Mail In Ballots and the Upcoming Election

[Deleted]

There is an article from the Washington Post about the new Postmaster General’s plans for the US Postal Service. Part of the plan is to get away from the “every piece, every day” commitment to go the extra mile if necessary to deliver all mail on time. You can read about that Here.

Why do I think that’s a cause for concern aside from the angry customers.... there is another article on NPR’s website that says that “an NPR analysis has found that in the primary elections held so far this year, at least 65,000 absentee or mail-in votes have been rejected because they arrived last the deadline, often through no fault of the voter”. You can read that article here.

According to the Washington Post, the newly appointed Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, is a major Trump donor.

Do any of you see where I’m going with this?

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

I see where you're going with it. However, as someone who has only ever voted by mail/drop off, it just doesn't work that way. For our state, the ballots arrive a full month prior to election day. The rule is quite clear: postmark means nothing. It must arrive at the ballot box by election day. If you're within a week to ten days of election day, don't mail it. Take it to a drop off ballot box. There are many ways to have someone come get it from you to take to a ballot box if you can't drive or are at work on election day. 

[ners]

I am debating what to do about the election.

I know my county is sending everyone an absentee ballot application.

I think I am going to complete the application, however I will personally dropping it off at the board of elections a day or 2 before the election.

I live in Ohio. I did early voting for the primary on the Sunday before the scheduled elections, which was cancelled the night before the election. It became a mail only at that point. I opted for early voting because I was not sure I would get home from work in time to get my DF to the voting place. At that point in time he was not very mobile and was not allowed to drive.

[sesfw]

I have voted by mail-in for many years.  I worked at a polling place on election day and the only way we could vote is by mail-in ballot.  

Voting day is a 15 hour day if you are lucky, with no time out to vote.

At the voting location was a sealed case that people could drop off their completed mail ballots.  We took those along with the voting machines to our drop-off place.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

We just received our ballot for the Aug. primary in WA yesterday.  We normally do not mail it, but drop it in the ballot box by the courthouse - only because we are about the same distance away from either the PO or the ballot box.  

[jerseygirl]

NJ sent all voters mail in ballots for last month’s primaries. I’ve only used mail in once prior. Primary results took a while to be counted and results determined.
However in Paterson NJ (a troubled low income city) there was a city election the month prior. 20% of mail in ballots were disregarded as either bad signatures, many same writing, or bundled together in large numbers. Only allowed for no more than 3 mail in ballots to be brought in together. So Paterson election results are in court.. I’m sure most of you know NJ has reputation for corruption. My town is one of many with mayors that went to jail

So if the November elections are mostly mail in I’m concerned. How long will be needed to know results? Will there be voter fraud increase with mail ins? Keep hearing this doesn’t happen but seeing fraud happen already in NJ makes me skeptical. I know several states have only mail ins for many years without problems. But ?

[jerseygirl]

Jul 18, 2020 16:23:30 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

There is an article from the Washington Post about the new Postmaster General’s plans for the US Postal Service. Part of the plan is to get away from the “every piece, every day” commitment to go the extra mile if necessary to deliver all mail on time. You can read about that Here.

Why do I think that’s a cause for concern aside from the angry customers.... there is another article on NPR’s website that says that “an NPR analysis has found that in the primary elections held so far this year, at least 65,000 absentee or mail-in votes have been rejected because they arrived last the deadline, often through no fault of the voter”. You can read that article here.

According to the Washington Post, the newly appointed Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, is a major Trump donor.

Do any of you see where I’m going with this?

Post office has been in a budget ‘crisis’ for years. About 10 years ago there was a big push to stop Saturday delivery as a cost cutting attempt. Didn’t happen. Also I agree post office should charge more for Amazon packages. It’s amazing to me how little shipping costs by Fedex UPS or USPS.

