[EL] Change early vote?

[Dan Meek]

Correction:  If a voter requests a replacement ballot, the second ballot 
does not get the same bar-coded number.  Instead, it gets a new number 
that is linked to the number of the original ballot so that only the 
second ballot counts, if both are cast.

Dan Meek

	503-293-9021 	dan at meek.net <mailto:dan at meek.net>	855-280-0488 fax


On 6/6/2015 5:30 PM, Dan Meek wrote:
> For years I have advocated changing the Oregon system so that "the 
> last vote counts" for each voter.
>
> Today, a voter can legitimately request a second ballot, only if the 
> first ballot has been lost, destroyed, or mutilated in a way that will 
> prevent it from being counted by the scanners.  This locks early 
> voters into their early choices, which can be made up to 17 days 
> before election day.  If a voter has already sent in her ballot and 
> then claims it was lost or destroyed and casts a second ballot, it is 
> the first ballot that counts.
>
> My proposal has been that anyone can request a second ballot, for any 
> reason, and casting it would override that person's earlier vote.  
> This is practical because, as Sal noted, each voter has a unique 
> bar-coded identifier.  When the voter goes to the county election 
> office, shows valid ID, and requests a second ballot, it gets the same 
> bar code as the first one.
>
> This "last vote counts" system would be a safeguard against a type of 
> voter fraud that is possible with vote-by-mail.  Say an unscrupulous 
> employer says to her workers, "All of you sign your voter return 
> envelopes and give me your ballots.  If you tell anyone about this, 
> you are fired."  The employer could then fill out the ballots, insert 
> them into the pre-signed return envelopes, and mail them in.  Say then 
> a concerned worker goes to the county elections office and asks for a 
> second ballot.  He can get one, only if he says the first ballot was 
> lost.  Say he does so and votes the second ballot.  Then, when the 
> system sees that 2 ballots were cast by the same person, it cancels 
> the second one, thus leaving the employer's voting fraud scheme intact.
>
> If the second ballot were the one that counted, the worker could 
> thwart the employer's fraud by going to the county elections office, 
> showing valid ID, getting a second ballot and casting it.  This would 
> also allow voters to change their votes, based upon events during the 
> last 17 days before the election.
>
> You may ask why we should not rely on the worker to report the fraud.  
> That would require substantial courage on the part of a worker who 
> needs the job.  Also, there would be no documentary evidence of the 
> fraud, unless all of the marks (usually the filling in of ovals) on 
> the ballots looked the same and were made with the same type of pen.  
> But the employer could avoid that sort of evidence by using different 
> pens and marking styles.
>
> As for Tom's question about whether states make it easy to change an 
> early vote, Oregon does not.  In fact, it prohibits changing an early 
> vote except when the original ballot is lost, destroyed, or mutilated 
> and in fact has not already been mailed in.  If it has already been 
> mailed in and is machine-readable, it counts and cannot be changed.  
> There are no walk-in polls in Oregon, so early votes cannot be changed 
> "at the polls."
>
> But I think Oregon should change its rules so that anyone can request 
> and vote a second ballot, with only the second ballot counting.  The 
> existing technology allows that.  And it should not be necessary for 
> the voter to make a trip to the county elections office.  Since the 
> first ballot was simply mailed to the voter's registered address, the 
> second ballot could be mailed there also.  This would also tend to 
> discourage the type of hypothetical voter fraud I described above.  
> Each employer would know that, even if she collects, fills out, and 
> votes the ballots of her workers, each of them can easily (and in 
> secret) request and cast a second ballot that would override the first 
> one.
>
> Dan Meek
>
> 	503-293-9021 	dan at meek.net <mailto:dan at meek.net>	855-280-0488 fax
>
>
>
> On 6/5/2015 11:03 PM, Sal Peralta wrote:
>> In Oregon's VBM system there is no way to associate a particular ballot with a voter.  The voter places the ballot into a secrecy envelope and signs the envelope which has a barcode uniquely associated with the voter.  When the ballot is received, the envelope is processed, the signature is verified and the ballot is flagged "received".  Then the ballot is removed from the envelope and placed with the other ballots for processing.   This is intended to protect voter privacy.
>>
>> I'm not sure I agree that this creates a problem of campaigns not working hard through Election Day.  To the contrary, campaigns get daily updates of which votes have been cast so it allows them to more efficiently target their outreach efforts on voters who have not yet returned their ballots.  Additionally the state provides voters with a web interface to check to see whether their ballots have been received and their status which makes it easier to cure potential problems such as the ballot getting lost in the mail or a failure to match the signature.
>>
>> More Oregonians seem to be holding their ballots until nearer to the date of the election in recent years, possibly for reasons like those you've stated.
>>
>> This may be provincial, but I think it's a pretty innovative model.
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Sal Peralta
>>
>> Sent from my iPad
>>
>>> On Jun 4, 2015, at 3:06 PM, "Thomas J. Cares"<Tom at TomCares.com>  wrote:
>>>
>>> In early voting practices, is there precedent for states making it easy for one to change their early vote? I mean campaigns are on full steam in those final days, it seems to corrupt the political process to allow ballots to be cast 20 days early. In my participation in democratic clubs, I commonly hear last minute remorse over a mailed in vote "wow, I didn't know that school board candidate thinks evolution should be stripped from biology class; I can't believe I sent my ballot in, voting for her."
>>>
>>> When I was a candidate, towards the very end, I had people tell me "I wish I didn't already send in my ballot, I wish I would have voted for you." Which could be disingenuous except one such person offered to volunteer a little for the campaign in the final days.
>>>
>>> See, I tend not to mail my ballot early, because I don't know how campaigns will develop - if someone might have a Monday night Todd Akin moment that costs them my respect.
>>>
>>> But, ideally, the state would allow people to still show up on Election Day and request their cast ballot arrange to be discarded, and cast a new one. Not just so voters can change their mind, but so campaigns are not so inhibited to keep making their case until the final day.
>>>
>>> I realize some of the logistical challenges in doing this, which seem minor, in my view.
>>>
>>> Has it been done?
>>>
>>> -Tom
>>>
>>>
>>> -- 
>>>
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