@Cyber Liberty@libertybele FROM ME:
DUPLICATE BALLOTS - WHY/HOW THIS HAPPENS:Look at the ruling of Judge Warner in favor of the Republican Party petition to allow for inspection of certain items:
Mail-in ballots: "...the ability to review a selection of 'duplicate' ballots against the original ballots from which they were duplicated."
Mail ballots are paper ballots. The Board evaluating mail ballots is an equal number of Republicans and Democrats, one of each together evaluating one voter's mail ballot materials. Once the materials have passed the required evaluation, the envelope holding the actual ballot is set aside. Once there is a pile of ballot envelopes holding the ballot, the envelopes are opened and the ballot taken out. The ballots are stacked up and at some point, are taken to the counting machine people. They feed the paper ballots through the counting machine and some are kicked out - they won't go through the machine. These machine rejected paper ballots are taken to another Board. This Board is the "Resolution Board" - made up of same number of Republicans and Democrats, working in groups of two, one of each party. There is a Judge overseeing the work, answering questions.
You would have to see these rejected paper ballots to understand how people can "screw up" (that is a professional word), a paper ballot so the machine can't count it:
voting for more than one for an office; using a Crayola to mark it, using house paint to mark it, circling the desired choice, heavily marking out all the ones he/she does not want, leaving the ones he/she does want; torn page; writing on the ballot edges; if there is space for a write-in, write-in Mickey Mouse, some other name not a candidate's name, or curse words.
The teams of two, one Republican, one Democrat, try to deduce what the voter intended. If that can be done, a new ballot is marked with one marking and the other watching the marking. Once that is done, the Judge signs the back of the new ballot making it legal and also put the number of the old ballot on the back of new ballot. The number of the new ballot is written on the back of the old ballot along with the Judge's signature. The two paper ballots are paper clipped together and taken to the machine counters. The new ballot is counted and the old ballot is set aside in a pile and kept for the required amount of time.
I wrote the above to show what is meant by "duplicate ballots".