[Opti]

I did the drop off even though mailing would have been more convenient if I did it earlier. This makes me lean to ballot drop of for November. I must have missed the Paterson stuff on the news, but the good thing is they have been caught.


www.northjersey.com/story/news/paterson-press/2020/06/25/paterson-nj-election-fraud-who-charged-and-what-we-know/3260250001/

The office of state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced four arrests on charges of fraud in the May city council election, including Michael Jackson, an incumbent city councilman, and councilman-elect Alex Mendez.

[billisonboard]

Jul 19, 2020 7:49:09 GMT -5 Opti said:

I did the drop off even though mailing would have been more convenient if I did it earlier. This makes me lean to ballot drop of for November. I must have missed the Paterson stuff on the news, but the good thing is they have been caught.


www.northjersey.com/story/news/paterson-press/2020/06/25/paterson-nj-election-fraud-who-charged-and-what-we-know/3260250001/

The office of state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced four arrests on charges of fraud in the May city council election, including Michael Jackson, an incumbent city councilman, and councilman-elect Alex Mendez.

They did get caught. Most election officials are honest and competent. They spot fraud.

[teen persuasion]

We did mail in ballots for the first time EVER, for the special election last month for my district's empty house seat. Due to Covid-19, the state relaxed rules and allowed absentee ballots for medical reasons, and sent applications for absentee ballots to everyone. Sent them in, and waited...a long time. Ballots arrived the weekend before the Tuesday vote. Mailed it quick Monday, they said postmarked before election day. News said postmarked before or on election day.

Still waiting for the results! It's nearly a month since June 23. Doesn't bode well for November. I'm also not sure if we still have the absentee ballot option for November, unclear if it was just a one off, and things are reopening under control here (right now).

I've heard vote numbers were way up with the absentee option, but haven't heard how much of an increase it is. Votes were definitely skewed by party, in person day of (65/35 R/D) vs early (also new) (50/50) vs absentee (33/67 R/D). So the R candidate quickly claimed victory, 30% lead over D candidate based on in person totals available immediately. D candidate said not so fast - we are counting every vote.

[TheOtherMe]

The GOP controlled Iowa took away the ability of the Secretary of State to mail every registered voter a request for an absentee ballot.

After realizing that all of the Democratic counties were going to mail them anyway, the SOS appeared before a panel yesterday and received permission to mail every registered voter a request for an absentee ballot.

Since I moved here, I have voted absentee in every election that I did not work as a poll worker.  I have resigned from that position as the hours are too long for the pay received.  With the pandemic, I would have resigned anyway.

I moved here from a state that is mail in only so I trust the process.  After training as a poll worker, I know there are a lot of checks and balances in place to detect voter fraud.

[Deleted]

I just mailed mine for my state's primary. I'm allowed to because I'm Old and will be able to do so in November as well. I'd thought that a notary was required for my signature and it wasn't, which surprised me.

[nidena]

I received my mail-in application a couple months ago--long before the IN primary--but because my driver's license was still DE, I couldn't do anything with it.  And I couldn't do anything about the DL because, well, it was April.  Now that I'm in my permanent address and have a couple pieces of mail in my name, I'll get my new DL and register here.  I anticipate that all being completed early in the month of August.  Plenty of time before November.

[jerseygirl]

Jul 19, 2020 11:35:29 GMT -5 teen persuasion said:

We did mail in ballots for the first time EVER, for the special election last month for my district's empty house seat. Due to Covid-19, the state relaxed rules and allowed absentee ballots for medical reasons, and sent applications for absentee ballots to everyone. Sent them in, and waited...a long time. Ballots arrived the weekend before the Tuesday vote. Mailed it quick Monday, they said postmarked before election day. News said postmarked before or on election day.

Still waiting for the results! It's nearly a month since June 23. Doesn't bode well for November. I'm also not sure if we still have the absentee ballot option for November, unclear if it was just a one off, and things are reopening under control here (right now).

I've heard vote numbers were way up with the absentee option, but haven't heard how much of an increase it is. Votes were definitely skewed by party, in person day of (65/35 R/D) vs early (also new) (50/50) vs absentee (33/67 R/D). So the R candidate quickly claimed victory, 30% lead over D candidate based on in person totals available immediately. D candidate said not so fast - we are counting every vote.

