[mtdjed]

I am not against mail in ballots. However, I think that there should be a requirement that they should be requested. That way a need is expressed, a current address is provided, and an opportunity to insure that the requester is properly registered can be verified.

Simply mailing to everybody creates an needless opportunity for confusion and abuse.

From the beginning of this country, voting has been a right that must be personally performed. Choosing not to vote is your decision. A vote should be private. Nobody should know my vote. All votes should be collected by the vote deadline. Votes delivered after the vote deadline should be nullified. Otherwise my vote is essentially known.

[Two Bills]

One thing for sure, is the losing candidate will claim voter fraud whatever method is used.
Default mode for all post election analysis in this day and age!

[JimJohnson]

Being retired Military, I voted absentee over my career. Was my vote suspicious and should it have been considered fraud?

[Two Bills]

Originally Posted by JimJohnson

Being retired Military, I voted absentee over my career. Was my vote suspicious and should it have been considered fraud?

Only if you voted blue!

[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by JimJohnson

Being retired Military, I voted absentee over my career. Was my vote suspicious and should it have been considered fraud?

No, it doesn't. And thank you for your service!

However, when Willie Sutton was asked "Why do you rob banks?", his reply was "because that's where the money is."
Over the years, mail in voting was such a small percentage of the total vote that it wasn't worth the risk of committing voter fraud. With that percentage increasing greatly, I'm afraid it may become an easy target. I feel the same way about "early voting". Two or three days, yeah, OK, but 30 days? A lot can be revealed in 30 days prior to an election---perhaps a candidate might be charged with murder or rape. Sounds a little far fetched? Remember not to long ago a candidate could have (and IMHO should have) been charged with felony violation of the National Security Act. Once those early votes are cast, they can't be taken back. And 30 days gives plenty of time to run fraudulent votes through the system. I'm not saying it WILL happen, but is it worth the risk? We all know who benefits from the dead and repeat votes already.

[GoPacers]

Let's be clear, mail-in voting is not the problem. There is nothing wrong with the concept. Never has been and never will be. The issue is verifying/validating that any given voter is authorized to vote and is who they say they are. If Congress (and the states) would take that issue seriously then we would not be talking about mail-in voting at all.

Talking about voter fraud: what system have we ever had that hasn't been decried for the potential for voter fraud? I'll admit there are elections that have been impacted due to voter fraud over the years but those are very few. In many, but not all, of those cases the votes were coerced yet legally cast.

In this whole debate we've lost sight of the facts which seems to be all too prevalent lately. When we don't have facts to support our position we make stuff up that can't be easily proven/disproven. When we have data but that data doesn't support our position we obfuscate the issue such that data becomes irrelevant and we appeal to emotions to supersede logic.

Those that have the legal right to vote should be allowed to vote by any means available. We should not be making it hard for anyone to vote as a means to influence elections. What we should be focusing on is using the vast array of technology available to us to ensure those who vote are entitled to vote and that their vote is in fact theirs. The reason we are not doing this is it removes an excuse for the losing side to obfuscate the facts and create uncertainty. This has not changed since the earliest days of elections in this great country. Bad actors have been trying to influence the will of the people through nefarious means since day one.

The simple fact that we are debating mail-in voting says the politicians have succeeded in planting seeds of doubt in the process without ever producing one single piece of data to prove that mail-in voting is the issue.

[JGVillages]

Sad commentary when in this high technology age, when a company like Fed Ex can out of millions of packages know where every package is to the minute, yet we cannot develop an accurate and fraud resistant mechanism to vote. Just another reminder of the inability of government to be better at something than the private sector.
PS: If counterfeit money can be made, producing a fake ballot will be simple.

[retiredguy123]

The issue is not whether we can develop an accurate voting system. The real issue is that many people don't want an accurate system.

[fishon]

Mail in ballots are considered suspect.
They are only scrutinized and counted when the election is close enough.
Hence the big to do a couple of years ago when the ballots from overseas military were late being delivered and returned.

[Bay Kid]

We will be finding bags of ballots for years to come. Such a shame but we are turning into a 3rd world country.

[pharmguy]

Originally Posted by Two Bills

One thing for sure, is the losing candidate will claim voter fraud whatever method is used.
Default mode for all post election analysis in this day and age!

Absolutely right. Guaranteed that no matter how the vote goes down the election will end up in the Supreme Court.

[jacksonbrown]

"Let's be clear, mail-in voting is not the problem. There is nothing wrong with the concept. Never has been and never will be. "

Rubbish!

Voting is THE foundation of our republic.

See here

Is it too much to ask that a voter MUST produce a picture ID, in person, to vote? In my mind NO!

[Regor]

If our president does it, what can be wrong?

[billethkid]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

The issue is not whether we can develop an accurate voting system. The real issue is that many people don't want an accurate system.

Very nice summation of the real issue!!!

[jacksonbrown]

A nationwide effort is underway in at least 16 states to overturn restrictions on mail-in voting and third-party ballot harvesting. States where suits have been filed include the swing states of Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Florida.

click here for the article


If this is adjudicated in their favor then your ballot, which you lawfully and dutifully cast, can easily be compromised.