All Too Easy
Will Colorado properly count its absentee ballots? Very possibly not, says Colorado early voter Bruce F Webster:
the voter is supposed to sign in a specific location on the back of the ballot envelope (an Affidavit of Voter). Again, this is pointed out in the separate instruction sheet — and, frankly, on the front of the envelope, too. However, the instruction sheet shows the area to sign as being right under the text of the “Affidavit of Voter”. It’s not — it’s above and to the right of the “Affidavit of Voter”, and underneath the envelope flap. That appears to be deliberate, since there is a portion of the envelope flap that can be pulled off to expose the signature. But it means that if the voter seals the envelope without seeing that location under the flap, s/he may well not realize that s/he has to sign the envelope — and the ballot won’t count.
Bruce notes other problems as well.
I’m no fan of making it so easy to cast mail-in ballots. Part of the election process is to see how a candidate holds up under the pressure of a full-bore presidential campaign. How they hold up in the last days might be even more important than what they promise in the early days. Voting a month early robs a voter of that knowledge. And besides, isn’t an election supposed to be a civic event, where we really do come together as one to perform one of our few real national duties? Marking off a few lines on your kitchen table and dropping something in the mail hardly counts, in my book.
Look, it’s not like I want to stand in longer lines in some stinky high school gym just to cast a ballot for some mostly-worthless politicians I’d never want to invite into my home — but that ought to be one of the small prices of democracy.
on a related note; here in Ohio, a friend of mine told me that on his absentee ballot, all the candidate’s names were in alphabetical order (by last name). But for some unexplained reason… one candidate was at the top of the list. You guessed it, Obama! (there may have been a fold issue there as well, but I just got the brief story)
Joel – Not sure about Ohio specifically, but typically the candidates are in alphabetical order with the starting position in the alphabet chosen randomly. That way Aadam Aabernathy will not always be at the top of the ballot.
I have to disagree on this issue. I’ve been a 100% mail voter for ten years. Never once in that time has an argument come up in the last two weeks which would have changed my vote. If that were to occur, I can always go stand in line in the stinky gym and vote in person. In every state I’ve lived, an in person vote will always supersede an absentee ballot from the same person. My personal preference for vote by mail comes from being able to research each and every issue with ballot in hand. I can calculate exactly how much that property tax increase of $0.05 / $1000 value is going to cost me before I fill in the bubble. That lets me be a more informed voter.
My problem with the absentee voting process is this: When you have rampant voter registration fraud (the left likes to pretend it’s harmelss but why engage in it if you don’t intend to go on to commit actual vote fraued?), it’s extremely easy to register a non-existent voter with a real physical address. An organization like ACORN can have any number of absentee ballots delivered to one of these addresses then mark it for their favored candidate (guess which one) and send it in to be counted.