Same in NJ, everyone registered received s mail in ballot for June primary. Still no results for many contests. Seems ominous for most of country doing mail in ballots- will results be in for Presidential swearing in for January 2021?

[billisonboard]

Jul 22, 2020 16:02:16 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

Jul 19, 2020 11:35:29 GMT -5 teen persuasion said:

We did mail in ballots for the first time EVER, for the special election last month for my district's empty house seat. Due to Covid-19, the state relaxed rules and allowed absentee ballots for medical reasons, and sent applications for absentee ballots to everyone. Sent them in, and waited...a long time. Ballots arrived the weekend before the Tuesday vote. Mailed it quick Monday, they said postmarked before election day. News said postmarked before or on election day.

Still waiting for the results! It's nearly a month since June 23. Doesn't bode well for November. I'm also not sure if we still have the absentee ballot option for November, unclear if it was just a one off, and things are reopening under control here (right now).

I've heard vote numbers were way up with the absentee option, but haven't heard how much of an increase it is. Votes were definitely skewed by party, in person day of (65/35 R/D) vs early (also new) (50/50) vs absentee (33/67 R/D). So the R candidate quickly claimed victory, 30% lead over D candidate based on in person totals available immediately. D candidate said not so fast - we are counting every vote.

Same in NJ, everyone registered received s mail in ballot for June primary. Still no results for many contests. Seems ominous for most of country doing mail in ballots- will results be in for Presidential swearing in for January 2021?

FWIW, Electoral College votes December 14th.

[teen persuasion]

Jul 22, 2020 16:02:16 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

Jul 19, 2020 11:35:29 GMT -5 teen persuasion said:

We did mail in ballots for the first time EVER, for the special election last month for my district's empty house seat. Due to Covid-19, the state relaxed rules and allowed absentee ballots for medical reasons, and sent applications for absentee ballots to everyone. Sent them in, and waited...a long time. Ballots arrived the weekend before the Tuesday vote. Mailed it quick Monday, they said postmarked before election day. News said postmarked before or on election day.

Still waiting for the results! It's nearly a month since June 23. Doesn't bode well for November. I'm also not sure if we still have the absentee ballot option for November, unclear if it was just a one off, and things are reopening under control here (right now).

I've heard vote numbers were way up with the absentee option, but haven't heard how much of an increase it is. Votes were definitely skewed by party, in person day of (65/35 R/D) vs early (also new) (50/50) vs absentee (33/67 R/D). So the R candidate quickly claimed victory, 30% lead over D candidate based on in person totals available immediately. D candidate said not so fast - we are counting every vote.

Same in NJ, everyone registered received s mail in ballot for June primary. Still no results for many contests. Seems ominous for most of country doing mail in ballots- will results be in for Presidential swearing in for January 2021?

It would have been more efficient to mail us the ballot directly, but they mailed all registered voters the APPLICATION for an absentee ballot.  Then the Republicans sent out another Application for an absentee ballot (with lots of propaganda on it).  The official application was postage paid, the Republican one required a stamp.  If you want everyone to vote, mail everyone the ballot, period.

I was surprised at how long it took to get the ballot.  I think that's because they normally don't send so many out, it's hard to qualify unless they change the rules.

The new early voting is stupid - you can vote at any open polling place, not just your assigned one! Yay!  There's ONLY one early polling place, even further from our assigned have-to-go-out-of-our-usual-way polling place.  Boo!

[billisonboard]

Jul 22, 2020 16:02:16 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

Jul 19, 2020 11:35:29 GMT -5 teen persuasion said:

We did mail in ballots for the first time EVER, for the special election last month for my district's empty house seat. Due to Covid-19, the state relaxed rules and allowed absentee ballots for medical reasons, and sent applications for absentee ballots to everyone. Sent them in, and waited...a long time. Ballots arrived the weekend before the Tuesday vote. Mailed it quick Monday, they said postmarked before election day. News said postmarked before or on election day.

