[EL] Postage Question

Tue Nov 1 12:52:42 PDT 2016

Check. Thanks guys!

Ronald Keith Gaddie, Ph.D.
President's Associates Presidential Professor
Chair, Department of Political Science
Senior Fellow, Headington College
Associate Director, Center for Intelligence & National Security
General Editor, Social Science Quarterly
The University of Oklahoma

p: 405.325.2061  | e: rkgaddie at ou.edu<mailto:rkgaddie at ou.edu>  | t: @GaddieWindage<https://twitter.com/gaddiewindage>

________________________________
From: John Farrell <jfarrell at mccandlishlawyers.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 1, 2016 2:43 PM
To: Paul Gronke
Cc: Gaddie, Ronald K.; Election Law
Subject: Re: [EL] Postage Question

Seriously, this has been figured out in most states.

The ballots are returned to the general registrar or the clerk of the local government at the town/city hall or county courthouse (not the polling place since most of those locations are temporary, i.e., a public school, church, social hall, YMCA etc.).

The returned ballots are maintained in a locked room until processed.  Some states allow the mailed-in ballots to be reviewed for completeness when received.  Some states even allow the local election administrator to enter them into the counting device immediately after they are received and check for completeness. In those cases, the counting machine and the counted ballots are kept in a secure room before election day.

In some states, the return envelope with the mailed-in ballots are sent to the precinct of origin, checked in by the election officials in that precinct and put through the counting machine on election day and reported as part of the precinct return.

In others, the ballots are put through a counting machine in a central absentee precinct; the results printed out after the regular polls close and the results made know after the tally sheets are completed.

John W. Farrell
Attorney at Law

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On Nov 1, 2016, at 3:21 PM, Paul Gronke <paul.gronke at gmail.com<mailto:paul.gronke at gmail.com>> wrote:

Keith

Absolutely not.  I am not sure how many states actually allow this.

This creates a fairly serious hitch in the election administration workflow.

Just work through in your head what is being proposed: voters can drop off absentee ballots at a polling place. Where do those ballots go?  Do we maintain secure ballot drop boxes at every polling place?

Ok suppose we do that. Now, when do those envelopes (not ballots) get processed?  When are signatures checked?  For states with voter intent provisions, how are the ballots “remade”?

And finally, when are the ballot counted?

In California, over a million absentee ballots are dropped off at precinct places on election day.  The California clerks have very good procedures for dealing with these, but if you are going to allow this, you must also be willing to wait for election results.  Most counties that I am aware of don’t even begin to process those absentee ballots until they open for business on Wednesday.

---
Paul Gronke
Professor, Reed College
Director, Early Voting Information Center
http://earlyvoting.net<http://earlyvoting.net/>

General Inquiries: Laura Swann swannla at reed.edu<mailto:swannla at reed.edu>

Media Inquiries: Kevin Myers myersk at reed.edu<mailto:myersk at reed.edu>

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On Nov 1, 2016, at 12:13 PM, Gaddie, Ronald K. <rkgaddie at ou.edu<mailto:rkgaddie at ou.edu>> wrote:

Understood. Does the ability to drop at any polling place in a state hold across all states?

Ronald Keith Gaddie, Ph.D.
President's Associates Presidential Professor
Chair, Department of Political Science
Senior Fellow, Headington College
Associate Director, Center for Intelligence & National Security
General Editor, Social Science Quarterly
The University of Oklahoma

p: 405.325.2061  | e: rkgaddie at ou.edu<mailto:rkgaddie at ou.edu>  | t: @GaddieWindage<https://twitter.com/gaddiewindage>

________________________________
From: Richard Winger <richardwinger at yahoo.com<mailto:richardwinger at yahoo.com>>
Sent: Tuesday, November 1, 2016 2:09 PM
To: Gaddie, Ronald K.; Election Law
Subject: Re: [EL] Postage Question

because the voter is free to drop it off at any polling place or voting center on election day.  The postage is not a requirement for returning the voted ballot.

Richard Winger 415-922-9779 PO Box 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147

________________________________
From: "Gaddie, Ronald K." <rkgaddie at ou.edu<mailto:rkgaddie at ou.edu>>
To: Election Law <Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu>>
Sent: Tuesday, November 1, 2016 11:19 AM
Subject: [EL] Postage Question

Query: A former student, who is a lawyer and a Ph.D. candidate, wrote and asks "how is paying postage on an absentee ballot not a poll tax?"

Any knowledgable answers are greatly appreciated.

Ronald Keith Gaddie, Ph.D.
President's Associates Presidential Professor
Chair, Department of Political Science
Senior Fellow, Headington College
Associate Director, Center for Intelligence & National Security
General Editor, Social Science Quarterly
The University of Oklahoma

p: 405.325.2061  | e: rkgaddie at ou.edu<mailto:rkgaddie at ou.edu>  | t: @GaddieWindage<https://twitter.com/gaddiewindage>

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