Every year, county elections officials have to reject some mail-in ballots because they don’t conform with the established process.

Changes to the ballots will be rolled out during the upcoming April primary aimed at eliminating some of those issues.

According to the Department of State, elements of the process have been revised “to better inform voters how to properly fill out and return their mail-in ballots, with the goal of decreasing voter confusion that can lead to completed ballots being rejected and assisting county election workers in efficiently processing mail-in ballots.”

The change also results in more uniformity across the state.

Here’s a look at some of the revisions: the secrecy envelope will include a yellow background and watermarking to discourage stray marks and make it easier to distinguish from the outer envelope; a full-page instruction with graphics; a pre-filled “20” at the beginning of the year on the outer envelope to alert voters to write the current date, not their birthdate, in that field; emphasis to highlight fields where a voter must sign and date and colorized outer envelopes to help post office staff pick out ballots mailed close to Election Day.

“Counties will also have discretion to implement the use of a hole punch in the return envelope to help county election workers identify when an inner secrecy envelope is missing,” the Department State explained, “which will also be easier to identify with the new watermarking and yellow coloring on the inner envelope.

Data provided by the state shows that 17,000 mail in ballots were rejected in the 2023 primary, about 2.8 percent of the total number of mail in ballots.

The most common reasons for rejection, that data shows, were receipt after Election Day, lack of a date, lack of a secrecy envelope, an incorrect date and lack of a signature.

“The newly revised materials address these problems by providing clearer instructions on how to fill out and submit a mail ballot, which will decrease voter confusion and ensure fewer mail ballots are rejected in each election,” officials say.