballot the same day.

Today my unopened ballot came back to me. Why? Take a look at the envelope.

Front:



Back:



I added the TO and FROM after getting it back, to make it clearer for the post office since it is confusing. My address on the back, where there is a cancellation mark as well. Obviously it was put in the machine backwards.

I was very upset when my ballot was returned to me. The rule is that my vote will not be counted if it doesn't reach the office by voting day. That means that if I had waited until the last minute to vote (which I would usually do anyway), I would be disenfranchised. I didn't print the envelope, that's the way it came to me. Why didn't the people who designed the ballots realize that putting an address on both sides of the envelope could be very confusing to poor postal employees? DUH.

I will send it off again. I don't know what else to do. Anyone else have this same problem? Isn't this sort of thing illegal?