I voted yesterday... No Political statements just asking about the method you chose on casting your ballot.

[JimMIA]

In the news this morning...Broward County, FL officials caught 50 bogus voter registration attempts for dead people. The phony applications were not processed and no absentee ballots were issued.

 

[bcla]

In the news this morning...Broward County, FL officials caught 50 bogus voter registration attempts for dead people. The phony applications were not processed and no absentee ballots were issued.

I read about that. Sounds like an amateurish operation. Same handwriting. Multiple applications stuffed in the same envelope. No return address but all postmarked from Columbia, SC. That set of warning signals everywhere. Also didn’t provide the correct last 4 digits of SSN or a driver license number, which would require presenting ID to an elections official or voting in person before being allowed to vote by mail.

Sounds like someone found death reports and tried to pull it off. Also the registrations were accepted anyways to try to catch the perp. Doesn’t sound like whoever it was managed to vote using stolen identities. And there was probably a plan to see if someone might show up in person.

 

[JimMIA]

I read about that. Sounds like an amateurish operation.

It wasn't pure amateurish. And I don't think anyone would go to that much trouble X 50 without compensation. I think it was more a test -- a prelude to a much bigger attempt.

The other thing that I wonder about is -- Is this the one they caught, but there are others they didn't catch?

 

[TLSnell1981]

Lots of mail ballots not returned, according to AP.

https://apnews.com/article/mail-ballots-not-returned-key-states-114bea9e50052452cf4f793c1b6d5912
The Florida number quoted in the article is correct, BTW...4 million mail ballots returned, 1.9 million NOT returned in Florida.

I wonder how many of the unreturned ballots were requested?

 

[LuvOrlando]

So this is interesting.
There are 4 of us here in Pa right now and our votes were dropped into the areas main post office last week, two on Sunday and two on Monday.
DH no issues, mine I didn't get an email but it was confirmed when I checked status.
DS no issues, DD status says the ballot was cancelled but she got an email saying it was received and counted.
I can only imagine this sort of inconsistency is going to cause an unnecessary surge in nervousness and phone calls. I'd like to say I'm surprised but I'm not, I'm going to brace myself for next week

 

[bcla]

It wasn't pure amateurish. And I don't think anyone would go to that much trouble X 50 without compensation. I think it was more a test -- a prelude to a much bigger attempt.

The other thing that I wonder about is -- Is this the one they caught, but there are others they didn't catch?

Who knows what anyone's motivation is? Could be anything from a real attempt to a stupid prank, or even a false flag. There were a lot of details in the reports, including that they were all attached to addresses in the same neighborhood in Davies. I'm guessing the addresses were visited by investigators.

I get that a few fraudulent registrations might slip through the cracks, but there will never be a perfect way to handle this. It would be really difficult to pull off any large scale operation because people have to vote in person or vote by mail ballots have to go out to specific addresses.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I wonder how many of the unreturned ballots were requested?

In Florida, they were all requested. You don't have to request every time there. In Florida, a request is good until the end of the year after the 2nd general election. Then you have to request again. It is not unusual to see a lot of non returned ballots.
And in 2016, 848,716 were not returned out of 3,472,561 sent. So 24.4% were not returned.
This time there are 1,531,235 not returned out of 6,002,524 So with a couple of days to go and a couple of the larger counties behind on processing they are already down to 25.5 % not returned.
Unfortunately there is no data in the data base on Voted in person instead, did not vote, or ballot returned late. Also note that primaries tend to have a greater percentage of unreturned ballots. This year's primary had 35% of them not returned.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I'm pretty sure no excuse is needed any more.

Thought so too but when I completed my request online there were 2 options, one was medical which asked for all sorts of Dr info and the other was absentee with a spot for a reason, I wrote in travel. This was a few weeks ago and there was no indication that preference without explanation was an option, although maybe they changed it, not sure.

 

[bcla]

In Florida, they were all requested. You don't have to request every time there. In Florida, a request is good until the end of the year after the 2nd general election. Then you have to request again. It is not unusual to see a lot of non returned ballots.
And in 2016, 848,716 were not returned out of 3,472,561 sent. So 24.4% were not returned.
This time there are 1,531,235 not returned out of 6,002,524 So with a couple of days to go and a couple of the larger counties behind on processing they are already down to 25.5 % not returned.
Unfortunately there is no data in the data base on Voted in person instead, did not vote, or ballot returned late. Also note that primaries tend to have a greater percentage of unreturned ballots. This year's primary had 35% of them not returned.

I find it odd that in Florida that there's no application form per se via mail. It's all through a free-form request.

I found in my county that they're already listing over 50% returned mail-in ballots. That doesn't include ballots still in transit. It probably doesn't include early voting (which I did yesterday) or in person voting. More than likely we're going to have near record turnout. Our state's deadline is a postmark by election day and 17 days to arrive. I don't expect that a lot of ballots are going arrive that late (the vast majority are going to take 1-3 days), but the law extended it for this election based on reports of slow mail service.

 

[bcla]

Thought so too but when I completed my request online there were 2 options, one was medical which asked for all sorts of Dr info and the other was absentee with a spot for a reason, I wrote in travel. This was a few weeks ago and there was no indication that preference without explanation was an option, although maybe they changed it, not sure.

Not sure what you did, but PA now has military/overseas absentee, absentee, and no-excuse vote by mail. The applications are different for each one; the federal post card application is used for voters overseas, or it's possible to request by email. I found the official forms which you can print out, fill, and mail in. There are slight differences. The absentee ballot application looks like it only applies to a single election. The mail-in ballot application has a check mark where one can receive mail-in ballots for the remainder of the year and get a new application mailed annually. I heard there were some concerns that mail-in ballot applications were rejected, but that was really because voters had checked that box but forgot and applied again for the general election. Some third-party groups were mailing out unsolicited mail-in ballot applications and a few people just kept on filling them out.

https://www.inquirer.com/politics/e...jections-duplicate-applications-20201016.html​

Nongovernmental groups have inundated Pennsylvania voters with mail ballot applications, making it easy to request ballots — and contributing to the flood of duplicates. Voters often believe these unsolicited and sometimes inaccurate applications come directly from elections offices. Some voters are filling them out even if they’ve previously submitted a ballot application.​

​

These groups have created “confusion for voters and the likelihood that voters will not realize their application has been processed and they don’t need to submit another one,” said the Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees elections. It added that “some voters may have forgotten that they opted to be put on the annual mail ballot list when they applied for a ballot for the June primary.”​

​

Counties big and small across Pennsylvania have been deluged with duplicate requests. Officials in Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, have rejected more than 49,000 duplicate ballot requests from the June primary to Oct. 14. Armstrong has rejected 25% of its 5,400 applications as duplicates. Chester County, in the Philadelphia suburbs, has processed 113,000 applications, and about one in five has been a duplicate. Neighboring Montgomery County has rejected 32,000 of its 174,000 applications, or 18%, as duplicates. Philadelphia has denied nearly 49,000 duplicate applications.​

Here's the absentee application:

And the mail-in application:

 

[KatMac]

My family and I voted last week in Washington State. We dropped our ballots off in person at the drop box in city hall. Not taking ANY chances! We confirmed, of course, that our ballots were counted.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Not sure what you did, but PA now has military/overseas absentee, absentee, and no-excuse vote by mail. The applications are different for each one; the federal post card application is used for voters overseas, or it's possible to request by email. I found the official forms which you can print out, fill, and mail in. There are slight differences. The absentee ballot application looks like it only applies to a single election. The mail-in ballot application has a check mark where one can receive mail-in ballots for the remainder of the year and get a new application mailed annually. I heard there were some concerns that mail-in ballot applications were rejected, but that was really because voters had checked that box but forgot and applied again for the general election. Some third-party groups were mailing out unsolicited mail-in ballot applications and a few people just kept on filling them out.

My process was, go to my county website & follow the link, fill it all out online & submit, we all did it.
After a little bit we got ballots in the mail.
Filled them out and put in the mail of the biggest post office that also serves the local courthouse, they all got there so the problem is not in the vote itself. The problem is in the fact the status info is inconsistent even within my household and this will cause lots of calls this week because the board of elections is not open this weekend, seems foolish to not have them open this weekend.

 

[P'colaBeachBum]

We voted in person last week in Brevard County, Fl. After reading about the bogus ballots in Fl I'm not surprised. Bad enough rap with the hanging chad business in those counties years ago.

 

[JimMIA]

We voted in person last week in Brevard County, Fl. After reading about the bogus ballots in Fl I'm not surprised. Bad enough rap with the hanging chad business in those counties years ago.

Palm Beach had a worse year in 2018, and the supervisor was removed from office. Both Broward and Palm Beach have new supervisors this year.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

I had double knee replacement in July, so I requested a Virginia absentee ballot because there is no way I can stand in any lines at the polls. My ballot came at the beginning of October. I didn’t want to risk mailing it in, so I dropped it off in person today at our early polling location drop box.

We’ve had early voting here at our county polling headquarters M - F since September 18th plus Saturdays in October. My DH went with me to drop of my absentee ballot today. He wanted to vote, but the line was 2.5 hours long. He’s going to go to our regular polling place on Tuesday at 6:00 am. Our DD voted early on Thursday in her college town (she registered there by the deadline). Our DS didn’t change his polling place or request an absentee ballot by the deadline, so he’s coming home on Tuesday to vote.

 

[NYCgrrl]

In the news this morning...Broward County, FL officials caught 50 bogus voter registration attempts for dead people. The phony applications were not processed and no absentee ballots were issued.

It wasn't pure amateurish. And I don't think anyone would go to that much trouble X 50 without compensation. I think it was more a test -- a prelude to a much bigger attempt.

The other thing that I wonder about is -- Is this the one they caught, but there are others they didn't catch?

Do you have a link to this story?
Am interested in reading more about it.

 

[JimMIA]

Do you have a link to this story?
Am interested in reading more about it.

Sure. It's in a lot of places, but here's the one I read. It's from our local ABC affiliate.

https://www.local10.com/news/politi...-scheme-to-register-dead-voters-as-democrats/

 

[NYCgrrl]

Sure. It's in a lot of places, but here's the one I read. It's from our local ABC affiliate.

https://www.local10.com/news/politi...-scheme-to-register-dead-voters-as-democrats/

So this happened over the summer and no ballots were requested.
Glad they were able to uncover the plot in ample time.

When I went to vote this week I checked to see if the man was still listed as eligible but his name was stricken from the record already . Good to know NYC‘s Bd of Elections is more up to date then I would have thought.

 

[JimMIA]

So this happened over the summer and no ballots were requested.

Correct, as I explained in my first post on this subject. The applications were for voter registration -- not ballots.

I think the investigation continued for a while, and the State Attorney's Office just closed out their case. That's why it didn't come to light previously.

Good catch for the elections officials.

 

[Hikergirl]

There was a problem at the polling place today when we went, machines were not reading some of the ballots. I was a little annoyed because the poll worker at my machine told me I was all set, it was cast and I could go, before the machine confirmed my ballot was counted successfully. I did not leave, I stayed until I saw with my own eyes it was completed.
Does make me wonder how many people she said that to and they left before the problem was discovered.
My dh and ds had to re-do their ballots but I did not.