[EL] Counting By-Mail ballots is hard

Mon Mar 23 13:34:26 PDT 2020

The longer it takes to finish the counting, the greater the likelihood that
the result that some people will question the result. I think that's a real
problem.

Mark

[image: Pepperdine wordmark]*Caruso School of Law*

*Mark S. Scarberry*

*Professor of Lawmark.scarberry at pepperdine.edu
<mark.scarberry at pepperdine.edu>*

On Mon, Mar 23, 2020 at 11:14 AM Douglas Johnson <djohnson at ndcresearch.com>
wrote:

> Thank you for that update - that’s great to hear. Sounds like the problem
> is simply poor communication between the Secretary of State and the County,
> which is problematic but much easier to fix than ballot counting problems!
>
> - Doug
>
> On Mon, Mar 23, 2020 at 10:53 AM Pedro Hernandez <pedro at fairvote.org>
> wrote:
>
>> For clarification:
>>
>> I've been following SF's canvass pretty closely (as I am a voter in the
>> City and County). San Francisco's last ballot count was on March 13th (see
>> prelim report 13)
>> <https://sfelections.sfgov.org/march-3-2020-election-results-detailed-reports>.
>> On March March 12th there were less than 500
>> <https://sfelections.sfgov.org/article/preliminary-election-results-report-12-and-ballot-processing-update-san-francisco-department> ballots
>> remaining to be counted, and nearly all remaining ballots were counted
>> on the 13th
>> <https://sfelections.sfgov.org/article/preliminary-election-results-report-13-and-ballot-processing-update-san-francisco-department>.
>> The SF DOE stated that it received approximately 34,000 provisional
>> ballots
>> <https://sfelections.sfgov.org/article/preliminary-election-results-report-12-and-ballot-processing-update-san-francisco-department>.
>> I suspect any remaining ballots will be counted when workers can get back
>> to work.
>>
>> On March 12th, the County began the process of selecting it's ballots for
>> the 1% manual tally. No update yet, but given the shelter in place notice,
>> it's not clear when the SF will complete it's canvass. Although
>> counties have until the 30th day after the election to complete their
>> canvass.
>>
>> This is not to take away from concerns over VBM implementation. With any
>> large scale move to VBM, best practices should be adopted.
>>
>> Pedro
>>
>> Pedro Hernandez
>> Pronouns: He/Him/His
>> Senior Policy Coordinator, Voting Rights & Ranked Choice Voting
>> http://fairvote.org
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Mar 19, 2020 at 9:04 PM Douglas Johnson <djohnson at ndcresearch.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> To reinforce the Detroit and other stories' ideas that managing
>>> large-scale by-mail ballots is hard:
>>>
>>> Today is March 19th, sixteen days after California's primary election.
>>> Yet San Francisco has yet to count over 25% of the ballots cast in the
>>> county. While the time required to process provisional ballots is
>>> understandable, 88,000 of the remaining 110,000 ballots left to count in
>>> San Francisco are by-mail ballots. Granted, San Francisco is using new
>>> voting equipment this election -- and I suspect the learning curve with the
>>> new equipment is why the counting delays there are more there than in other
>>> California counties (disclaimer: I am guessing about that as I have no
>>> inside knowledge into SF's operations) -- but what is proposed in this
>>> debate is new voting equipment on a massive, almost national, scale.
>>>
>>> California is a state that has had no-excuse by-mail voting for many,
>>> many years, and the state has experience processing 25%, 33% and even 50%
>>> of all ballots cast coming in by mail. The state's election officials are
>>> among the most-experienced and most-expert with by-mail voting in the
>>> country. Yet this undertaking remains a difficult logistical challenge.
>>>
>>> I support the massive expansion of by-mail voting for this November
>>> election. But we should not under-estimate how hard that will be to
>>> implement -- and how long it will take to count those votes.
>>>
>>> - Doug
>>>
>>> Douglas Johnson
>>> Rose Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna College
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, Mar 19, 2020 at 8:28 PM Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> “Voting by Mail Is the Hot New Idea. Is There Time to Make It Work?”
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110125>
>>>>
>>>> Posted on March 19, 2020 8:18 pm
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110125> by *Rick Hasen*
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
>>>>
>>>> NYT reports.
>>>> <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/19/us/politics/voting-by-mail-coronavirus.html>
>>>>
>>>> [image: Share]
>>>> <https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110125&title=%E2%80%9CVoting%20by%20Mail%20Is%20the%20Hot%20New%20Idea.%20Is%20There%20Time%20to%20Make%20It%20Work%3F%E2%80%9D>
>>>>
>>>> Posted in absentee ballots <https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53>, election
>>>> administration <https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Must-read from Nate Persily and Charles Stewart: “Ten Recommendations
>>>> to Ensure a Healthy and Trustworthy 2020 Election”
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110119>
>>>>
>>>> Posted on March 19, 2020 2:14 pm
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110119> by *Rick Hasen*
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
>>>>
>>>> Over
>>>> <https://www.lawfareblog.com/ten-recommendations-ensure-healthy-and-trustworthy-2020-election> at
>>>> Lawfare:
>>>>
>>>> *This past week has provided ample evidence that states are in need of
>>>> reliable plans to carry out elections without interruption in the face of
>>>> the unfolding medical crisis. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine caused alarm when
>>>> he decided
>>>> <https://www.cleveland.com/open/2020/03/ohio-polls-remain-closed-following-overnight-ruling-from-ohio-supreme-court.html> to
>>>> postpone the presidential primary the day before it was scheduled to occur.
>>>> DeWine’s action may have been justified on public health grounds, but it
