"Vote by Mail + Election Day Registration = Awesome Election"

[bleever]

Found this via Crooksandliars:

Vote by Mail + Election Day Registration = Awesome Election


by: Matt Singer
Sun Apr 15, 2007 at 17:11:22 PM MDT

Missoula is considering using a universal mail vote system in the next election. This would be like Oregon's stellar system with a twist: Missoula also has Election Day Registration.

Given that both Election Day Registration and Vote by Mail increase citizen turnout, this can be an absolutely great combination. Even better, by not having to worry about managing dozens of polling places, election officials can focus on working out the kinks in Election Day Registration.

Universal vote-by-mail is a great idea. Interested in the idea? The City of Missoula is looking for feedback.

Very interesting, on the heels of the Multnomah story.

[msongs]

1. except for lost mail, deliberately trashed mail, mail dumped in the river etc

voting in person with paper ballots is still the best choice. too bad people have to actually show up for something important eh?
election day ought to be a holiday with credits for those who actually turn out and vote.

Msongs
www.msongs.com

[bleever]

2. Oregon seems pretty happy with their system.

High turnout, accurate counts, easy administration are the things cited.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

7. and people in Oregon will tell you its not for everyone

the honest ones will tell you that VBM
won't work for every state.

ITs been an unmitigated disaster for Colorado.

Will bad ideas for election reform every stop coming?

I get tired of providing links etc to failed Vote By Mail.

Oregon spent nearly a decade gradually implementing
this system, and they already had election integrity.

Oh, and Oregon won't have Same Day Registration after
a cult swooped in and committed a bunch of election fraud.

[bleever]

3. Link to DU thread on Multnomah:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x470844

[yourout]

4. "Vote by Mail + Election Day Registration = Awesome Election" = Big Democratic Win

A fair vote with a big turnout is a big problem for the Pukes.

[IndyOp]

5. I *LOVE* Vote By Mail - Sooooo many ways to make a few extra $$$

vote harvesting...

"While I was in Texas to testify for their HCPB initiative, I heard that there are organized "vote harvesters" which act as brokers to gather mail-in ballots, which are verified to be for the correct party and candidates before being mailed in. Reportedly a good broker can make $200 - $500 per election, and many of the brokers are senior citizens on tight budgets, who harvest votes from nursing homes and assisted living centers... Apparently people have been prosecuted for vote harvesting, but I have not independently verified these reports.

So I do not know how extensive this is, of course, but it just goes to show that human nature being what it is, whenever people can game a system for profit, they will. Ballot by mail is a terrible idea."

Vote by mail opens up security problems that do not exist in in-person voting systems -- with voter-marked paper ballots and audits (up to 100%). Anytime you increase the number of people who have their hands on the ballot, the distance the ballot has to travel -- it increases security risks. Unnecessary. Wrong.

[nicknameless]

6. Vote-by-mail, like other voting systems, works according to the intentions of those involved.

2004, in Broward County, 58,000 absentee ballots never showed up.
Mass disenfranchisement.
What was done to correct this problem? ... NOTHING.

[Einsteinia]

10. but vote by mail is FAR worse

it's substandard
and only a fool would trade our queen for a pawn, willingly

because we can assure 99% confidence that our ballots are counted as cast if there is approximatley 10% of ballot sampled at the PRECINCT while still under citizen-controlled purview, on election night, BEFORE they go into the anonymous tunnel. Because even if we could afford constant surveillance and armored trucks the accuracy could not be as high at 99%--just too many variables ready for exploitation.

Also, voting by mail inherently requires disclosure of both the voters and their ballots (that pesky signature). But of course it's against the law, and our gov't would never break, the law.

Also, our government would never persecute people for their political beliefs.

So let's not worry about it.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

8. This Could Be Your State On Vote By Mail

You never know who marked the ballot.

As for voter turnout, depends on who you ask.

This could be your state on "Vote By Mail":

Report on the Mail In Election Held April 1, 2003 in Colorado Springs, Colorado

The following report was made with the help of Al Kolwicz of Citizens for Accurate Mail Ballot Election Results (CAMBER) of Boulder and Mrs. Carol Pfeffer, who heads up the CAMBER chapter in El Paso County. Mrs. Pfeffer acted as a poll watcher during the election and the attached documents and election data cited here were collected by her.

Summary
• Claims that mail in elections increase voter turnout are based on bogus arithmetic or phony
statistics.
• The total of ballots issued is 142,194 on an April 8, 2003, memorandum from the Canvass
Board and 148,609, or more likely 148,625 on the Election Verification Totals report though
there were 222,691 registered voters in Colorado Springs at the time of the election.
• All potential cost savings of the mail in election were the result of not mailing some 81,000
ballots to eligible, registered voters....

more here:

http://www.ncvoter.net/downloads/VBMCoSpgs_2003_mail-in.pdf

more detail here:

PPFC Colorado Springs 2003 Election http://www.ncvoter.net/downloads/VBMPPFC_CoSpgs_2003_election.pdf

Don't give up those precincts too quickly.

[Einsteinia]

9. Uh, if you like your Ballots Sneaked & Peeked

Vote by mail does not protect the privacy of the voters and their ballots, which IS a problem when you have a gov't with the habit of illegally spying on its citizens and persecuting people AG style or their beliefs.

Vote by mail is a substandard method of voting that the Carter Center says does not protect the voter's privacy and a whole lot more.

[mamab]

11. We already have "vote by mail". It's called "absentee balloting".

Now, how many of those ballots never got counted in the last elections?