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Vote by mail

faithful_servant

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https://www.merkley.senate.gov/news...l-save-money-and-increase-voter-participation

The Universal Right to Vote By Mail bill, which would guarantee everyone’s right to cast a ballot by mail. Currently, 28 states and territories impose some restrictions on getting an absentee ballot. This bill would eliminate those restrictions and ensure that any voter who wishes to get a mail ballot is able to do so.
• Vote By Mail grants bill, which would provide grants of $2 million to states or $1 million to smaller jurisdictions that want to institute vote by mail.

Yep. So far this is a 100% Dem. backed bill, but I'll still get behind it. In fact, I've already contacted Greg Walden and asked him to get on board with this. I also know the guy who originally got VBM started in Oregon and he's a staunch conservative (and my wife's cousin). This is something that we should all get behind. Contact your Congresscritters and ask them to support this bill.
 
https://www.merkley.senate.gov/news...l-save-money-and-increase-voter-participation



Yep. So far this is a 100% Dem. backed bill, but I'll still get behind it. In fact, I've already contacted Greg Walden and asked him to get on board with this. I also know the guy who originally got VBM started in Oregon and he's a staunch conservative (and my wife's cousin). This is something that we should all get behind. Contact your Congresscritters and ask them to support this bill.

Why not make it on-line voting and save the cost of mail. As long as we are not going to care who actually places the vote, then we may as well make it as cheap as possible.
 
Why not make it on-line voting and save the cost of mail. As long as we are not going to care who actually places the vote, then we may as well make it as cheap as possible.

Because then the only people who get to vote are those with internet access. Currently that's about 15% of the US. Can you say "voter disenfranchisement"????
 
Because then the only people who get to vote are those with internet access. Currently that's about 15% of the US. Can you say "voter disenfranchisement"????

I get what you're saying but I think tour percentage is a bit off.
 
Why not make it on-line voting and save the cost of mail. As long as we are not going to care who actually places the vote, then we may as well make it as cheap as possible.

Because then you open up voting to hacking and manipulation.
 
That was the number as of 2015.

I think you mean the inverse as of this year it is 88.6%. ~15% lacked internet in 2012 I think you missed a word in your original post.
 
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I get what you're saying but I think tour percentage is a bit off.

I think he is missing a word, he meant the inverse, the number of people without the internet.
 
https://www.merkley.senate.gov/news...l-save-money-and-increase-voter-participation



Yep. So far this is a 100% Dem. backed bill, but I'll still get behind it. In fact, I've already contacted Greg Walden and asked him to get on board with this. I also know the guy who originally got VBM started in Oregon and he's a staunch conservative (and my wife's cousin). This is something that we should all get behind. Contact your Congresscritters and ask them to support this bill.

You're going to trust the union-run US Postal Service to deliver votes from highly Republican areas?
 
https://www.merkley.senate.gov/news...l-save-money-and-increase-voter-participation



Yep. So far this is a 100% Dem. backed bill, but I'll still get behind it. In fact, I've already contacted Greg Walden and asked him to get on board with this. I also know the guy who originally got VBM started in Oregon and he's a staunch conservative (and my wife's cousin). This is something that we should all get behind. Contact your Congresscritters and ask them to support this bill.

What a stupid concept. Voting should not be made easier.
 
Yep. So far this is a 100% Dem. backed bill, but I'll still get behind it. In fact, I've already contacted Greg Walden and asked him to get on board with this. I also know the guy who originally got VBM started in Oregon and he's a staunch conservative (and my wife's cousin). This is something that we should all get behind. Contact your Congresscritters and ask them to support this bill.

I've been voting by mail for years, it's ridiculously easy, no lines, it shows up a couple of weeks before the election, I fill it out when it is convenient to me, I mail it back, no muss, no fuss. I would never step foot in another polling place.
 
Were you referring to my SNAFUed post where I left out the "OUT"???

I was referring to the post that I quoted. But if an error was made, no harm, no foul, it's just information for all to enjoy.
 
I was referring to the post that I quoted. But if an error was made, no harm, no foul, it's just information for all to enjoy.

Your numbers were pretty much in line with what I found - about 15% of Americans withOUT internet access.
 
Your numbers were pretty much in line with what I found - about 15% of Americans withOUT internet access.

I don't even know that it's without access, it might be without home access, but without access to any Internet connection, not even at a library or anywhere else? I think the numbers are probably lower. Still, if 85% of Americans have Internet access, why not allow voting via the Internet and those without can vote another way?
 
I don't even know that it's without access, it might be without home access, but without access to any Internet connection, not even at a library or anywhere else? I think the numbers are probably lower. Still, if 85% of Americans have Internet access, why not allow voting via the Internet and those without can vote another way?

