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Subscribe to RSSFrom a continuing series of articles, Who Can Vote?, a News21 investigation of voting rights in America. Read the full series.
By Sarah Jane Capper and Michael Ciaglo
News21
Michael Ciaglo/News21
Jason Randall, 26, places his mail-in ballot in a drop box outside the Lane County Elections Office in Eugene, Ore. Although Oregon conducts all of its elections by mail, residents have the option of mailing their ballots or returning them at drop boxes located throughout the county.
In the partisan controversies over changes in voter eligibility and voter ID requirements, the growth of mail voting and no-excuse absentee voting have received little attention. While voter-impersonation fraud at the polls is nearly unheard of, both sides in the voter fraud debate acknowledge that absentee ballots are susceptible to fraud.
Early voting has begun, and more Americans than ever are expected to vote by mail this fall in the presidential, state and local elections. A gradual loosening of absentee voting laws in many states, especially in the West, and universal mail voting in Oregon and Washington have contributed to a significant shift in how Americans vote.
In 1972, less than 5 percent of American voters used absentee ballots, according to census data. By 2010, almost 16 percent of votes cast in the 2010 general election were absentee ballots, and nearly 5 percent more were mail ballots, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission's Election Administration and Voting Survey. If in-person early voters are counted, nearly 30 percent of the voters in 2010 did not go to the polls on Election Day.
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"By 2016, casting a ballot in a traditional polling place will be a choice rather than a requirement," said Doug Chapin, a University of Minnesota researcher and director of the Program for Excellence in Election Administration. "There will still be people who go to the polling place because it's familiar, it's convenient, it's traditional. I think there will be fewer of those places."
More susceptible to fraud
Election fraud is rare, but it usually involves absentee or mail ballots, said Paul Gronke, a Reed College political scientist, who directs the Early Voting Information Center in Oregon. He cites what he calls a classic example of election fraud, a local official stealing votes by filling out absentee ballots. That was the case in Lincoln County, W.Va., where the sheriff and clerk pleaded guilty to distributing absentee ballots to unqualified voters and helping mark them during a 2010 Democratic primary.
Curtis Gans, director of the Center for the Study of the American Electorate, said vote-buying and bribery could occur more easily with mail voting and absentee voting. At a polling place, someone who bribed voters would have no way to verify that the bribe worked. A person who bribes mail voters could watch as they mark ballots or even mark ballots for them.
Gans also points to the potential to influence voters in gatherings that some call ballot-signing parties. A caregiver could mark a dependent's ballot.
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Who can vote? A national News21 investigation of voting rights in America. |
"All the other types of fraud are essentially hard to do and easy to defend against," Gans said. "This isn't."
Putting a ballot inside an envelope and sealing it inside another envelope for mailing stirs skepticism, though. Election officials, political scientists and voters have concerns. They doubt that mailed ballots can be secure. They question whether forces beyond voters' control — smudges that disqualify ballots and breakdowns in keeping track of ballots, for example — will disallow votes. And some want to preserve Election Day traditions.
Gronke said that he hasn't seen evidence that bribes and coercion increase when voters use the mail. And ballot parties can allow people to discuss and make informed choices, he said, without pressuring their vote.
Those who have argued for stronger election security also say the mail could allow coercion by an abusive spouse; Gronke said he sees little evidence of that.
A Western phenomenon
Changes have occurred gradually to absentee voting, which began as a service to Union and Confederate soldiers during the Civil War and spread to civilians state by state.
Few paid attention when California extended absentee voting to anyone on request in 1978. The Los Angeles Times referred to a "little-noticed law" that eliminated the need to list a reason to get an absentee ballot. In the 2010 election, 40.3 percent of Californians voted absentee, according to Election Assistance Commission data.
Now, 27 states and the District of Columbia offer no-excuse absentee voting, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Many states have dropped notary and witness requirements for all absentee voters. Some have permanent absentee lists to automatically send ballots to voters in every election, a de facto vote-by-mail system.
Most states have opted for a mixture, offering some combination of no-excuse absentee voting, early voting, mail voting and Election Day voting. These categories often blur and overlap. A voter might drop off a ballot in person instead of mailing it, for example.
"It has to do almost entirely with voter convenience," said Jennifer Drage Bowser, a senior fellow at the National Conference of State Legislatures. "The more options there are outside the traditional polling place, the more voters like it."