Still waiting for the results! It's nearly a month since June 23. Doesn't bode well for November. I'm also not sure if we still have the absentee ballot option for November, unclear if it was just a one off, and things are reopening under control here (right now).

I've heard vote numbers were way up with the absentee option, but haven't heard how much of an increase it is. Votes were definitely skewed by party, in person day of (65/35 R/D) vs early (also new) (50/50) vs absentee (33/67 R/D). So the R candidate quickly claimed victory, 30% lead over D candidate based on in person totals available immediately. D candidate said not so fast - we are counting every vote.

Same in NJ, everyone registered received s mail in ballot for June primary. Still no results for many contests. Seems ominous for most of country doing mail in ballots- will results be in for Presidential swearing in for January 2021?

It appears that the "June primary" in New Jersey was held July 7th link and the preset time line is as follows:

Counting in other undecided races is guaranteed to continue throughout the month. Ballots postmarked by 8 p.m. on Tuesday have until July 14 to be counted, and issues with a voter's signature can be remedied with county election officials until July 23. link

I could find no articles indicating any concerns with election results being delayed. Perhaps you can and share it.

[billisonboard]

Jul 19, 2020 11:35:29 GMT -5 teen persuasion said:

We did mail in ballots for the first time EVER, for the special election last month for my district's empty house seat. Due to Covid-19, the state relaxed rules and allowed absentee ballots for medical reasons, and sent applications for absentee ballots to everyone. Sent them in, and waited...a long time. Ballots arrived the weekend before the Tuesday vote. Mailed it quick Monday, they said postmarked before election day. News said postmarked before or on election day.

Still waiting for the results! It's nearly a month since June 23. Doesn't bode well for November. I'm also not sure if we still have the absentee ballot option for November, unclear if it was just a one off, and things are reopening under control here (right now).

I've heard vote numbers were way up with the absentee option, but haven't heard how much of an increase it is. Votes were definitely skewed by party, in person day of (65/35 R/D) vs early (also new) (50/50) vs absentee (33/67 R/D). So the R candidate quickly claimed victory, 30% lead over D candidate based on in person totals available immediately. D candidate said not so fast - we are counting every vote.

This one?

Republican Chris Jacobs of western New York became the newest House member on Tuesday, taking the oath of office to fill the unexpired term of a lawmaker who left Congress after pleading guilty to federal insider trading charges. link

What is the normal time line for certification of results in your area? This one took a month from voting to swearing in. The November election will have a two month delay.

[teen persuasion]

Jul 22, 2020 16:46:06 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

Jul 19, 2020 11:35:29 GMT -5 teen persuasion said:

We did mail in ballots for the first time EVER, for the special election last month for my district's empty house seat. Due to Covid-19, the state relaxed rules and allowed absentee ballots for medical reasons, and sent applications for absentee ballots to everyone. Sent them in, and waited...a long time. Ballots arrived the weekend before the Tuesday vote. Mailed it quick Monday, they said postmarked before election day. News said postmarked before or on election day.

Still waiting for the results! It's nearly a month since June 23. Doesn't bode well for November. I'm also not sure if we still have the absentee ballot option for November, unclear if it was just a one off, and things are reopening under control here (right now).

I've heard vote numbers were way up with the absentee option, but haven't heard how much of an increase it is. Votes were definitely skewed by party, in person day of (65/35 R/D) vs early (also new) (50/50) vs absentee (33/67 R/D). So the R candidate quickly claimed victory, 30% lead over D candidate based on in person totals available immediately. D candidate said not so fast - we are counting every vote.

This one?

Republican Chris Jacobs of western New York became the newest House member on Tuesday, taking the oath of office to fill the unexpired term of a lawmaker who left Congress after pleading guilty to federal insider trading charges. link

What is the normal time line for certification of results in your area? This one took a month from voting to swearing in. The November election will have a two month delay.

