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Sunny S. Gabby C. Nile W. Mail-In Voting. Why People Use Mail-In Voting. Early Voting . -Is the process by which electors can vote on a single or series of days prior to an election.
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Sunny S. Gabby C. Nile W. Mail-In Voting
Early Voting • -Is the process by which electors can vote on a single or series of days prior to an election. • -The goal of early voting is usually to increase participation and relieve congestion of polling stations on the election day. • -Two-thirds of the states, plus the District of Columbia, offer some sort of early voting. • - Interesting facts:Florida
Early Voting (continued) • - A system established early in the history of the U.S, with the purpose of facilitating the voting process to soldiers and sailors who were not present at the time of the elections. • - Over time the Early voting system was expanded, for different circumstances, by states across the nation. • - The system was established to encourage and allow an increase in voter participation.
Absentee Ballots • -Absentee voting is conducted by mail-in paper ballot prior to the day of the election. • While all states offer some version of it, there is quite a lot of variation in states’ procedures for absentee voting: • some states offer "no-excuse" absentee voting • Other states permit voters to vote absentee only under a limited set of circumstances. • Permanent No-Excuse Absentee Voting: • -Allowed in: Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, New Jersey, Utah, Washington and the District of Columbia. • -This enables any voter to request to receive an absentee ballot automatically for all future elections. • - Some states, including Louisiana, Minnesota and Tennessee allow voters who meet certain criteria to automatically receive an absentee ballot for all elections.
Growing Trends All Vote-by-Mail Elections: • 1998 Oregon: People voted to make vote-by-mail a viable method, to be used in all of the state. • First used in the 2000 presidential elections, and have kept using it up to this date. • -Washington State - Followed Oregon's approach and have been successfully using it.
(Cont) • Efforts by different groups, have tried to make this a more popular system that could be used in every state. • Yet, there have been some states, like Arizona in 2006, who have not been successful in passing reforms. • Many people still doubt the effectiveness, and security of the system.
“Why vote by mail is better?”- Campaigning for change • Groups’ efforts to teach people and convince them to switch to Vote-by-Mail system • VotebyMailProject.org: • "We believe that fair, efficient, and highly participatory elections make our democracy stronger, and we are committed to assisting citizens and public officials nationwide to move their states along the continuum towards fair, efficient Vote By Mail elections."
Advantages • No waiting for hours in line • No polling place intimidation • No confusion about where to go to vote • No need to make arrangements for childcare or time off from work • No malfunctioning voting equipment • No need to hire and train poll workers • Increased election process integrity through signature verification • Lower election administration costs • Increased voter turnout
Federal - All information from • The Federal government defers all voting regulation to individual localities, “All elections in the United States are run at the state and local level”
(Cont) The only regulation that the Federal government has in terms of absentee voting has to do with US citizens living abroad and military personal abroad. For citizens living abroad, they are required to fill out a Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) and submit it to their local election officials. The procedure is as follows: • “You send in a completed FPCA to your local election officials • They confirm your eligibility to vote, and put your name on a list to receive absentee ballots • They send you a blank absentee ballot by mail and make it available electronically • You complete the ballot and send it back before the ballot receipt deadline • If your ballot fails to arrive, use the emergency federal write-in ballot to vote”
(Cont) • It is required by law that a mail in ballot be sent to an overseas citizen 45 days before a general election, and sometimes less for other elections. It is also required that “... states to make your blank ballots available electronically either by fax, e-mail, or internet download.” • Based on states and status abroad, a voter may receive a ballot for all elections, or only for federal offices. • A voter’s ballot may be sent in by regular mail, if not a voter can have their ballot sent through a U.S. Diplomatic pouch, or Military Postal Service. There is also sometimes the option of sending in a ballot electronically through e-mail, fax or Internet, or to send it through some express courier service (FedEx, UPS, etc.).
California all information from (http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_m.htm) • California allows for the option for voter’s there to participate in the election process by mailing in their ballot, instead of going to the polls on election day. • California requires that a voter submit their request for a Vote By Mail ballot at least seven days before an election. • Every absentee ballot is guaranteed to be counted in a California election, no matter the outcome, and no matter how close the race is. • There is no requirement in California that for a voter to receive a vote-by-mail ballot, they must be physically incapable to make it to the polls on election day Any voter is entitled to apply for a vote-by-mail ballot.
(Cont) • People have three options in terms of returning their vote-by-mail ballot: “1) mailing it to your county elections official; 2) returning it in person to a polling place or the elections office in your county on Election Day; or 3) authorizing a relative or person living in the same household as you to return the ballot on your behalf.” • The ballot must be received by 8:00 p.m. to the county election office on election day for it to be counted and tallied in the election. • Once a ballot is received by the county elections official, the signature one the envelope is crossed checked with the signature on the individual’s voter registration card to confirm the identity of the voter. However the ballot is separated from the envelope once it is being tallied to maintain the voter’s privacy.