The Obama campaign in 2008 received 59 percent of the early votes nationwide, according to a Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll. The Post reported, "For years, the profile of the early voter closely conformed to the characteristics of Republicans: older, white, more ideological and better informed about politics. ... But Obama turned the conventional wisdom on its head in 2008, drawing out vast numbers of African Americans to vote early in person, especially in southeastern states such as Florida. Many were organized by church to vote on the final Sunday before Election Day."
Western states have the highest levels of absentee voting, according to the Election Administration and Voting Survey. Those levels reached almost 70 percent in Colorado and 61 percent in Arizona, according to the survey. In 13 states, more than 20 percent of voters used absentee ballots.
All Washington and Oregon elections are conducted statewide by mail. In Washington, each county still maintains at least one voting center. In Oregon, each County Elections Office provides privacy booths for those who want to vote in person or need assistance.
Oregon approved a test of vote-by-mail in 1981, and about 40 percent of Oregon voters used absentee ballots in the 1994 federal election. By the next year Oregon statewide elections with candidates were by mail, and in 1998 the state voted for all elections to be by mail. Washington, where absentee voting was similarly popular, tested voting by mail and used it in all but one county until the state adopted all-mail ballots in 2011.
A generation of voters in Oregon has never set foot inside a voting booth.
Jessica Hall, 32, has 2-year-old twins and runs a home business. She always has voted by mail; Oregon switched shortly before her 18th birthday. She makes better decisions, Hall said, than if she had to stand in a long line outside a polling place. In the evening, when her children are asleep, Hall sits quietly and reads her ballot, then votes.
"Without vote-by-mail, I would be less likely to vote. I don't have time," Hall said. "There's no way my kids would allow me to stand in line and do that."
North Dakota counties can decide whether any of their elections should be conducted by mail. Eighteen other states allow vote-by-mail in some cases — uncontested Arkansas primaries with no other ballot measures, for example.
Resistance in the East
East of the Mississippi, the mail is more likely to be a back-up option for those who can't get to the polls on Election Day. That's the case in 15 states, including New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Jan Leighley, a political scientist at American University, offered culture and population density as possible explanations for the low popularity of absentee/mail voting in the East. Eastern and Midwestern states tend to have more established, formal political parties — a culture resistant to changing voting modes, Leighley said. In widely dispersed populations in Western states, voters and election officials have more to gain by using mail, Leighley said. They wouldn't have to pay to operate scarcely used polling places, and voters wouldn't have to travel as far to cast a ballot.
New Jersey has allowed mail ballots on request since 2005, but fewer people are using them than expected, said Robert Giles, director of the New Jersey Division of Elections.
About 5 percent of New Jersey votes were by mail in 2010, compared with about 4 percent in 2005, according to a report from the elections division.
"Going to the polls, I think it's ingrained in our society," Giles said about the slow growth of mail voting in his state. "For some people, there's a social aspect. They see the same election board workers every time they vote, and it offers a sense of community."
Weighing the benefits
Voting by mail is transforming American elections, said John Fortier, a political scientist of the Washington, D.C., Bipartisan Policy Center.
"It's not something we've fully thought out all the consequences of, and we certainly haven't had one big national debate over it," said Fortier, author of "Absentee and Early Voting: Trends, Promises and Perils."
Proponents say the mail offers voters time to weigh choices and flexibility for their busy schedules, even more so than early in-person voting. It reverses how elections work, said Phil Keisling, former Oregon secretary of state and director of the Center for Public Service at Portland State University. "The default is bringing the ballot to the voter, not forcing the voter to go to the ballot," Keisling said.
Mail benefits outweigh potential fraud, supporters said.
"If you try to literally kill everything in your body that may kill you, you will definitely die," Keisling said. "If you try to wring every possibility of mischief and fraud out of a voting system, you will cramp it down so hard that very few people will end up voting."
Some see mail as a step backward from the Help America Vote Act of 2002. Charles Stewart, a political scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said the law mandated improved voting equipment. That improved technology made vote counts more accurate, he said, leading to 1 million more votes being counted. Mail ballot procedures have not been improved, Stewart said, estimating that errors such as pencil smudges, errant marks or breakdowns in keeping track of ballots can mean up to 7.6 million mail votes could go uncounted. Machines prevent voters from casting errant ballots, he said. "The two sides of that equation just don't balance out," Stewart said. "Many more ballots are sent out than come back."
Mail voters could base their decisions on different information than those who go to the polls, Gans said. And voting before Election Day leaves open the prospect for voters to turn in their ballots, then see a stock market crash or terrorist attack and wish they could change their votes, Gans said.
A longer window until voting time, however, means people can vote more carefully and make better-informed decisions, Keisling said.
The mail also means campaigns can't count on a final push the week before an election to sway voters, because many already will have cast ballots. Plus, the mail makes election-night results less reliable, Chapin said, because absentee ballots must be counted, and there are enough of them to change the election results.
The more immediate future of the mail and voting depends largely on cost, Chapin said. One could think it makes little sense to keep a lot of polling places open on Election Day when more people are voting by mail or early. States might move entirely to the mail, as Oregon and Washington, or scale back Election Day voting.
"If it costs me a lot of money to get just a few voters in person," Chapin said, "then I'm going to reduce my investment there and spend money elsewhere."
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Voting by mail decreasing costs and increases participation. Here in Oregon, for the November election in 2008, more than 1.8 million voters voted--a turnout of an amazing 85.67 percent! There have been very few problems, the state has saved millions and more people are participating. While it might not work as well in more populated states, vote by mail works great for Oregon. Voting by mail is especially important for Oregonians--it seems we are always voting on several initiatives and it makes sense to be able to take your time to vote.
Vote early. Vote often.
Oregon may be proud they have increased voter turnout to "an amazing 85.67 percent." However, the fact is, with mail-in ballots, there is no way of certifying who is filling out the ballots. Heck, it could be the mailman who votes most often in Oregon. In some homes it could be the domineering husband who fills out the "family" ballots. In others, it could be the wife who manages the paperwork who fills out her husbands ballot. And, in homes of the elderly, it could be the kids or grandkids who do the voting. Voting by mail may be more convenient, but it serves to remove people just a little farther from actually participating in their government. It's a far cry from the old New England town meetings where townspeople would gather and vote in public. Voting should mean something more than the mundane act of redeeming a coupon by mail.
I guess the Koch brothers will try to get ride of voting by mail next. I trust paper ballots and voting by mail more than the electronic voting machines. If they are making us use them then there should be a paper print out of you're vote kept for back up records.
Why not vote on line?. At registration prove your citizenship, district, affiliation, etc... get a user id and supply a password. Make a national voting center that forwards the info to the proper precinct. If the security is good enough for online banking why not for voting? But I guess that would trample all over the traditions of voting day hoopla, last minute campaigning, registration purges, voter suppression and any other barriers scoundrels can scheme about. Can't have that.
I always laugh when voter fraud is sensationalize as some type of big organized crime people are going to participate in. People that are fraudulently voting are not trying to throw the election, they are participating in identity theft.
They want your money and credit and dont give a #h^t about voting.
Just the tip of the iceberg....:
"Voter watchdog says it's uncovered absentee ballot fraud in Florida, New York"
"A national voter fraud watchdog group announced Tuesday that it has uncovered at least 31 cases of absentee ballot fraud in New York and Florida -- a finding the group claims is "just the tip of the iceberg."
True the Vote, a group that focuses on voter fraud, said it turned over 31 cases to state and federal election authorities in which individuals cast their votes in two states in the same federal election -- which is a felony.
Logan Churchwell, a spokesman for the group, told FoxNews.com that the organization accessed Florida's complete voter registration roll and cross-referenced it against 10 percent of New York's list. It identified more than 1,700 people with voter registrations in both states. Of that number, 31 people allegedly voted in both states during the same federal election cycle."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/25/voter-watchdog-group-claims-to-have-uncovered-absentee-ballot-fraud-in-florida/
Who is filling out the the Mail-In ballots in all those Nursing Homes in Florida ??....Staff perhaps ??....Altzheimers Patients still voting ???
Anyone checking to see if Students are voting in their Out-of-State College town and also the Absentee Ballot sent to Mommy & Daddy's house ???
Voter ID....Purple Finger Dye.....Thumbprint on Mail-In Ballots...bring back Notary Public Seal/Stamp requirements...
One Citizen---- One Vote
Voting by mail, where ACTUAL voting fraud is most likely to occur, is generally not something that the GOP is worried about stopping. Their concern is voter suppression, plane and simple. Some of the various state legislators in speaking about the voter ID requirements have even stated that their purpose is to make sure Romney gets elected this year.
The only Vote fraud the GOP have ever detected is the fraud done to get Romney the nomination in the first place. Romney did not win Iowa, he did not win Colorado, he did not win Nevada... but he got those delegates anyway....
Mitt Romney 2012.... real voter fraud at work for you.... Change you can believe in.
But are those increased numbers eligible voters? That is the burning issue.Only in a country where we can freely vote without worry are people too lazy to walk or drive to the voting polls.I think we need to allow only people who are elderly,disabled or have no transportation.Everybody else needs to get off of the couch,get out in their community and cast their ballot to exercise their right that people fought and died for.
"...a classic example of election fraud, a local official stealing votes by filling out absentee ballots. That was the case in Lincoln County, W.Va., where the sheriff and clerk pleaded guilty to distributing absentee ballots to unqualified voters and helping mark them during a 2010 Democratic primary."
In WA, any vote cast by an "unqualified voter" isn't counted. You have to be registered. There could still be a small amount of fraud involved, sure, by people who aren't the intended recipient filling out and submitting a ballot, but there is basically no possibility of a significant number of "extra votes". If you somehow had access to a large enough number of "spare" ballots and then filled them out in order to sway the election in one direction, then it would be quite obvious and you would clearly not get away with it. Just ask the sheriff and clerk in W.Va. It may sound easy but it isn't.
By voting by mail, how do they know they're eligible to vote.? Is there special code on the ballot that's automatically matched with the voters' information on their registration card? And what if a person write their underage children in, how will the officials know? @ least in person the officials will physically see who's voting. Personally, I think the only one to used the mail-in vote should be our soldier overseas fighting for our freedom. Those who are immobile should have voter's officials @ their place to vertify the voters identity.
Here is where every senile person in old folks home vote for Obama, whether they know who he is, or not. I can just see the help all laughing in their break room now as 10 aids fill out ballots for 500 patients. Not good !
31 votes is 0.0003% (3/10000 of 1%). of the voters in New York State-8,624,000. Florida has 8,219,000. As a % of the total voters involved.....0.00015%. More like tip of an icecube than iceberg.
These 31 voters are indeed guilty of election fraud. I would like to personally thank TRUE THE VOTE for exposing these criminals.
Finding 1700 voters registered in both states is not a shock to me. When a person moves from one place to another, cancelling their voter registration is overlooked by a majority of people. When they register at their new home, it cancels the old if address is in the same state. If not, there is no crime committed and normally a voter falls off the roster after a set number of elections with no-vote.
HOWEVER, the REAL objective of TRUE THE VOTE is not quite so noble. Their sponsorship and tactics reflect ultra right wing leadership, and efforts to create an image of widespread voter fraud in order to push through laws like photo I.D. requirements.
Many of the points for reform promoted by TRUE THE VOTE are good ideas. Unfortunately, some of the points would have the effect of making voting more difficult for specific groups of voters which is against federal mandate.
In WA, ballots are only sent out to registered voters in the first place. The ballot is filled out and slipped in a "secrecy" envelope, then that is enclosed in an outer envelope that has pre-printed voter information on it, which you sign, fold and seal up. The legitimacy of the ballot is authenticated based on the outer envelope, and then the ballot sealed inside the secrecy envelope is separated from any personally identifying information to be processed and counted. I would say there is less chance of fraud using this method then there is by requiring people to show up in person. Fake ID's are easy, faking voter registration is a bit more difficult. Voting by mail means there are NO extra votes possible, at least under the system used in WA state.
Colorado has the same system as Washington.
I agree with Oregon Voter 6900728. Vote by mail is very effective in helping people vote. Sitting down in the comfort of ones home and deciding carefully how you will vote on everything from judges to whether to allow gill nets in the Columbia river is helpful to me. The only thing I miss is seeing my friends and neighbors at the precinct when voting. I guess avoiding an angry right wing nut leering at me while voting is something I wouldn't have missed.
Tell me Barney, who ever denied you the opportunity to sit down in the comfort of your home and carefully deciding how you wanted to vote? Many voters do just that for every election. Sit down in the contemplative quiet of their home, spread out the election literature for one more review, re-read news reports, do some thinking, make a list, and on election day, take the list to the polling station. Where they don't worry about people "leering" at them because they're fly is NOT undone, they're not dragging several feet of toilet paper on the heel of their shoe, and they're not paranoid.