>>>> illustrated the confusion that can arise when states are caught between
>>>> opening polling places and endangering the health of citizens. Meanwhile,
>>>> the governor of Arizona and the director of elections for Maricopa
>>>> County fought
>>>> <https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2020/03/13/court-stops-county-recorder-from-sending-ballots-to-all-voters-for-tuesday-election/> over
>>>> whether the county could send out mail-in ballots even to voters who have
>>>> not requested them. Their battle illustrates that without a definitive
>>>> statewide plan, state and local election officials can be locked in
>>>> litigation when they should be cooperating to face serious challenges to
>>>> the continuity of elections.*
>>>>
>>>> *Despite the challenge presented by COVID-19, the 2020 elections must
>>>> go forward. The elections to be held on Nov. 3 are not optional. They
>>>> cannot be postponed, even if dangers to public health remain as great as
>>>> they are likely to get over the next few weeks. The nation must act now to
>>>> ensure that there will be no doubt, regardless of the spread of infection,
>>>> that the elections will be conducted on schedule and that they will be free
>>>> and fair.*
>>>>
>>>> *Doing so requires an effort in election resilience that is
>>>> unprecedented in American history. However, there are some clear paths
>>>> toward achieving the desired result. We offer 10 steps in that direction.*
>>>>
>>>> [image: Share]
>>>> <https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110119&title=Must-read%20from%20Nate%20Persily%20and%20Charles%20Stewart%3A%20%E2%80%9CTen%20Recommendations%20to%20Ensure%20a%20Healthy%20and%20Trustworthy%202020%20Election%E2%80%9D>
>>>>
>>>> Posted in Uncategorized <https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> “Coronavirus threatens the November election, can vote by mail save it?”
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110117>
>>>>
>>>> Posted on March 19, 2020 12:20 pm
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110117> by *Rick Hasen*
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
>>>>
>>>> Evan Halper
>>>> <https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-03-19/calls-mount-making-november-mail-in-ballot> for
>>>> the LAT.
>>>>
>>>> [image: Share]
>>>> <https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110117&title=%E2%80%9CCoronavirus%20threatens%20the%20November%20election%2C%20can%20vote%20by%20mail%20save%20it%3F%E2%80%9D>
>>>>
>>>> Posted in Uncategorized <https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> National Vote at Home Issues Its Report on Scaling Up Absentee
>>>> Balloting for November in Light of COVID-19
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110105>
>>>>
>>>> Posted on March 19, 2020 7:09 am
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110105> by *Rick Hasen*
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
>>>>
>>>> You can read the report here
>>>> <https://www.voteathome.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/VAHScale_StrategyPlan.pdf>
>>>> .
>>>>
>>>> [image: Share]
>>>> <https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110105&title=National%20Vote%20at%20Home%20Issues%20Its%20Report%20on%20Scaling%20Up%20Absentee%20Balloting%20for%20November%20in%20Light%20of%20COVID-19>
>>>>
>>>> Posted in election administration <https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Steven Rosenfeld Looks Under the Hood at Detroit’s Absentee Ballot
>>>> Processing, and It is Not Pretty
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110101>
>>>>
>>>> Posted on March 19, 2020 7:04 am
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=110101> by *Rick Hasen*
>>>> <https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
>>>>
>>>> For those like me who want and expect expanded absentee balloting in
>>>> November, a reminder
>>>> <https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/why-nationwide-voting-by-mail-isnt-a-silver-bullet-in-a-pandemic/> that
>>>> there’s a lot of work to do.
>>>>
>>>> [image: Share]
>>>> <https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D110101&title=Steven%20Rosenfeld%20Looks%20Under%20the%20Hood%20at%20Detroit%E2%80%99s%20Absentee%20Ballot%20Processing%2C%20and%20It%20is%20Not%20Pretty>
>>>>
>>>> Posted in absentee ballots <https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53>, election
>>>> administration <https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>>
>>>> Rick Hasen
>>>>
>>>> Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
>>>>
>>>> UC Irvine School of Law
>>>>
>>>> 401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
>>>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/401+E.+Peltason+Dr.,+Suite+1000+%0D%0A+Irvine,+CA+92697?entry=gmail&source=g>
>>>>
>>>> Irvine, CA 92697
>>>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/401+E.+Peltason+Dr.,+Suite+1000+%0D%0A+Irvine,+CA+92697?entry=gmail&source=g>
>>>> -8000
>>>>
>>>> 949.824.3072 - office
>>>>
>>>> rhasen at law.uci.edu
>>>>
>>>> http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
>>>>
>>>> http://electionlawblog.org
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>> Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> - Doug
>>>
>>> Douglas Johnson
>>> National Demographics Corporation
>>> djohnson at NDCresearch.com
>>> phone 310-200-2058
>>> fax 818-254-1221
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Law-election mailing list
>>> Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
>>> https://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
>>
>>
>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/401+E.+Peltason+Dr.,+Suite+1000+%0D%0A+Irvine,+CA+92697?entry=gmail&source=g>
>
> --
> - Doug
>
> Douglas Johnson
> National Demographics Corporation
> djohnson at NDCresearch.com
> phone 310-200-2058
> fax 818-254-1221
> _______________________________________________
> Law-election mailing list
> Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
> https://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
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