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Old 06-08-2020, 12:00 AM   #1
xoxoxoBruce
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Voting by Mail

PA announced mail in ballots, not just for absentee voters but anyone.
I figured that the poll would be a zoo with long lines 6 ft apart so yes, by mail sounds good.

RA-voterregstatcert@state.pa.us May 6, 2020, 2:21 AM
Thank you for submitting your ballot application online. The Delaware County Election Office received your application on May 02, 2020 at 4:40:04 PM.
County: Delaware
Your application number is: 756693.
Your application is not complete until processed and accepted by your county election office. When your application is processed, you will receive an email status update.
If you have questions about your ballot application, please contact Delaware County at (610) 891-4659.

STSVCOMP001@pa.gov May 13, 2020, 8:12 PM
The DELAWARE County Election Office has processed your ballot application on 05/02/2020.
Your application status is: Approved.
If your application was approved, you will receive an email when your balloting materials are mailed.
If you have questions about your ballot application, please contact DELAWARE County at (610) 891-4659.

Department of State RA-STDepartmentofState@pa.gov Tue, May 19, 6:43 PM
Dear Pennsylvania Voter,
Thanks for applying to vote by mail or absentee - Return your ballot today to avoid any delays!
The Deadline for your county election office to receive your voted mail-in ballot is June 2nd at 8pm, but please don’t wait! Fill out your mail-in or absentee ballot and mail it today or return it in person to your county election office. Make sure to check the hours of operation on your county website or by calling to ensure there are staff on site to receive your completed ballot.
If you have already returned your ballot or have not yet received your mail-in or absentee ballot, you can easily check the status of your ballot online* or call your county election office for its status.
Thank you and stay safe!
Sincerely, Kathy Boockvar, Secretary of the Commonwealth

*I did, the site said my ballot was mailed on the 18th.

Department of State RA-STDepartmentofState@pa.gov May 25, 2020, 10:56 PM
Dear Pennsylvania Voter:
Make sure your voice is heard. Return your mail-in or absentee ballot today!
Only a few days left to deliver your ballot! To guarantee that your ballot gets in on time, call or email your county election office and ask about drop-off options where you can deliver it in person. The deadline for counties to receive your ballot is 8 p.m. on June 2, and the postmarked date does not count.
If you have already returned your ballot, you can easily check the status of your ballot here!
Sign up to receive updates from PA’s official source on election information.
Thank you and stay safe!
Sincerely, Kathy Boockvar, Secretary of the Commonwealth

Called the County office on the 27th, the guy took my info and said someone would call me back.
Surprise surprise, they didn’t.
Called again on the 28th, the woman said come pick it up between 1PM and 4PM on Friday May29th and tell her what time I would be there. When I got there on Friday the guard wouldn’t let me in the building and to wait outside and they would bring my ballot out. Sure enough she came out with the box of ballots for the three dozen people waiting.


RA-voterregstatcert@state.pa.us May 28, 2020, 10:19 PM
Your ballot is almost ready, and it's being prepared for mailing. If you do not receive your ballot in the next 5-7 days*, please contact your county election office.
If you have questions concerning your ballot, please contact DELAWARE County at (610) 891-4659.
Thank you ****Please do not reply to this email.****
*note this is 5 days before the election.

Department of State Fri, May 29, 11:45 AM
Dear Pennsylvania Voter:
Make sure your voice is heard in time! Return your mail-in or absentee ballot in person today!
Only a few days left to deliver your ballot! Many counties have recently implemented convenient drop-boxes and drop off locations for voters to deliver their mail-in or absentee ballots. For more information on locations and hours click HERE.
If you need more information, you can also call or email your county election office and ask about options where you can deliver the ballot in person. The deadline for counties to receive your ballot is 8 p.m. on June 2, and the postmarked date does not count. If you have already returned your ballot, you can easily check the status of your ballot here. If you don’t receive your ballot by Tuesday, you can still vote by provisional ballot in person at your polling place on June 2nd.
Sign up to receive updates from PA’s official source on election information.
Thank you and stay safe!
Sincerely, Kathy Boockvar, Secretary of the Commonwealth

The state clearly doesn’t have their shit together. What’s the point of a mail in ballot if I have to go to the Media office to get it, and then go back to return it? I asked how I could pick it up on the 29th if they mailed it on the 18th. She said they would just print me another one. The email from the state on the 29th said they were mailing a third one. Which one will be counted and who will fill it out?

