On Wed, Dec 15, 2010 at 8:46 PM, Alysoun McLaughlin
<AMcLaughlin@dcboee.org> wrote:
First, with the argument that vote by mail is less secure because "the only authentication of the voter that is done is the signature aspect". We at least mail the ballot to the voter's address after verifying the signature on the application, which is greater authentication than what we require in the polling place. I could, at least in theory, commit fraud by simply mining the voter rolls for perennial non-voters, appearing at the polling place and stating information that is in the public record. If the poll workers don't know the "real" voter and the voter doesn't appear before I do, then no one would be the wiser until my ballot is cast. At least with absentee voting there are opportunities in many jurisdictions to view and contest the voter's absentee ballot application and/or envelope before it is opened and counted, something that is realistically much more difficult to do in the polling place.
Well, I wasn't trying to put forth a comprehensive argument about the
relative security between VBM and supervised forms of voting... so I
definitely take the point here that there are a number of layers of
checks that occur in the VBM process. It's definitely true that chain
of custody in VBM is much more nebulous than in polling place voting,
although I must admit that even in polling place voting it's often the
case the pollworkers don't understand how crucial chain of custody
is... it would take a very difficult and expensive effort to
professionalize pollworkers to achieve more rock-solid chain of
custody. (The coercion element is in my mind a very big deal, as you
point out.)
Second, vote by mail is not necessarily "drastically cheaper than supervised balloting". Not based on the numbers we're looking at for a special election in the District next spring. We've been running the numbers and it would be far more expensive to run an all vote-by-mail election - once you consider the costs of printing and mailing ballots to every registered voter, rather than simply printing enough for a low-turnout special election, and since we've already made the investment in voting equipment that would just be sitting on blocks in our warehouse - than to staff polling places. We believe that we can save money by making the switch to vote centers, but not by conducting the election by mail.
Yes, I wasn't considering special elections, where turn out is much
less than in primary or general elections, so I take your point here
too. best, Joe