Mail In Ballots and the Upcoming Election

[tallguy]

Aug 16, 2020 10:55:55 GMT -5 @shastasnewlife said:

Aug 16, 2020 4:42:07 GMT -5 oped said:

Yet the polling shows nearly 80% understand what it means. 

I'm well informed on it's meaning and thus didn't comment on the mansplaining.

I stand behind what I said - screaming "defund the police" right now isn't helpful for the BLM movement. Find a new slogan and stop giving Faux and Trump something to put on TV and scare old people...

Doubtful, or you would not have made such a comment.  If that were in fact true, you would have recognized (rightly) that there was no relation between the one thing and that to which you were trying to tie it.   Either that, or there was a serious disconnect between what your brain was thinking and your fingers were typing.  I'm prepared to accept either as a reason.  

You say that you stand behind what you said before, but what you say here in your second sentence is not what you said before.  Do you really not recognize the difference?

[Deleted]

If your message warranted a response I would give one. It doesn't, so I won't. Have a great day! 

[happyhoix]

Aug 16, 2020 9:57:20 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

Aug 16, 2020 9:27:19 GMT -5 pulmonarymd said:

Isn't that a microcosm of this presidency. It is clear he doesn't know(or care about) anything

What concerns me is that he appears to not be willing to take the next step when things like this come up: "I am not fully aware of this situation so do not think I should comment at this time. I will get more information and get back to you." He is pleading the same ignorance with the Harris citizenship issue.

I was working one day with a group of high school girls. They were part of a great program that gave these young women who weren't athletes nor academically talented a place to belong. They had a mantra, "As long as we do our best, that's the best we can do." I would present them with a challenge, they would make an unsuccessful attempt and then someone would sing-song the mantra. I offered a new concept to them, "If your best isn't good enough, get better!"

I offer similar to our President, "If you don't know, learn!"

He knows. But he thinks if he couches his statements in wishywashy language he can deny he said it in the future.

Many people say. I don’t know but that person who said it is brilliant. I don’t know but people are saying.

Weasel words make it easier to lie.

[billisonboard]

Aug 16, 2020 13:04:44 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

Aug 16, 2020 9:57:20 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

What concerns me is that he appears to not be willing to take the next step when things like this come up: "I am not fully aware of this situation so do not think I should comment at this time. I will get more information and get back to you." He is pleading the same ignorance with the Harris citizenship issue.

I was working one day with a group of high school girls. They were part of a great program that gave these young women who weren't athletes nor academically talented a place to belong. They had a mantra, "As long as we do our best, that's the best we can do." I would present them with a challenge, they would make an unsuccessful attempt and then someone would sing-song the mantra. I offered a new concept to them, "If your best isn't good enough, get better!"

I offer similar to our President, "If you don't know, learn!"

He knows. But he thinks if he couches his statements in wishywashy language he can deny he said it in the future.

Many people say. I don’t know but that person who said it is brilliant. I don’t know but people are saying.

Weasel words make it easier to lie.

I do not feel a need to be constrained to truth in my responses to what President Trump says. I could respond:

"He's lying" giving the opportunity for the eassy response of, "You people always accuse him of lying."

Or

"Since he doesn't know about this important issue, he should learn and respond from an informed position" allowing for a response of what? "No, the President should stay uninformed."?

[weltschmerz]

Given the crisis facing the United States Postal Service before a presidential election, the last thing John Herter expected to receive in the mail Saturday was an absentee ballot request form with President Donald Trump's face on it.



"Is this a joke?" Herter said his wife told him as she opened up the mailer to reveal a photo of Trump grinning underneath the words, "Are you going to let the Democrats silence you? Act now to stand with President Trump."


www.cnn.com/2020/08/16/politics/postal-service-trump-absentee-ballot-request-mail-usps/index.html

[billisonboard]

More than 800 ballots that were received by mail from "dead voters" in Michigan's recent state-wide primary.

