I sent off my absentee ballot

[dancing kali]

to the state of Pennsylvania last week. I'm betting it won't be counted.

My husband and I sent our registration in back in JULY. We got our ballots in the mail three weeks ago. What arrived had me shaking my head. We got a write-in ballot that looked like a reduced, bad photocopy, a bad photocopy of the list of candidates we're eligible to vote for, the return envelope and a letter that said:

"Dear Absentee voter:

The Pennsylvania Election Code requires this Department to issue a special Blank Write-In Ballot to certain absentee voters in place of the Official Absentee Ballot when such official ballots can not be made available for distribution at least 45 days prior to the election.

Because there is insufficient time to print and distribute the official absentee ballot for the November 2, 2004 Presidential Election, we have prepared the enclosed Write-in Ballot for you to vote and return by the October 29, 2004 deadline.

Enclosed you will find instructions for voting your ballot together with a list of candidates for both state and local offices as well as information on any special Election to be voted upon by the electors of your municipality.

If you have..." blah, blah and a signature.

*** Please note that when I listed off the items that arrived I did not include the words "instructions" or "information".***

I have voted absentee in every federal election since I've lived in Canada (I moved here in the early 80's)... this is the first time they've sent me a write-in. I'm an intelligent person so figuring out the ballot wasn't a problem... but a poorly reduced, bad photocopy is not my idea of an "official" document.

For the section on voting for President/Vice President there were something like 11 blank spaces for the names. Since one really only needs 2 (one for Pres. and one for VP)... why are there 9 extras?

Is there really only one candidate running for congress in the PA 14th district? Same with state rep and senate candidates. Admittedly they were Democrats but surely other candidates want the job as well. I don't like not having all the information... it gives the impression of impropriety.

I'm not sure of what my point is here, except that the whole thing left me with a distinct feeling of uneasiness. So, have any other former PA residents who are voting absentee gotten this in the mail? What about other states? Am I just being overly paranoid?