Pennsylvania's law on mail-in voting states that voters must place their vote inside a "secrecy envelope," which doesn't bear the voter's identity information. The voter then places the secrecy envelope into a different return envelope that is postage-paid, and on which the voter signs their name and indicates their address. 

If the ballot reaches the county election officials without the secrecy envelope, they consider it a naked ballot. Pennsylvania's Supreme Court ruled that naked ballots are invalid and elections officials should consequently throw them out.

The court's ruling is a big win toward safeguarding the constitutional requirement for voter secrecy. According to the Supreme Court's opinion, written by Justice Max Baer, "Whatever the wisdom of the requirement, the command that the mail-in elector utilize the secrecy envelope and leave it unblemished by identifying information is neither ambiguous nor unreasonable." The secrecy envelopes fulfill the purpose of keeping the voter's choice a secret.

Secrecy envelopes are also critically important in preventing potential fraud by election officials. With secrecy envelopes, the official cannot access the vote before the counting process starts and, therefore, cannot alter it.

Moreover, the presidential election was the first under Pennsylvania's 2019 law to allow a no-excuse mail-in voting system. Thus, no sufficient data shows that many mail-in votes could be discarded due to a lack of secrecy envelopes. Most election boards in Pennsylvania did not account for ballots rejected in mail-in voting during the June primaries after the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a need for consistency in this kind of voting system, considering that Pennsylvania used it for the first time with mass voters.

As Pennsylvania was a tipping point for the close race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, there is a need to ensure credibility for the mail-in votes. Lack of trust due to the absence of 'secrecy' could lead to electoral chaos.

Pennsylvania does not need to get rid of the secrecy envelopes for mail-in ballots. Instead, political parties, election officials, and advocates should consider educating the public on properly utilizing the mail-in voting system. More awareness is needed on using secrecy envelopes to safeguard a voter's privacy.