Facts First: What happened in Michigan was not voter fraud but an example of the system working the way it's supposed to. Michigan's voter verification processes identified ballots from individuals who had died after submitting their ballot. Election officials did not count these ballots, in line with the state's policies. link

[TheOtherMe]

When I was a poll worker, I was told deceased voters stay on the rolls for two election cycles.  The mail will be returned to the Election Office.  Death notices and death certificates are also tracked for absentee ballots and ballots of people who pass between time returned and election day are not counted.

Dad's mail is forwarded to me.  The county and the state each sent out applications for absentee ballots for the primary.  The mailings were not forwarded to me.

[jerseygirl]

In NJ the governor ruled that ballots would be sent to all registered voters. If someone goes to ballot site then their ballot would be marked provisional since person may have mailed in ballot. I’ve had absentee ballots twice and mailed. I’m not aware of any ballot boxes where ballots can be deposited. Think all will be mailed
Had a primary in July with all ballots mailed to voters. Some results
still not in
Hoping all states will allow or require extra time to request where needed and mail.
Don’t want rerun of the Florida hanging chad mess and confusion

[Opti]

My NJ county had at least three drop off sites. One was outside the courthouse and I saw at least three other people drop off ballots. Maybe you want to check your county's website.

[Opti]

Aug 18, 2020 15:17:20 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

In NJ the governor ruled that ballots would be sent to all registered voters. If someone goes to ballot site then their ballot would be marked provisional since person may have mailed in ballot. I’ve had absentee ballots twice and mailed. I’m not aware of any ballot boxes where ballots can be deposited. Think all will be mailed
Had a primary in July with all ballots mailed to voters. Some results
still not in
Hoping all states will allow or require extra time to request where needed and mail.
Don’t want rerun of the Florida hanging chad mess and confusion

What results are missing?
They called the Presidential primary pretty quickly. Not interested to look any more than I already have, but here's NJ's results for President. Given the data in the corner maybe its as of 8/9?

www.state.nj.us/state/elections/assets/pdf/election-results/2020/2020-official-primary-results-president.pdf

[NastyWoman]

Aug 16, 2020 13:04:44 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

Aug 16, 2020 9:57:20 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

What concerns me is that he appears to not be willing to take the next step when things like this come up: "I am not fully aware of this situation so do not think I should comment at this time. I will get more information and get back to you." He is pleading the same ignorance with the Harris citizenship issue.

I was working one day with a group of high school girls. They were part of a great program that gave these young women who weren't athletes nor academically talented a place to belong. They had a mantra, "As long as we do our best, that's the best we can do." I would present them with a challenge, they would make an unsuccessful attempt and then someone would sing-song the mantra. I offered a new concept to them, "If your best isn't good enough, get better!"

I offer similar to our President, "If you don't know, learn!"

He knows. But he thinks if he couches his statements in wishywashy language he can deny he said it in the future.

Many people say. I don’t know but that person who said it is brilliant. I don’t know but people are saying.

Weasel words make it easier to lie.

True, but his lying/weaseling should have a little more sophistication than what he presents to us. As it is (and I know I have told this story before) he is as believable as then 2.5 - 3yo DS1 when I asked if he had taken a brownie when I had told him not to do so. He looked at me with those big brown eyes of his and denied that he had done so. All while his face was smeared with brownie and his mouth was still half full. This was funny with a little guy and brownies, an adult talking about important things using lies to scam his way into what he wants?     

[jerseygirl]

Aug 18, 2020 15:57:42 GMT -5 Opti said:

Aug 18, 2020 15:17:20 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

In NJ the governor ruled that ballots would be sent to all registered voters. If someone goes to ballot site then their ballot would be marked provisional since person may have mailed in ballot. I’ve had absentee ballots twice and mailed. I’m not aware of any ballot boxes where ballots can be deposited. Think all will be mailed
Had a primary in July with all ballots mailed to voters. Some results
still not in
Hoping all states will allow or require extra time to request where needed and mail.
Don’t want rerun of the Florida hanging chad mess and confusion

What results are missing?
They called the Presidential primary pretty quickly. Not interested to look any more than I already have, but here's NJ's results for President. Given the data in the corner maybe its as of 8/9?

www.state.nj.us/state/elections/assets/pdf/election-results/2020/2020-official-primary-results-president.pdf

[

Local

[Deleted]

It seems the PMG has decided to put off the changes he wanted to make to how the USPS operates until after the election. I’ve seen several articles about it today, but haven’t had time to really read them. Hopefully this is good news.

[Tennesseer]

Aug 18, 2020 18:28:37 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

It seems the PMG has decided to put off the changes he wanted to make to how the USPS operates until after the election. I’ve seen several articles about it today, but haven’t had time to really read them. Hopefully this is good news.

Will the PMG order the high speed mail sorters already removed to be reinstalled? Only time will tell.

[Deleted]

Aug 18, 2020 19:16:33 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Aug 18, 2020 18:28:37 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

It seems the PMG has decided to put off the changes he wanted to make to how the USPS operates until after the election. I’ve seen several articles about it today, but haven’t had time to really read them. Hopefully this is good news.

Will the PMG order the high speed mail sorters already removed to be reinstalled? Only time will tell.

I doubt it since they were trashed.

[nittanycheme]

Aug 12, 2020 12:12:31 GMT -5 Cookies Galore said:

Aug 12, 2020 11:48:37 GMT -5 nittanycheme said:

I live in a state that does not have any early voting - PA.  I was so happy that they elected to allow mail in voting for two reasons:  1) I work 45 min away and the polls are open 7 to 7 pm so I either had to go into work late, or be very sure to leave on time to be able to vote and 2) because in 2018 we started to get the new voting machines.  I went to my local polling place, where there were maybe 5 people in line, and it took over an hour to vote.  We used the new machines to print out our paper ballots with our votes, which then went into a machine that looked like a giant toter garbage can with a scanner on top.  It probably took 3 minutes for the machine to scan the paper form, and sometimes it would fault and need to be rescanned (you could tell by where the paper exited - if it spit back out at you, it faulted.  if it dropped in the can, you were ok.  I can't imagine what it will be like if the lines were like they were in 2016.  There was only one scanner for my polling place.  And, TBH, I'm not quite sure how they would fit a second one with the setup they have.  A lot of the PA polling places were like that in 2018 - there was so much complaining, and it wasn't even a major election year.

And more people probably get prescriptions in the mail than you think.  I mean, there are a lot of women on birth control pills, thyroid pills, etc., that have routine refills sent through the mail.  I found an article that says that 20% of people get their prescriptions exclusively by mail (National Report Card on Medication Adherence, based on survey information in 2013), and another article in the Washington Post from 2019 where it states that nearly 3 in 5 American adults take at least one prescription drug.

I'm glad that the PA general assembly passed a bipartisan election reform bill last year that allowed for mail-in voting starting this year. How did they know a pandemic was going to hit!?!? 😂
My county got our new ballot machines in time for the primary last year, and while it was a slow process and there was some learning curve, at least the new process started during a municipal election year and not a bigger year. I already requested my ballot for the general because if I can lighten the day of load, why not. I can literally walk my ballot to county voter services since I live just over a mile away. I hope people who are not regular voters are aware of the new paper trail ballot systems (they differ by county) and that straight party voting is gone (compromise to get the no-excuses mail ballots). While it shouldn't matter, 51% of Rs and 48% of Dems voted straight party in 2018. That option helps those of us at the bottom of the ballot (I'm a town council person and a Democratic committee person). I'd rather have mail ballots, though! But yeah, 2020 is a big voter education year and I can't go door-knocking.

As far as mail order prescriptions, myself and my 20-year-old cat use mail order. Me, because my insurance requires maintenance meds go through mail order and my cat because she needs a compounding pharmacy for her meds.