Jay, you're off base. As a former Oregon resident, I know the vote by mail works very well. First, a person has to register and a signature is kept on file. Second, a voter has to sign both the inner and outer envelopes which they then mail. Then, at the elections office, signatures are compared electronically. There's a good chance this is more certain and secure than the polls. As far as being coerced at home, I remember the days when my father told my mother exactly whom to vote for. I'm pretty sure she did just what he said.
Vote by mail, except for people why can't get to the polls due to physical issues, and those who will be out of state, are for LAZY people who normally wouldn't vote.
What does LAZY have to do with voting by mail? There are pluses and minuses to both situations. They are just different. Different does not equal lazy. By the way, we vote in EVERY election.
Spoken like a true right-winger who doesn't work late or live on the West Coast 5 mins from his work place.
Or...for those like me, who work twelve hours, have a 1 1/2 hour commute, and cannot get to the polls while open.
Your employer has to allow you reasonable time off to vote while the polls are open.No excuses.
Just a cleaning lady,
With all due respect to you, most people are not afforded that option. I just take the day off to insure my ability to get to the polls.
Waitresses will be fired if they leave to vote as will many other folks. What about bus drivers, surgeons, construction workers, people that suddenly have a "hot job" that they must finish by a deadline. 50% of us do not have the flexibility that teachers and the like have when it comes time to vote.
I think the mail in voting is a terrible idea though. Fraud will go through the roof for many reasons. Mail carriers may decide to not deliver filled out ballots based on your appearance, the mentally challenged will have their ballots taken away and filled out by the aids, etc.
As tough as it is to physically go to the polls, it is every persons obligation to make the time somehow, or plan ahead with a "mail in" ballot.
Everybody should be fingerprinted when they vote, and be forced to dip their finger in permanent ink as other countries do. All polls should be electronically video monitored as well for all to see via internet. We should be able to watch any polling booths point of entry from anywhere we can use internet, and be able to rewind, and, or record to deter voter fraud as well.
Anyone found to be committing voter fraud should be barred from voting for life, and serve no less than 10 years in prison.
WANTTHETRUTH:
Here's how dumb that statement is......I sit at the precinct table EVERY election day from 0630-2100.
6:30am to 9:00pm...if not later. I vote absentee and I am there all day.
LAZY, yeah sure......and I only do it for the $$$$. I get paid almost as much as when I worked at Dairy Queen when I was 14...less than $3 an hour.
OUT OF THE WOODS::::: A mailed ballot not getting to the voter is NOT generally a problem. If a absentee voter doesn't have the ballot by at least 10 days BEFORE election, they know to call.
And I don't know of many mailpersons willing to risk their jobs......
Read my post on page 2....#30. I guess I am far more confident in the voting process as I get to know some of the safeguards from participating as a clerk.
As someone who has lived in several states and experienced their particular voting laws I have to say Oregon's mail in ballot is by far the best I have encountered. Our ballots are mailed to us but we can and most of us do take them to designated ballot boxes throughout the local areas. I know when I first registered to vote I had to show ID and proof of residence. I also had to sign my voter application and my signature is checked every time I vote. I have to sign an inner envelope where I have placed my ballot and then I have to sign the outer envelope that I have placed the inner one into. I suppose some people do mail their ballots but I would never be that cavalier with my vote, I am not taking the chance it is late or gets lost. I take issue with those who say people like me are lazy and we are not doing our "patriotic" duty by standing in a line for hours, sometimes with tired cranky children. Personally I think there is a lot more chance of voter fraud at the polls than by doing your ballot at home. More ballots have been misplaced or discounted at the polls than the way we do it here in Oregon. And there is no one telling us we are not eligible to vote because of some trumped up reason. Nor has my job ever been put in jeopardy this way as it has in other states, just because an employer is supposed to allow you time to vote does not mean he or she will.
My entire family, (two parents and two adult children) is voting by mail this year. My son lives out of the country, so he has to do a mail vote. My daughter is voting by mail because of the convenience. Her work hours make it difficult for her to make the 7-7 hours, and our early voting locations are at least a thirty minute drive from our home. My husband and I are voting by mail to make the line a little shorter for those who choose to vote in person. Florida has shortened its early voting days, so the line will most likely be miserably long. Voting by mail is a great idea and one I would not have considered had the republicans not done so much to hinder voters.