OK, a ballot came in the mail on Friday the 29th, postmarked Tuesday the 26th. This must be the one they said was mailed on the 18th. The return address is the Media office but I doubt they mailed it, I’d guess after they approved it the state mailed it. That’s two accounted for.

RA-voterregstatcert@state.pa.us June 1st, 2:18 PM
Your ballot has been received by DELAWARE County on 06/01/2020.
Your ballot status has been updated to reflect your official ballot has been received timely and recorded.

Please note: You are no longer permitted to vote at your polling place location now that you have returned your ballot timely. If you have questions about your ballot, please contact DELAWARE County at (610) 891-4659.
Thank you
****Please do not reply to this email.****

This would apparently be the ballot I picked up in Media and mailed on Friday. I'm thinking the email from the state 5 days before the election saying one was was being mailed was probably generated by the Media office printing out the duplicate I picked up.
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Old 06-08-2020, 01:04 PM   #2
BigV
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Good man!

Those difficulties are troublesome, but they're likely to diminish in time. The system gets better with experience. Here in Washington we've had voting by mail for everyone for years, and there have been continual improvements to the process. The most recent change has been to include a prepaid postage envelope for the return ballot. Previously each voter had to affix their own postage, (one stamp or two??) or find a drop box.

Now, the postage question is settled. Kaizen.

The most difficult and by far the most important aspect to achieve is trust in the system and the results it produces.
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Old 06-08-2020, 06:40 PM   #3
tw
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Be clear why some hate mail-in ballots. It means more people will vote. The more who vote, then the less influence those extremist have over the entire process.

We have Trump because so many moderates did not vote. By doing so, made every extremist vote more powerful. Extremists got the president they wanted.

Extremist invent mythical bogeymen (a right or left) to avoid a hard reality. Only moderates are patriots. Extremists, such as racists, will do anything necessary to minimize every option for moderates to vote. So they attack and obstruct mail-in voting.

Voter fraud is another over-hyped fable to drive moderates off voting rolls.
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Old 06-10-2020, 01:07 AM   #4
xoxoxoBruce
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I've been told once I mail my ballot I have no clue what happens to it or if it's counted. My response is when I go it the booth and push the buttons, it's the same thing, no way of knowing where my vote went.
On the mail-in ballot for the primary I can pick some position where someone is running unopposed and vote for myself as a write-in.
I've always registered as independent so no primary, but I switched to Democrat so I could vote for Obama in the primary and hadn't bothered to switch back so it gave me a chance to try out the by mail system. They have a ways to go, but I realize it was a last minute decision to allow it after moving the primary from April, and hundreds of thousands in each county signed on. OK, they were jammed up and took a month to get it to me. I understand, I really do, however DO NOT SAY YOU'RE FUCKING MAILING IT ON MONDAY THE 18th AND NOT MAIL IT UNTIL THE TUESDAY THE 26th.
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Old 06-10-2020, 06:29 AM   #5
Griff
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It appears they've closed the black polling stations in Georgia. Those folks need another system.
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Old 06-10-2020, 10:19 AM   #6
BigV
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Griff View Post
It appears they've closed the black polling stations in Georgia. Those folks need another system.
This is a feature, not a bug. /cynic
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Old 06-10-2020, 11:51 AM   #7
tw
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce View Post
My response is when I go it the booth and push the buttons, it's the same thing, no way of knowing where my vote went.
Just another reason why the system can only work electronically is if meets those requirements posted (what?) ten years ago?

And just another reason why the counting should also result in paper that can be consulted in a recount.

Previous discussion cited so many electronic voting machine manufacturers whose products were full of holes and security problems.
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Old 08-13-2020, 11:06 PM   #8
xoxoxoBruce
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Got an email last evening...