That's the one.  I have no idea of normal timelines, they aren't used to more than a tiny fraction of absentee ballots to count.  I was still looking for BOE results, but the state website thinks it's 2019 - the link for election results goes to that year.  Clicking on 2020 has no results.  The local tv news hasn't made a peep, I didn't see that Jacobs had been sworn in.  Most of the bits and pieces I saw were on Twitter, as each of the counties (8 parts) put out numbers, but it's disjointed that way.

Jacobs used to be a Democrat, then switched affiliation (it's a very red district, as drawn).  They finagled a Trump endorsement, and he tried to paint his primary opponent as a never Trumper (she's more Trumpy than Trump, let alone Jacobs). IDK, as a former Democrat, he's probably better than his primary opponent, but the sudden about face with Trump endorsement means he's likely joined the dark side completely and can't play bipartisan.

Jacobs' 30% lead from in person votes dropped to only single digits with absentee votes added. Still can't find a thorough breakdown, though.

[justme]

Jul 18, 2020 19:57:57 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

Jul 18, 2020 16:23:30 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

There is an article from the Washington Post about the new Postmaster General’s plans for the US Postal Service. Part of the plan is to get away from the “every piece, every day” commitment to go the extra mile if necessary to deliver all mail on time. You can read about that Here.

Why do I think that’s a cause for concern aside from the angry customers.... there is another article on NPR’s website that says that “an NPR analysis has found that in the primary elections held so far this year, at least 65,000 absentee or mail-in votes have been rejected because they arrived last the deadline, often through no fault of the voter”. You can read that article here.

According to the Washington Post, the newly appointed Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, is a major Trump donor.

Do any of you see where I’m going with this?

Post office has been in a budget ‘crisis’ for years. About 10 years ago there was a big push to stop Saturday delivery as a cost cutting attempt. Didn’t happen. Also I agree post office should charge more for Amazon packages. It’s amazing to me how little shipping costs by Fedex UPS or USPS.

Pretty much anyone who legit looks into says the opposite. The contracts with Amazon, ups, FedEx top deliver packages helps them. www.npr.org/2018/04/04/599579232/fact-check-is-the-post-office-losing-money-by-delivering-packages-for-amazon for one example.

The main reason for the budget crisis is Congress demanding the usps fully fund its pension. Yet other pensions in the federal government are not fully funded. If you take away the pension obligations they aren't in the red (at least last time I looked into all this).

[jerseygirl]

Jul 22, 2020 18:01:02 GMT -5 justme said:

Jul 18, 2020 19:57:57 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

Post office has been in a budget ‘crisis’ for years. About 10 years ago there was a big push to stop Saturday delivery as a cost cutting attempt. Didn’t happen. Also I agree post office should charge more for Amazon packages. It’s amazing to me how little shipping costs by Fedex UPS or USPS.

Pretty much anyone who legit looks into says the opposite. The contracts with Amazon, ups, FedEx top deliver packages helps them. www.npr.org/2018/04/04/599579232/fact-check-is-the-post-office-losing-money-by-delivering-packages-for-amazon for one example.

The main reason for the budget crisis is Congress demanding the usps fully fund its pension. Yet other pensions in the federal government are not fully funded. If you take away the pension obligations they aren't in the red (at least last time I looked into all this).

Yes the pension funding really damaged the USPS budget

[jerseygirl]

Jul 22, 2020 16:34:40 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

Jul 22, 2020 16:02:16 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

Same in NJ, everyone registered received s mail in ballot for June primary. Still no results for many contests. Seems ominous for most of country doing mail in ballots- will results be in for Presidential swearing in for January 2021?

It appears that the "June primary" in New Jersey was held July 7th link and the preset time line is as follows:

Counting in other undecided races is guaranteed to continue throughout the month. Ballots postmarked by 8 p.m. on Tuesday have until July 14 to be counted, and issues with a voter's signature can be remedied with county election officials until July 23. link

I could find no articles indicating any concerns with election results being delayed. Perhaps you can and share it.

