Reply #38: Massive absentee voting: a conundrum

[BillORightsMan]

Having attended or peeked in to several workshops and speakers all weekend, I found myself having this conversation in the "Ohioans Doing Democracy" forum.

Much of the discussion revolved around HB3, which sets up so many trap doors for voter registration and ID requirements, it's an absolute maze (EX: Voter Registration mailings were supposed to go out First Class mail, but were marked Third Class mail and SAT at the post office for three days. If the mailing comes back, then it is RESENT, this time with a "please forward" marked on it. The trap door is the vigourous time-line that all this should happen, like 45 or 60 days BEFORE an election.)

The Voter hears a commercial on MSM radio/teevee by Jimmy DiMora (Cuyahoga Dem "leader"), SoS Ken Blackwell or some other politico and decides "I'm gonna do it! Exercise my RIGHT TO VOTE! YEAH!" and begins the process.

Now, if you vote ABSENTEE, you have to FIRST request an absentee ballot in writing. There are forms you need for this, but what's been discovered on several county BoE websites is that the forms offered for download are dated 2000 or other pre-HB3 date. There's a NEW one (post-HB3), so The Voter that downloads, fills out and MAILS the OLD 2000 form gets your request marked in the poll book as "requested an absentee ballot" (probably) but is rejected because the voter used the WRONG FORM. The BoE never sends The Voter an absentee ballot because it was rejected because it was the wrong form, so The Voter is like :wtf: and it's election day.

The Voter decides to go to the polling place The Voter always has (if it wasn't mysteriously MOVED :crazy:) and cast a ballot. "Oh," the poll worker says, "you requested an ABSENTEE BALLOT, so YOU MUST HAVE VOTED ALREADY" (huh they never line up the absentee REQUESTS to the absentee RECEIVED and CHANGE the poll book!) The Voter is offered a PROVISIONAL Ballot, which MAY or MAY NOT be counted (little help here: what was the spoilage rate of PROVISIONALS in OH in 2004? 20%?). Activists and citizens in Ohio are hereby encouraged to check EVERY SOURCE of Absentee Request forms at libraries, all 88 counties' web sites to check if the most current and correct form is available. The Ohio SoS site has Form No. 11-A Prescribed by Secretary of State (12-05) in pdf available HERE

Okay, let's say the correct form is submitted (probably by US Mail), the BoE marked the poll book correctly and mails out said Absentee Ballot. This is (or has been prior to HB3) a large envelope, containing a folded sheet with all the candidates and entire issue wording (each with a number), applicable for your SPECIFIC precinct (some precincts may have a ballot issue that only pertains to it, like a code variance for a liquor license at a gas station). Also, a punch card (post-HB3 probably an optical-scan ballot - fill in the circles with a BLACK PEN), a "secrecy" envelope to store The Voter's ballot, and a large RETURN envelope. (I always in the past put TWO stamps on it, because of weight the styrofoam backing used to punch the card and must be returned in the "secrecy" envelope - "check for 'chads' " was part of the instructions!) "Yeah!" The Voter exclaims, "I did MY ONE CIVIC DUTY for the year and VOTED!" runs to the mailbox and mails in The Ballot. So far so good, right? What happens if The Voter didn't get The Ballot until the Saturday before The Election on Tuesday and sticks The Ballot in the mailbox at the corner of the street that same day? Will it make it to the BoE in time? Hmmmmm.

Now, let's say The Voter's Ballot gets to the BoE on time. A poll worker opens the envelope (AFTER the polls have closed, RIGHT?) and looks at the top part of the ballot that has the sticker of The Voter's Name and precinct sticking out of the top of the "secrecy" envelope to check for the The Voter's name on the (supposedly SAME) voter roll book used for the Absentee Request form. "Huh!" says the BoE official, "This Voter is my kid's baseball coach! What a coincidence!" Then, perhaps, the BoE official may just take a peek to see how The Voter voted. Hmmmmm.

Next, the paper ballots are put in a pile to get ready to run through an optical scanner (Ohio uses predominantly DIEBOLD GEMS SCANNERS). We all remember the opti-scanners, right? The "Dean Demo", right? You know, the one where the scanners can be HACKED WITHOUT A TRACE days, weeks, MONTHS before an elections, right?

Sure, you say, at least it is a PAPER RECORD of The Voter. What if the BLACK PEN leaked a little and the optiscanner picked up an OVERVOTE? Whoops! REJECTED! And HB3 in Ohio makes a recountable race very expensive (now over $500,000) and if it's a FEDERAL ELECTION (think Brown-DeWine) HB3 has NO RECOUNT PROVISION and falls back on FEDERAL ELECTION LAWS.

So The Ohio Voter can follow an absentee ballot path like this. Or vote (predominently) on a Diebold DRE machine with VVPT (on thermal paper) with no meaningful audit trail.

Confused? Me too. All this may happen, provided you are still a REGISTERED VOTER. Check http://mydem.democrats.com/ to make sure!

Solutions offered are "pick your poison". I can only recommend going TO your BoE with proper ID and documents, and submit your paper absentee ballot there in person (in Ohio thirty days prior to Election Day). And photograph or photpcopy your ballot before you turn it in! I'm open for any better suggestions!

IMHO, the absentee ballot is yet another scheme that will be used to misplace, lose, delay, disqualify ballots and otherwise disenfranchise valid qualified voters. AND if enough voters use this scheme there will be none of the long lines we experienced in Cuyahoga County (and as was reported in many precincts all over the country in 2004), hence no OBVIOUS POWERFUL VISUAL evidence of fraud but PLENTY OF OPPORTUNITIES for ballots to be unaccounted for through using the Post Office for chain-of-custody. Perhaps using registered mail? Whoops! An unintended POLL TAX!
:wow:


Want to see Paper Ballots Hand Counted? Visit Nancy Tobi's Democracy For New Hampshire

:patriot: