[EL] Just for fun

[Paul Lehto]

Taking the legal language seriously on the topic of provisionals
needing to be 'incapable' of computerized counting, does this not mean
that provisionals must only be capable of being hand-counted?  It
seems so, but then absent a uniform statewide recount by hand of ALL
ballots, a hand count of provisionals seems to hand candidates a Bush
v Gore issue because ballots are being treated with differing
'dignity' in terms of the style of counting and the time and care put
into it.  Or is this aspect of BvG a dead letter in this context?

Paul Lehto, J.D.

On 3/30/12, Hamilton, Kevin J.  (Perkins Coie)
<KHamilton at perkinscoie.com> wrote:
> The first provision is designed to prevent provisional ballots from being
> commingled with regular ballots and tabulated before they are validated.
> (Awkward language, admittedly, and hopefully they are at some level capable
> of being tabulated by a "voting system" at some point if validated).
>
> The second one actually addresses an issue that happens:  when two or more
> voters decide to return their ballots in a single envelope (to save postage,
> etc.)  People do crazy things and maybe that's an effort at fraud, but I'm
> more than a little skeptical as it would be a particularly stupid/obvious
> way to go about it.  More likely, it's an attempt to do something
> environmentally friendly or to save postage without thinking about the
> voter-specific affirmations that are required on the outside of the return
> envelope.   Even if there is a signature on the outside of the envelope,
> there's no way to determine which ballot corresponds to the voter who signed
> and which corresponds to the voter who failed to sign.  As a result, neither
> can be counted.
>
> Kevin
>
> Kevin J. Hamilton | Perkins Coie LLP
> 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4800
> Seattle, WA 98101-3099
> 206.359.8888 (main)
> 206.359.8741 (direct)
> 206.359.9741 (fax)
> khamilton at perkinscoie.com
> From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
> [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Lori
> Minnite
> Sent: Friday, March 30, 2012 2:22 PM
> To: law-election at UCI.edu
> Subject: [EL] Just for fun
>
> Voters who vote at the polls and fail to present valid ID in Washington
> State may vote a provisional ballot.  In trying to figure out whether they
> must do anything else - sign an affidavit, for example - before they have
> the honor of voting a provisional ballot, I came across this rule:
> RCW 29A.36.115
> Provisional ballots.
>
>
> All provisional ballots must be visually distinguishable from other ballots
> and incapable of being tabulated by a voting system.
>
> [2011 c 10 § 31; 2005 c 243 § 3.]
>
> (It's the "incapable of being tabulated by a voting system" that has me
> chuckling).  At the same time, Washington is to be commended for being on
> the look-out for voter fraud:
>
> RCW 29A.60.040
> Rejection of ballots or parts - Write-in votes.
>
>
> A ballot is invalid and no votes on that ballot may be counted if it is
> found folded together with another ballot.
>
> Lori Minnite
>
>
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-- 
Paul R Lehto, J.D.
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