JeannieW-1271355,Again I will state as I did to another poster.Your employer has to allow you a reasonable amount of time to cast your ballot.No excuses.I did it for 30 years with an hour and half commute in L.A. and let the boss know that I'd be a little late that day in order to vote.There was no problem.
There will be bales of unopened voter ballots in the landfills next to the bales of uncounted votes for Al Gore which are still being found under piles of dirt from the last Bush/Gore fiasco.
Voting by mail is cost-effective, and it increases participation. At the same time, there is value to the ritual of voting in person at a polling place, which reinforces the importance of voting as part of our social contract. We should have both methods. But I also would like to shrink the window of early voting to 30 days before Election Day, in order to preserve the fantasy of the informed voter.
I have heard the military is having lots of trouble voting, and most of them vote absentee. Many say they never got their ballots. Many. It's a problem, since absentee voting was set up primarily for the military!
I support absentee ballots. Not just for the military. For example, this year we have 2 constitutional amendments to vote for in Virginia: It's 2 pages! Who in the hell is going to stand there and read 2 pages of legislative text really before they vote when they're expecting to just go in and vote! Not many!
You're lucky in Florida there ballot it is going to take a minimum of 45 min. to read the ballot. Plus Florida has cut back on early voting and has cut down the hours that polls will be open. Why would they do this? If you're 70 years old and have to stand out in the humidity and sun for few hours, I might not even go to vote, I can't stand that long in the heat.
Read it at home,mark your choices and take it with you.This isn't rocket science people.My 87 year old mother uses a walker and goes to the polls and exercises her american born freedoms.No excuses.
just a cleaning lady. What is it with you, that people should stand in line. The United States is not the same as in yesteryears. There is no time now to stand in three hours lines. How about the states that people stood in lines for more than six hours or more. The elderly cannot stand in line for long hours. Others have children to take care of. And, whether or not the law is the law on voting, a nasty boss sure can make your life miserable. Report them. Yeah, sure.
Sometimes standing in line is fun and you can have fun people around you, but this is far in between.
I love Colorado's voting practices. Been voting since 1960, and have stood in line more than once in the snow, cold and wind, and I don't want to again.
I vote by mail. I vote by mail, no one else for me. I live on the west coast and the decision is often called before we even get home from work. I feel that my vote is actually recorded this way.
The Republican's questionable poll practices have only made me happier that I and my family have chosen to vote this way. When results are called into question there is a chance to check and recheck.
I find the title of this article sensationalistic, given the assortment of weak hypotheticals the article is predominantly comprised of. The only real example of fraud provided involves those in political power tampering with election results--which is always the biggest fraud risk, regardless of the mode of voting--with absentee ballots as the vehicle in this case. I have to laugh, given that this election cycle has seen candidates carpet-bombing the media with all manner of misleading ads designed to trigger voter reaction at the basest level, at the suggestion that we're supposed to see the possibility of voters being influenced by their neighbors at a voting party as a grave threat to the democratic process. A couple of controls on Oregon's system not mentioned in the article: 1. The outer envelope for the ballot must be signed and signatures are compared to the registration cards on file--my husband had his ballot rejected because his signature changed, and had to complete further verification steps to have his vote counted 2. ballots may be mailed, but most are in fact collected at drop boxes like the one pictured, which may only be opened by elections workers and are typically under 24-hour video surveillance.
I'm still looking for the statistics on vote-fraud that the headline implied is happening!
We had the exact same experience as you concerning the rejection based on signatures that have changed over the years. The SOS in Colorado has made of point of keeping our voter databases clean and although I find him pretty partisan, I can appreciate the responsibility he holds.
Seems that every article I read about vote fraud begins with some sensational wording, only to find that we have solutions looking for a problem.
SO MUCH time and money being spent on this in alot of states...so little fraud to back it up.
Shame or sham??
I'm opposed to vote by mail just on general principle. I believe there is something powerfully symbolic in showing up at a polling place to cast your vote. It's an incredible visual reminder of democracy in action. Seeing your friends, neighbors, coworkers, your entire community showing up to register their opinion in a peaceful way, knowing that standing in that line is a diversity of opinion that, in another time and place, was settled not by amicably chatting while waiting to cast your vote but rather by violence.
