My fear about mail in ballots

[edhopper]

Last edited Fri Jun 12, 2020, 07:09 PM - Edit history (1)

Is that boxes of them in Swing States controlled by Repugs can go missing.

Take away some ballots from key districts and there goes the State,

Vigilance is paramount!

Let me state that I want mail in voting, it is probably better than a lot of the other ways the GOP tries to steal elections. I just worry about this aspect.

[redstatebluegirl]

1. I think it will take "Poll watchers" at every place the USPS drops off the ballots to make sure they

make it into the office.

[soothsayer]

2. Yeah, and putting his guy in charge of usps

But I can’t see the rank and file worker going along with shenanigans.

[procon]

3. It's remotely possible, but not very likely.

The mail in ballots are sent via the USPS to the designated state agency charged with verifying and counting them. Ballots (speaking of California) arrive in big postal bags so There is no way to tell which of them might be from any particular area.


There are dozens of workers and legal observers from both parties and other voting rights groups scrutinizing the whole process. Everything is out in the open. Cameras and guards at the door to check credentials. If would be very hard for anyone to try to cheat and tip the count to favor one candidate.

[Awsi Dooger]

14. Agreed

There is systematic GOP suppression all over the place. They look forward, not backward, so they'll always catch us off guard in certain areas in terms of voter ID laws, application of them, not enough machines or hours to use them, etc.

I am not worried about the US mail. In fact, I guarantee the GOP suppressors absolutely love it when we fixate and waste time on obvious areas like that, while they are undertaking the real shenanigans elsewhere.

[procon]

15. Add yet another reason why Republicans

want to kill off the USPS and sell it off to corporate profiteers. Missing ballots would be on a long list of Republican chicanery and corporate shenanigans intended to shut Democrats out of the ballot box.

[Freddie]

4. When I voted by mail in the PA primary

I got an email that my ballot was received. All states should do this.

[blaze]

6. In CO, we get an email when it's sent and another when received.

We've been all mail or box drop since 2015 (I think).

[MissB]

5. In oregon we can drop them at the county elections office

I never do. I just drop it in the mail. If I’m really late, I’ll drop it in the county elections box just outside my neighborhood.

I get a text from the county elections office when they scan my envelope and have checked my signature. The text tells me that my ballot has been received and accepted.

It is possible with today’s technology to make it difficult to cheat on mail in ballots.

[Voltaire2]

7. tampering with the mail is a serious federal felony.

So unlike denying people reasonable access to polls, the gop's second favorite method of preventing people from voting, which is not a crime, nor subject to court review thanks to the overturning of the VRA, people could go to prison.

Trump's minions are not that loyal.

[Drunken Irishman]

8. I mean, how is that any different than normal ballots?

They don't count them at the polling places. They're taken to another location where they can be counted.

If they can do it for mail-in ballots, they can for normal ballots too.

[samnsara]

10. years and years ago I was a ballot counter and yes we did count them at the polling places..

..4 people were sequestered at each polling place. Newly cast ballots were brought in to us on a regular basis ( every hour or so). After polling was closed we totaled the ballots and signed off swearing that the numbers were accurate and those ballots put into a locked box and driven over to the courthouse where they were safely stored away.

I was also a poll watcher for mail in ballots and they are all counted electronically at the court house. Poll watching was basically sitting in a room with someone from the R side and we watched people take stacks of ballots and put them in a counter. And that was it. Oh there was one person looking at signatures to see if they matched.

[samnsara]

9. they can be dropped off at any number of places. In Wash state we can scan our ballot..

..before we send/ take it in and check the status of it. And before I mail mine in I take a picture of it...just in case!

[jimlup]

11. This is why we need absentee vote verification.

I believe Colorado has this. Basically, you get a notification when your vote has been counted.

If my state (Michigan) had this, I'd go ahead and vote by mail for our August and November elections. Because we don't appear to have vote verification, I think I'll vote in person for the critical November 3rd election.

[Ms. Toad]

12. Most state permit observers -

if you're in a swing state, volunteer (and not just on election day). Aside from anything else, I think it would ease your fears. I've been an observer in both Republican and Democratic counties - both were equally committed to the integrity of the election regardless of outcome.

[BSdetect]

13. USPS sends me copies of every letter and package details arriving daily.

Surely we could scan every ballot at each polling booth.

We vote by mail as we refuse to line up to vote.

[gratuitous]

16. On a scale of 1 to 10

That's about -2. The tip off is how hard Republicans are fighting against vote-by-mail. It's difficult to screw with millions of paper ballots sent out all over a voting area. In-person voting can be monkey-wrenched by closing a bunch of polling places or interfering with ballots delivered from specific precincts. Vote-by-mail ballots pass far more directly from the voter to the county election headquarters, far fewer chances for fuckery. And that's what makes Republicans so dead set against it.