I actually had to reply to a facebook post someone put about voting in person vs. mail in.  Something about if you can stand in line at a store, you can vote in person.  When I voted using our new processing machine (note the singular) for my precinct, also on the off year election, it took over an hour and there were only 5 people in line.  I remember the line from 2016 - if this year is anything like it I will be standing in line until Wed morning.  I was so happy when they did the mail in thing because of that - especially since I work 45 min away so either I'd basically have to take off tuesday or wednesday to either vote, or sleep in after waiting all night to vote.  There was all kinds of complaining on FB after we switched over on the waits.  And I can guarantee you I would NEVER wait hours in line at store to buy anything.  I don't shop on black friday, if I got into a store and the lines are too long, I just leave.  Voting is more important than that, but why stand hours in line with my (likely non-mask-wearing) neighbors (because most of the line will be outside, and as long as you are outside, the virus disappears no matter how close or far you are from someone, right? )

[TheOtherMe]

I skipped working the general election in 2016 as a poll worker.  At the next election I did work, the other poll workers said the general election was a nightmare.  There were people waiting when the polls opened and people were lined up out the door for the entire day.

The polls close at 9 PM and anybody in line is allowed to vote.  They said the last voter got finished about 10:30 PM.

I have requested an absentee ballot and will most likely drop it off at the county auditors office because the Secretary of State has decreed that is the only place drop boxes can be placed.

[teen persuasion]

Cuomo has signed 3 executive orders on absentee ballots for NY.
First, we can request an absentee ballot because of fear of illness (Covid).
Second, we can request one right now - previously we couldn't request it until 30 days before the election. That adds 7 extra weeks.
Third, clarified that ballots postmarked ON election day are to be counted, have IIRC one week to be received at BOE.

[Tennesseer]

During today's hearing the PMG stated the automated sorting machines (ASM) were removed because they had become obsolete.  

When something becomes obsolete, something new has usually come along and taken its place/function.

Does anyone know what took the place of the ASM and is it better than the ASM?

[Opti]

Aug 18, 2020 16:32:58 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

Aug 18, 2020 15:57:42 GMT -5 Opti said:

What results are missing?
They called the Presidential primary pretty quickly. Not interested to look any more than I already have, but here's NJ's results for President. Given the data in the corner maybe its as of 8/9?

www.state.nj.us/state/elections/assets/pdf/election-results/2020/2020-official-primary-results-president.pdf

[

Local

I know of no primaries where the vote has not been counted. Everything that comes up in a search shows the counts completed.

www.insidernj.com/new-jersey-primary-election-results/

[Deleted]

Aug 21, 2020 19:14:12 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

During today's hearing the PMG stated the automated sorting machines (ASM) were removed because they had become obsolete.  

When something becomes obsolete, something new has usually come along and taken its place/function.

Does anyone know what took the place of the ASM and is it better than the ASM?

Hmmmm..... my friends that work at the PO don’t know what an ASM is. 

There are machines that sort letters, machines that sort larger envelopes, catalogues and magazines, and machines that sort parcels (packages). ASM could refer to any or none of those.... I’m not sure.

One of my friends also said that one of the local facilities that sorts packages, is about 2 weeks behind. They have over 100 trucks that haven’t been unloaded. So many that they’ve lost track of which ones arrived when, so they can work them in order, like first come, first served. Yikes! That sounds pretty much like what whoever DBF spoke to about his missing package said about what’s going on in Milwaukee WI. So apparently the problem, whatever it is, isn’t confined to just one area of the country.

[TheOtherMe]

The slow down is all over the country.  The Post Master General has no intention of fixing what he has already broken.

[jerseygirl]

www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/08/20/postal-service-mail-sorters-removals/%3foutputType=amp

[Tennesseer]

Aug 24, 2020 21:45:10 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/08/20/postal-service-mail-sorters-removals/%3foutputType=amp

The Washington Post is behind a pay wall.