Paper. With a paper ballot there is anear foolproof double-check on any election. Online voting only produces an internal double-check (checking the results against themselves and not an external source). IT's like the Invoicing dept, where I work which prints out invoices that are generate by the information in our database and then check the invoice against the database. Since your checking the data against only the data and nothing external, you leave yourself wide open to hacking of the system. With the paper trail that VBM creates, the chances of this kind of fraud occurring are greatly reduced.
 
Because then the only people who get to vote are those with internet access. Currently that's about 15% of the US. Can you say "voter disenfranchisement"????

Why would it be required to be all or nothing? What would having voter choice hurt?
 
Because then you open up voting to hacking and manipulation.

That was my point about the mail ballots. Please note the words: "As long as we are not going to care who actually places the vote"

As long as we are going to open voting up to hacking and manipulation, why not make it as easy as possible? As the article in the OP implies, we wouldn't want to inconvenience anyone.
 
Despite easy voter access, voter fraud deemed rare in Oregon | News - Home

Woon said voter fraud is "extremely rare" in Oregon. The State Elections Office got thousands of complaints of possible voter fraud since 2000, but there were only 13 cases of actual fraud found, none in Deschutes County.

Most voter fraud complaints turn out to be simple mistakes, rather than actual fraud.

"People forget to sign their envelopes, or they thought they could sign the envelope of their loved one," Woon said.

Woon said voting might be easy in Oregon, but committing voter fraud is not, due to strict guidelines in place.

"Between the post office and our records system, which are regularly updated and confirmed, voter fraud hasn't come up as a huge concern," Woon said. "Our county clerks are running a pretty tight ship."

I like it.
 
Paper. With a paper ballot there is anear foolproof double-check on any election. Online voting only produces an internal double-check (checking the results against themselves and not an external source). IT's like the Invoicing dept, where I work which prints out invoices that are generate by the information in our database and then check the invoice against the database. Since your checking the data against only the data and nothing external, you leave yourself wide open to hacking of the system. With the paper trail that VBM creates, the chances of this kind of fraud occurring are greatly reduced.

Paper ballots have been used to steal elections since the Romans invented them. Soon after paper ballots were invented, the term "ballot stuffing" soon followed.

Can a paper ballot be double checked? Yes, but it is hardly foolproof. When a dead person in Chicago voted; yes, their vote could be double-checked during a recount because it was on paper. Did that make it a valid vote? No.

Yes, VBM leaves a paper trail, but it no way guarantees that the person who placed the vote was the legitimate voter. I am not ready to trust all elections to the honor system.

And as a by-the-way... I don't believe the Federal Government has any business dictating the voting process. A certain document we all know and love, leaves that to the State legislatures.
 
Paper ballots have been used to steal elections since the Romans invented them. Soon after paper ballots were invented, the term "ballot stuffing" soon followed.

Can a paper ballot be double checked? Yes, but it is hardly foolproof. When a dead person in Chicago voted; yes, their vote could be double-checked during a recount because it was on paper. Did that make it a valid vote? No.

Yes, VBM leaves a paper trail, but it no way guarantees that the person who placed the vote was the legitimate voter. I am not ready to trust all elections to the honor system.

And as a by-the-way... I don't believe the Federal Government has any business dictating the voting process. A certain document we all know and love, leaves that to the State legislatures.

I never calimed that it would be perfect, just far better than what we currently have. What you're doing is falling into the trap of sacrificing better because it's not perfect (a common malady these days). Improvement is a process, it rarely occurs that you get the perfect scenario all at once (and often never do). Our question shouldn't be "Is this the perfect voting sytem"?, but rather "Os this a step towards that goal?"
 
Paper ballots have been used to steal elections since the Romans invented them. Soon after paper ballots were invented, the term "ballot stuffing" soon followed.

Can a paper ballot be double checked? Yes, but it is hardly foolproof. When a dead person in Chicago voted; yes, their vote could be double-checked during a recount because it was on paper. Did that make it a valid vote? No.

Yes, VBM leaves a paper trail, but it no way guarantees that the person who placed the vote was the legitimate voter. I am not ready to trust all elections to the honor system.

And as a by-the-way... I don't believe the Federal Government has any business dictating the voting process. A certain document we all know and love, leaves that to the State legislatures.

Elections to a certain extent have always been on the honor system and yes there is always going to be a certain amount of fraud. It's part of the system. We need to balance controls in place to not swing elections (via fraud) with voter convenience.

No way I'll ever go back to voting by booth unless I'm forced to.
 
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