Political polarization in this country is becoming increasing entrenched, and a reminder in person that it's actual people with actual good intentions casting ballots for the other guy is important.
the Presidental election of 2012 is already in the bag as the electronic voting machine results will be counted in Spain and not America. Unless there is a paper trail of votes that were actually cast and not some number pulled from the thin air. I for one don't not beleive the final count which ever way it turns out. Too many votes in the last election were traced to vacant lots in the big cities and how many votes from the Cook county cementaries were cast by dead people. Wait maybe thats why this unknown and unproven candidate won.
Check the facts before opening your mouth and looking uninformed
2012 US Presidential Election Votes Will Be Counted In Spain
2012 US Presidential election votes will be counted in Spain. Electronic voting machines, used in US elections, have repeatedly been shown by experts to be prone to fraud.
Voter ID would be a good start but then illegals, dead people and the neighbors dog wouldn't be able to vote! They have rights too! Dream Act Party Says Vote Obama/Vote Often.
You have fallen victim to the right-wing bull**** machine.
The true voting fraud is the extremists of the Republican party who have tried everything they know to stop Obama from winning by keeping college students, the poor, minorities and those of us who work from going to the polls.
The statewide B.S. push FROM REPUBLICAN-CONTROLLED states about voter fraud" is one horrible, unjust power grab. I will be at the polls come hell or high water to help vote these horrible people out of office.
Guess what, extremists? You can't win by your policies so you have blatantly tried to steal elections. I hope people go to jail for these actions.
Illegals, Dead People and the neighbors dog should go to jail for voting also!
Dream Act Party Says "Vote Obama/Vote Often"!
I vote by mail, but I also attend my local caucus in person...best of both worlds, as far as I am concerned!
When they liberalize voting rights, penalties for abusing those rights should be increased. While no restrictions should be applied that may prevent access to the ballot box there should be followup after elections for voter fraud. Tracking suspect fraudulent ballots to the perpetrators with accompanying felony convictions would help immensely.
Vote by mail could only happen by demorats, led of course by Chicago pols. Shameful.
The Milwaukee Journal newspapers journalists started checking the presidential election voting roster address and went to the address. Many were vacant lots or no address found. That to me is fraud but what do I know
When the Spanish online voting company SCYTL bought the largest vote processing corporation in the United States, it also acquired the means of manufacturing the outcome of the 2012 election. For SOE, the Tampa based corporation purchased by SCYTL in January, supplies the election software which records, counts, and reports the votes of Americans in 26 states 900 total jurisdictions across the nation. The fact that the same company will have first count on all votes made in 14 US states and hundreds of jurisdictions in 12 others, and the stage is setfor election fraud on a scale unimaginable just a decade ago. SCYTL self-proclaimed the security of its systems, but when the machines were used in the District of Columbia, the University of Michigan fight song The Victorswas suddenly heard after the casting of each ballot. The system had been hacked by U of M computer teachers and students, in order to demonstrate their susceptibilities.
Guess who owns this company in Spain ?
Who?
George Soros
Dems could never win a fair election.
They always cheat, or withold votes just in case. Heck, some dem districts have more votes than voters. Very common.
I don't believe that Bush was a Democrat.The hanging chad in Florida elected Bush.
It is the REPUBLICANS who are trying to keep minorities and college students from voting by passing voter suppression laws.
Real voting fraud is about one-tenth of one percent. HOWEVER, REPUBLICANS ARE TRYING TO STEAL 11 MILLION VOTES by keeping people from the polls.
The only people these laws fool are FOX viewers.
per RP-2387990
Repubs could never win a fair election.
They always cheat, or withold votes just in case. Heck, some repub districts have more votes than voters. Very common.
If that was the case then would not ID to vote help solve that?
absentee ballot is a real help for those of us that work nights and long hours, then we do not have the long lines missing time at work, this is a no brainer.
I am in Texas. I can't speak for other states, but here is what I can say about Texas.
Until you have actually been a poll worker or Party Worker you cannot begin to fathom the ease with which voting fraud can occur. In State Absentee voting is not the way major fraud is likely to occur anymore. At least not in Texas after the Duval County debacle. BUT,, here is how is HAS been done more recently in Texas as told to me by a dear departed friend that would vote for the yellow dog if it was a democrat. She had also been a poll worker and Democrat Party worker. She was into her 70's early 80's and she would cast an absentee ballot from her home address and then get placed in a nursing home for election day and when the Democrat party worker showed up with the wheel chair accessible van she would get a ride to the polling place and cast an in person ballot using the bill from the nursing home as proof of residence in the precinct. She died very proud that she had been able to vote for Bill Clinton for president 4 times.