[formerroomate99]

I don’t get why some states make it so hard. In St. Louis, I registered to vote when I got my drivers license. A little card telling me where to go vote came in the mail a month before the election. The voting places were so close you could walk to them, and they were open for 12 to 14 hours on voting day.

Here in Utah, mail in ballots just started arriving at our house the moment we moved in. And the ballots have to be postmarked by election day, not arrive by election day. I had an out-of-state drivers license for the first four years I lived here, so I know I didn’t do anything to register to vote. And my husbands name wasn’t on the house the first couple years we’ve lived here, and he was a stay at home dad at the time, I’m not entirely sure how they even figured out he was here.



If you live in a state that does sketchy things like throwing out ballots because the mail was slow, you’ve got a problem on the local level. It doesn’t have to be this way, and you don’t have to stand for it.

[happyhoix]

Our state does things like remove polling places from minority neighborhoods so voters have to travel to vote. Urban areas have fewer polling places than rural areas so you have to stand in line for hours to vote. They also periodically voting lists so you might show up to vote and find you can’t.

I’d like to do something about it but our current governor is the guy who implemented all these measures in the first place.

[billisonboard]

Aug 26, 2020 9:38:53 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

Our state does things like remove polling places from minority neighborhoods so voters have to travel to vote. Urban areas have fewer polling places than rural areas so you have to stand in line for hours to vote. They also periodically voting lists so you might show up to vote and find you can’t.

I’d like to do something about it but our current governor is the guy who implemented all these measures in the first place.

I have yet to see a state that does not have a reasonable process for removing people from voting rolls. Granted if you haven't voted for a while or if you have moved - not updated your registration and then just show up, there might be a problem. Blaming "they" for that is one choice.

[TheOtherMe]

Iowa has same day voter registration so if a person has been removed, they can register if they have a state issued ID and one other form of identification with them.  I registered someone as the polls were closing.  The state finally allowed records that were on phones to be used.  Otherwise, that person would not have had time to go home and get what he needed.  It was on his phone.

I have been tracking my absentee ballot request online.  Mailed August 15.  Still not showing.  Called County Election Office.  Said they are way behind and not to worry about it.  To call back in late September as ballots can't be mailed until October 5.  Asked if they will have a drop box.  Said they don't know.  Then I read the Iowa Secretary of State just made a rule that there can be no drop boxes.  

[andi9899]

Aug 16, 2020 0:35:55 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

Aug 15, 2020 21:45:54 GMT -5 tallguy said:

To be fair, in that situation it would still be real police officers showing up.  "Defund the police" is a really stupid slogan for what they are actually trying to do. 

"Reduce the responsibilities of the overworked police department, and support community based groups who are better equipped to deal with the complex problems that occur in our society" isn't that catchy. Hard to put on a sign.

I said something like this over the weekend when my dad was going on about BLM insisting that all lives matter and what makes black people so special. I schooled him on the movement and then told him BLM rolls off the tongue much better than "yo cops, can y'all stop killing black folks."

[happyhoix]

Aug 26, 2020 9:55:43 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

Aug 26, 2020 9:38:53 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

Our state does things like remove polling places from minority neighborhoods so voters have to travel to vote. Urban areas have fewer polling places than rural areas so you have to stand in line for hours to vote. They also periodically voting lists so you might show up to vote and find you can’t.

I’d like to do something about it but our current governor is the guy who implemented all these measures in the first place.

I have yet to see a state that does not have a reasonable process for removing people from voting rolls. Granted if you haven't voted for a while or if you have moved - not updated your registration and then just show up, there might be a problem. Blaming "they" for that is one choice.

Would be interesting to see in my state which counties were most aggressively dumped.

I know for instance the state claimed a lot of minority area polling places did not meet the ADA requirements and were shut down. In my 90% white county we still have the same number of polling places we’ve always had, even the two with steps you have to climb to get into the building (one of the most frequently cited ADA noncompliance reasons for closing polling places in minority areas.

Would the same person who did that also decide not to voter rolls in more affluent areas because those kind of people probably move around less? Suspicious mind want to know.