Vote-By-Mail Ballot Receipt System California Elections Code section 3017(c) • requires county elections officials to establish procedures to track and confirm the receipt of voted vote-by-mail ballots and to make this information available by means of an online access system using the county's elections division web site or via a toll-free telephone number.” • Voters can apply to be permanent vote-by-mail voters, so for every election they are automatically sent a mail in ballot.
Washington • Voting by mail is available to every resident and eligible voter in Washington State, and prior to each election a mail in ballot is automatically sent to every voter who’s address is on record. • Washington switched to almost all vote-by-mail balloting because such a large percentage of their population had already requested to have ballots mailed to them permanently, and there was such low turn out during polling, that it became cost ineffective to keep polling in every locality. • 38 out of 39 counties in Washington state have all mail in voting, except for Pierce county which maintains polling sites. If someone lives in a county that maintains polling, they have to request to receive mail in ballots permanently.
(Cont) all information from (http://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/Default.aspx) • Ballots are sent out at least 18 days before any election to homes. • Ballots do not need to be returned by mail in Washington, and can instead be dropped off at a County Auditor’s office, or designated ballot drop sites decided by the County Auditor. • Once a ballot is received, the County Auditor will flag a person’s record to denote that their ballot is received, and any voter can contact their County Auditor if they would like to confirm that their ballot is received. • Once a ballot is received, the secrecy envelope is removed and separated from the envelope the ballot is sent in to maintain the privacy of the voter’s choices. Voter’s must sign the envelope their ballot is sent in, and if they forget to the County Auditor will contact the voter by mail for them to sign an oath in order for their ballot to be counted in the election.
Oregon all information from (http://www.sos.state.or.us/elections/) • “Oregon elections are conducted by mail. Voters registered as of the 21st day before an election are mailed a ballot to vote and return by election day. The use of vote-by-mail was first approved on a limited basis by the Legislature in 1981 and was made a permanent feature of some elections in 1987. On November 7, 2000, Oregon became the first all vote-by -mail state after being adopted by nearly 70% of the voters in 1998.”
Susceptibility To Fraud • Like hand counted mail, Postal Ballots transfer hands many times (perhaps even more than hand counted ballots). • In 2006, the Gate City mayor in Vancouver was accused and convicted persuading elderly and easily manipulated voters into voting for him using absentee ballots through the mail.
(Cont) • One of the biggest complaints against Mail-In voting is that it alters the time limit placed on the voting precincts. The time limit is there to insure secrecy, accessibility, and it attempts to deter fraud. Mail-In voting renders that irrelevant.
Additional problems • One of the largest problems with the verification process is that it only requires a signature. • This can be easily forged or neglected, causing voter fraud. • There is not yet a system in place that guarantees the accuracy of the ballot or whether or not it remained secret. • There have been known disqualifications based on unclear deadlines.
Problems with the postal service • A Member of the United States Postal Service need only think a package ‘suspicious’ before they throw it away. • Branches of the Postal Service are completely separate from each other. Security can be varied depending on which branch you go into. • The ballots switch hands; the more people that are in physical contact with the votes, the higher the risk of tampering or fraud. • Without tracking numbers, it is impossible to tell if all of the absentee or Mail-In votes reached their destination. Some mail can sit in holding rooms for months without being counted.
The patriot act • According to NPR, the Patriot Act allows for information sharing between departments, among other things. • Under Sec. 215: Allows a special judge to issue an order for "any tangible thing" that is sought in connection to a foreign intelligence investigation. Previously, this power was limited to hotel, car rental and storage records. • This includes libraries, public and private records, social networking sites, and mail.
Florida 2000 • In the 2000 election Gore received 202 more votes than Bush. • However, when the absentee ballots came in from the military (past the original time limit), Bush received 537 more votes than Gore. The absentee ballots changed the election. • “After the election, the New York Times conducted a six-month investigation and found that 680 of the overseas absentee ballots were illegally counted, and almost no one has publicly disagreed with their assessment” - How Bush Took Florida: Mining the Overseas Absentee Vote'' By David Barstow and Don van Natta Jr.
The Problem • Regulation. • There needs to be a system in place that oversees the Mail-In voting. Especially if it keeps increasing in popularity.
Double verification • Online tracking. • The Mail-In ballot has a number attached to it which is submitted online, telling the precinct that will receive the ballot that it has been sent. • The ballot then has a time limit in which to reach its destination. • Once received at the precinct where it was intended, the precinct will contact the voter, letting him/her know that their vote was counted. • If any of those steps do not occur, there can be subsequent steps in place to make sure Fraud does not occur
Separate mail service • USPS is not the only postal service that handles American ballots. • Perhaps a way to simplify the process of keeping track of Mail-In ballots would be to have a separate mail carrier during the times of elections. • If not, perhaps people can be specifically trained to handle the ballots. Something has to be done to decrease the risk of tampering with and misplacing the ballots in the mail.