The real source of in state fraud in Texas is in person voting without a picture ID or a voter registration card.
The Texas ID Rules:
A voter who has not been issued a driver’s license or social security number may register to vote, but such voter must submit proof of identification when presenting himself/herself for voting or with his/her mail-in ballots, if voting by mail. These voters’ names are flagged on the official voter registration list with the annotation of “ID.” The “ID” notation instructs the poll worker to request a proper form of identification from these voters when they present themselves for voting. Acceptable identification includes:
Please note that #1 doesn't even have to be from Texas. There is no way to know how many north and north eastern USA democrat snowbirds vote absentee in their home state and in person somewhere in Texas. My friend was from Ohio. #3,4,6,7 and 8 do not have a picture.
Now here is what happened when I was a Poll Watcher for the 2004 election in Texas. 5 different times a big van with large signs supporting the Democrat party pulled up at the polling place and 10-15 young women got out. Just outside the door the driver would instruct them in Spanish to "speak only Spanish because the monitor is Anglo." Then they would be instructed, in SPANISH "at this place show only the electric bill."
Clearly the local democrat party was making a deliberate effort to try and prevent me ,as the monitor from understanding what was going on. Yes, I am Anglo, but I understand Spanish. Clearly these same women were probably being driven around by a democrat party worker to different polling places and instructed to use different utility bills to vote democrat multiple times.
For me these examples are more than enough cause to demand that the only language used at a polling place should be the language the Constitution is written in. ENGLISH.. It is also more than enough justification to require all voters be required to show a picture id with their correct address when voting in person. If they are not at the correct polling place, the ballot should be provisional until it is checked against the registration/absentee ballot list for the voters actual residence. Even if that means contacting some other state.
blankballot.us
BLANK:
Sorry, just can't buy ANY OF YOUR STORY. Your "dear old friend" committed voter fraud....and YOU....being a party poll watcher didn't report it.
Sorry, can't buy it.
And would I be correct in guessing you are a part of the original Tea Party sponsored Patriot Group? The whole rest of your story sounds like a ver batem demonstration of the TRUE THE VOTE platform of reforms.
Soooo, when the voters presented the utility bills....did they match up with the voters on the rosters at that address?
And, clearly, you KNOW they were poll-hopping and voting different precincts....again, assuming you followed them and witnessed the fraud....why didn't you turn 'em in?????
AND as a poll watcher...why didn't you challange their votes.
I work polls in California. I find the story just don't make sense.
One thing we share. ENGLISH. We have to post everything in English, Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese.
Tagalog is Phillipines main lanquage. I think learning English would facilitate respect and communication amongst all of us....and give us at least one thing in common.
Obama/Biden 2012
Whether you vote absentee or in person, PLEASE VOTE.
When you don't vote I believe you forfeit the right to bitch and complain - as you give up your voice at the most important of sites - the voting booth!
Obama and the his Chicago Democrat Party machine have a long history of voter fraud, vote corruption, and rigged elections. It's no wonder they are against anything that could enhance election fairness and security. If you don't vote early and often, if the dead can't vote, if illegals can't vote, and if public employee unions don't vote in lock step with their union bosses, then Chicago Democrats would lose their grip on power. But the Chicago/Illinoi electorate would have to wake up to the fact that the Democrat machine exits to enrich itself and its members, and could care less about a city and state that is on the brink of financial collapse, that Chicago is a free-fire zone for gangs and drug cartels, and that almost a majority of public school students never finish high school, that a majority of female students are pregant at least once by the time the reach 20, and that both people and corporations are looking to leave the state if they can.
The Republicans shouldn't complain about voter fraud. They are pros at voter fraud and proud of it.
When people vote by absentee ballot what do the Republicans do to keep Democratic people, such as minorities and older folks, from voting? It must be done then by the people counting the votes. Certainly the GOP isn't going to allow a fair election to take place or they would lose every election by a landslide.
Romney/Ryan 2012.No more of my tax dollars going to welfare programs for those who don't wish to earn a living the American way,which is by the sweat of their brow.The Democrats are good at giving away my hard earned money. Get out and vote Romney/Ryan 2012.