The results are normally known the next morning for most races with a minority delayed results. Yes the Electoral College is before swearing in (hyperbole!) But for electoral college to vote the state vote results must be determined.
I do hope there’s no problems as I think mail in ballots will be very helpful this year, I’m just very sceptical

[alabamagal]

I support mail in ballots but still have some concerns. In KY you had to request a mail in ballot, no reason was needed. It seemed to work pretty well, although a lot of ballots were disqualified for not having proper signature. If you filled out ballot yourself, you signed yourself. If someone helped they had to sign.

So I mailed my ballot about a week before Jun 23 primary. Haven’t checked if my ballot got there, not really sure if that information is even available. I also mailed myDads Father’s Day card the Monday of that week (jun 21). My Mom said that my Dad’s card arrived in Miami last week. It was postmarked in Jun. Was someone holding onto mail (presumably with ballots)? Just makes me wonder.

[billisonboard]

Jul 22, 2020 18:31:34 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

Jul 22, 2020 16:34:40 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

It appears that the "June primary" in New Jersey was held July 7th link and the preset time line is as follows:

Counting in other undecided races is guaranteed to continue throughout the month. Ballots postmarked by 8 p.m. on Tuesday have until July 14 to be counted, and issues with a voter's signature can be remedied with county election officials until July 23. link

I could find no articles indicating any concerns with election results being delayed. Perhaps you can and share it.

The results are normally known the next morning for most races with a minority delayed results. Yes the Electoral College is before swearing in (hyperbole!) But for electoral college to vote the state vote results must be determined.
I do hope there’s no problems as I think mail in ballots will be very helpful this year, I’m just very sceptical

Yes, "normally". Necessary? Not at all.

And yes, the reason i mentioned the Electoral College vote date is because that is what matters, not January as you previously posted.

[Deleted]

Jul 22, 2020 18:01:02 GMT -5 justme said:

Jul 18, 2020 19:57:57 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

Post office has been in a budget ‘crisis’ for years. About 10 years ago there was a big push to stop Saturday delivery as a cost cutting attempt. Didn’t happen. Also I agree post office should charge more for Amazon packages. It’s amazing to me how little shipping costs by Fedex UPS or USPS.

Pretty much anyone who legit looks into says the opposite. The contracts with Amazon, ups, FedEx top deliver packages helps them. www.npr.org/2018/04/04/599579232/fact-check-is-the-post-office-losing-money-by-delivering-packages-for-amazon for one example.

The main reason for the budget crisis is Congress demanding the usps fully fund its pension. Yet other pensions in the federal government are not fully funded. If you take away the pension obligations they aren't in the red (at least last time I looked into all this).

They weren’t just required to fully fund the retirement benefits, in 2006 they were required to prefund 75 years worth of retirement benefits in 10 years. I think that is an important distinction, because that is basically unheard of for other employers, private or government. That is part of the reason for the postal service’s current state.

[TheOtherMe]

Here I can see if my absentee ballot request has been requested, date sent, and date received.  I can only see that for my ballot, as it should be.

[resolution]

Which signature do they compare your mail in ballot to? Is it compared to the ballot application or to your original voter registration? I am not sure if I  would match my original voter registration because I re-registered right after I changed to my married name, and before I had a lot of practice with the new name. That was quite a few years ago.

[TheOtherMe]

Here it's supposed to be the voter registration.  I have no idea if mine matches or not.

I know when I worked the polls, we mostly looked at the voter ID to compare expiration date and photo to the person giving it to us.  We glanced at the signature and called it good.  

[lynnerself]

In Oregon if your signature doesn't match you get contacted and have 14 days to come in and fix it. Not  necessarily true in other states. We have been doing this a long time and have most of the bugs worked out.

[billisonboard]

Jul 23, 2020 10:05:14 GMT -5 lynnerself said:

In Oregon if your signature doesn't match you get contacted and have 14 days to come in and fix it. Not  necessarily true in other states. We have been doing this a long time and have most of the bugs worked out.

i am in Washington that has done all by mail for years. i actually forgot to sign the envelope one time. Got a call and told then "whoops". They said okay and that they would process it. I think that a long history of voting factored into them accepting it that way.