Florida, again: A warning about mail-in and early voting

[Right_in_Virginia]

Florida, again: A warning about mail-in and early voting
NY Post, Nov 10, 2018, Editorial Board

It’s nowhere near as bad as 2000, but the mess in Florida’s Broward County is at the very least a cautionary tale about massive mail-in and early voting, with events in Arizona adding to the fire.

As a series of tweets by Sen. Marco Rubio flagged on Thursday, Broward Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes was refusing to report the number of ballots still to be counted, or even to provide regular progress reports. A judge late Friday ruled that she’s in violation of the state public records act.

In the past, courts slapped Snipes for illegally destroying ballots in the wake of a contested 2016 vote count for a House seat and again this February for opening mail-in ballots before they’d been authenticated.

Her office has also had troubles with leaving ballot measures off some ballots, illegally reporting early-voting results before the polls closed and on and on.


More:  https://nypost.com/2018/11/09/florida-again-a-warning-about-mail-in-and-early-voting/

[Right_in_Virginia]

I don't remember when early voting started.  I see the need for absentee voting, but why the hell do we allow voting before election day? 

I don't get it.  Everyone knows when election day is.  Employers give two hours off to accommodate it.  Special needs voters can go to the head of the line.

Why can't we return to voting on election day?  What will it take?  How do we get involved??

Seriously, can anyone argue against stopping this shit?

[mystery-ak]

I never early vote or absentee vote...I wait until election day...for the reasons Fla and Az and even Chi has with ballots..

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

I never early vote or absentee vote...I wait until election day...for the reasons Fla and Az and even Chi has with ballots..

I don't think it makes any difference.  Cheaters cheat.

[Wingnut]

I never early vote or absentee vote...I wait until election day...for the reasons Fla and Az and even Chi has with ballots..

I love the convenience of early voting but I think we need to end it now and move voting to the weekends. Too much fraud.  Hell we are in the 20 something century now not in Afghanistan/Iraq voting with short straws and dipping thumbs in ink.

[DB]

I think if your ballot is disqualified it should be sent back to the voter. That way the voter can either challenge it or learn from their mistakes. But the bigger point is there's an accounting for the ballot whether it is counted or not. As is the ballot can just disappear with the claim it was "damaged" with no further accounting or oversight.

It is also too easy to "discover" new ballots without really knowing where they came from.

Perhaps every ballot should be scanned and available for the voter to inspect (only available to the specific voter) online along with its status. But that still doesn't solve the newly discovered ballots that actually belong to no one and therefore will never be scrutinized further.

[Fishrrman]

Right_in_Virginia asks:
"Why can't we return to voting on election day?  What will it take?"

Complete agreement.

Every "improvement" to the voting laws since the 1950's has done nothing but undermine the integrity of the system.

My suggestions (in no particular order):

NO voting other than on election day, at the prescribed polling stations.
NO exceptions.

NO "provisional voting" of ANY kind. One must show up to register at least 4-6 months in advance of election day, presenting the proper credentials for verification (and there should BE "verification"). "Discriminatory"? YES, and HOPEFULLY SO.

NO "motor voter" registration. See above.

NO absentee ballots UNLESS a need can be proven for one. I will grant that to invalids who can't get to the polls, and to servicemen away from home. THAT'S ALL. If you want your vote to count, show up at the polls on election day. If you won't, too bad.

NO fully-electronic voting. Votes must be "recorded on paper" via a paper ballot (can be read by a machine once completed). The recording machine should issue a receipt to the voter (if desired), showing the choices made.

NO mail in voting (see above, voting on election day ONLY).
NO early voting (see above, voting on election day ONLY).

NO tabulation and announcement of votes (by the Secretary of State or by other officials) until ALL PRECINCTS AND DISTRICTS have submitted their official tallies to the central office. This way, no "Broward County" can know how many "extra votes" they need to manufacture to throw the election. If this means that the winner of the election will not be known for a day or two AFTER the polls close, so be it. I'll live with that, to make vote fraud more difficult to accomplish.

Finally -- NO laws that guarantee any special "voting rights" to ANY ethnic group.
Nothing.
Everyone gets the same treatment, everywhere.

How's that?

[Right_in_Virginia]

Right_in_Virginia asks:
"Why can't we return to voting on election day?  What will it take?"

Complete agreement.

Every "improvement" to the voting laws since the 1950's has done nothing but undermine the integrity of the system.

My suggestions (in no particular order):

NO voting other than on election day, at the prescribed polling stations.
NO exceptions.

NO "provisional voting" of ANY kind. One must show up to register at least 4-6 months in advance of election day, presenting the proper credentials for verification (and there should BE "verification"). "Discriminatory"? YES, and HOPEFULLY SO.

NO "motor voter" registration. See above.

NO absentee ballots UNLESS a need can be proven for one. I will grant that to invalids who can't get to the polls, and to servicemen away from home. THAT'S ALL. If you want your vote to count, show up at the polls on election day. If you won't, too bad.

NO fully-electronic voting. Votes must be "recorded on paper" via a paper ballot (can be read by a machine once completed). The recording machine should issue a receipt to the voter (if desired), showing the choices made.

NO mail in voting (see above, voting on election day ONLY).
NO early voting (see above, voting on election day ONLY).

NO tabulation and announcement of votes (by the Secretary of State or by other officials) until ALL PRECINCTS AND DISTRICTS have submitted their official tallies to the central office. This way, no "Broward County" can know how many "extra votes" they need to manufacture to throw the election. If this means that the winner of the election will not be known for a day or two AFTER the polls close, so be it. I'll live with that, to make vote fraud more difficult to accomplish.

Finally -- NO laws that guarantee any special "voting rights" to ANY ethnic group.
Nothing.
Everyone gets the same treatment, everywhere.

How's that?

I like it @Fishrrman  !!

[RoosGirl]

Florida, again: A warning about mail-in and early voting
NY Post, Nov 10, 2018, Editorial Board

It’s nowhere near as bad as 2000, but the mess in Florida’s Broward County is at the very least a cautionary tale about massive mail-in and early voting, with events in Arizona adding to the fire.

As a series of tweets by Sen. Marco Rubio flagged on Thursday, Broward Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes was refusing to report the number of ballots still to be counted, or even to provide regular progress reports. A judge late Friday ruled that she’s in violation of the state public records act.

In the past, courts slapped Snipes for illegally destroying ballots in the wake of a contested 2016 vote count for a House seat and again this February for opening mail-in ballots before they’d been authenticated.

Her office has also had troubles with leaving ballot measures off some ballots, illegally reporting early-voting results before the polls closed and on and on.


More:  https://nypost.com/2018/11/09/florida-again-a-warning-about-mail-in-and-early-voting/

Really?  Seems worse to me.

[Frank Cannon]

Really?  Seems worse to me.

I think the word you are looking for is not worse, but blatant.