Quote:
Dear Pennsylvania Voter:
We are writing to remind you that earlier this year, you signed up to be an annual mail-in voter in Pennsylvania or you recently applied for a mail-in ballot for the general election. Thank you! If you still live in the same county as when you applied, you do not need to re-apply for a mail-in ballot. You will receive a ballot in the mail in September or October, and you will be able to securely vote from the comfort and safety of your home. We are contacting all mail-in ballot applicants, so they do not mistakenly submit duplicate requests.

To track your ballot, visit votesPA.com/MailBallotStatus and enter your information. Right now, your status will be listed as “pending.” If you check your status closer to the election, you will see when your ballot is mailed and when your voted ballot has been received by your county election office.
Yeah, I went and checked, I'm pending.
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Old 08-14-2020, 06:29 AM   #9
Griff
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Old 08-14-2020, 06:36 AM   #10
Griff
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Griff View Post
It appears they've closed the black polling stations in Georgia. Those folks need another system.
Welp. They cheated their way to victory and... are not doing the damn job.

Confirmed cases, hospitalizations and deaths have ballooned sharply since early June, after the state, under Kemp’s direction, became one of the first in the nation to allow businesses to reopen in the spring.

https://apnews.com/7c220bed26f611dcf6ea57af94d516d9
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Old 08-14-2020, 08:58 AM   #11
tw
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On Tuesday, Mr. Trump declared, without offering any evidence, that the 2020 election "will be, in my opinion, the most corrupt election in the history of our country,". He lies.

In Arizona he said, "There is tremendous evidence of fraud whenever you have mail-in ballots". Reality repeatedly reported by honest news services (that he called fake news): no such fraud has been found. He lies.

According to the NY Times, "Mr. Trump has made five dozen false claims about mail balloting since April". Notice that another honest publication defines the lies. "five dozen false claims". He lies.

More comments from someone who only wants to 'wreck things'; what anti-Americans wants.

He intends to deliver his convention speech from the White House lawn. That has always been considered illegal. But then Trump does not even pay his contractors. When, in his entire life, did he care what is legal? He could murder someone on Fifth Ave and still be elected president. That says much about anyone who does not routinely disparage the scumbag. Trump makes Nixon look like an honest man.

Trump says Kamala Harris, who was born in California, does not meet citizenship requirements. Same lies also about Obama that got him mocked by intelligent Americans. But then Trump needs support of the least intelligent - ie KKK, White Supremacist, and Nazis - who Trump praises. So he lies.

Trump publicly stated he wants to obstruct mail-in voting by withholding funding for the US Postal Service. Then later, talked back that comment on a right wing propaganda machine called Fox News. Because he advocated corruption.

Trump claimed five times that Democrats rigged elections through mail-in voting. Trump claimed four times that Republicans are at a disadvantage when mail-in ballots are used or are not sent mail-in ballots at all. Like his disciples, such as Urbane Guerrilla, he lies.
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Old 08-14-2020, 10:58 AM   #12
Happy Monkey
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tw View Post
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump declared, without offering any evidence, that the 2020 election "will be, in my opinion, the most corrupt election in the history of our country,". He lies.
He lies a lot, but he has the power and inclination to make that sentence true. His justifications for it are lies, but he's already announced that he is trying to corrupt mail-in voting.
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Old 08-14-2020, 12:15 PM   #13
Flint
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:::ahem:::

:::tap tap tap:::

WE'VE BEEN VOTING BY MAIL IN OREGON FOR DECADES, AND IT WORKS REALLY WELL, AND WE DON'T HAVE ANY ISSUES WITH IT, AND EVERYBODY LOVES IT. WE DON'T KNOW WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE REST OF YOU.
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Old 08-14-2020, 12:44 PM   #14
Griff
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We're trying to do it in a time of hyper-partisanship, that is what's wrong with us.
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Old 08-14-2020, 12:50 PM   #15
Flint
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I hear what you're saying but it isn't a partisan issue. Except that everything is a partisan issue. Except that it isn't. Republicans and Democrats WHO USE MAIL-IN VOTING equally love it, and equally have no issues with it.
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******************
There's a level of facility that everyone needs to accomplish, and from there
it's a matter of deciding for yourself how important ultra-facility is to your
expression. ... I found, like Joseph Campbell said, if you just follow whatever
gives you a little joy or excitement or awe, then you're on the right track.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Terry Bozzio
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