Some San Francisco voters have received midterm ballots with torn or damaged envelopes, but election officials say damage to the outer mailing envelope alone will not stop them from voting in the Nov. 3 election. The key is whether the contents are intact. Voters should carefully open a damaged package and check for all four ballot cards, a ballot return envelope and a voting-instructions insert. If the four cards and return envelope are undamaged, voters can mark the ballot and return it using the supplied return envelope, Elections Department Director John Arntz said. If any ballot contents are damaged, voters can request a replacement from the San Francisco Department of Elections by calling 415-558-6100, emailing sfvote@sfgov.org or using the department’s online voter portal. Replacements can also be requested in person at Room 48 in City Hall, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The office will be closed Oct. 12. Voters with damaged materials can instead bring them to their polling place and vote in person on Nov. 3, until 8 p.m. Arntz attributed the damage to problems as envelopes passed through U.S. Postal Service processing equipment. USPS spokesperson Kristina Uppal said the thickness of some envelopes may have contributed to damage during machine processing. After the problem was observed, USPS switched to manual processing for the remaining vote-by-mail packets, Arntz said. San Francisco has mailed more than 500,000 vote-by-mail ballots, but officials have not said how many were affected. The department’s guidance is that a tear in the outer envelope is not a barrier to voting if the ballot cards and return envelope inside are intact.