[chet2020]

Five states have systems where most votes are cast by mail. Three blue states, a red state, and a back-and-forth state. You can monitor your ballot online from the date it is sent to you to the date they receive your completed ballot. They confirm whether your ballot was accepted, i.e. contained no errors that invalidate it, giving you time to resubmit or vote in person. Post-election, there are hard copies of the ballots available for auditing. The latter is why they have no problems with fraud.

[Aloha1]

Your mail comes from the Lady Lake facility where it is picked up by contract employees, driven to the neighborhood mailrooms and put in your mail box. If a contract employee does not show up or if there is an area with no current contract employee, a uniformed USPS employee delivers it.

When you drop outgoing mail in the slot at your postal station, it is taken to Lady Lake where it is processed and sent to the regional facility in Orlando. From there it goes out either to it's local destination or another regional facility for processing to the destination Post Office. So if you vote in Pine Hills, your mail goes to Lady lake, then Orlando, then back to Leesburg.

My vote is too important to me to risk it getting lost or delayed at any of those stops, so I will be voting in person. I believe it is our sacred duty to make sure we the citizens control the voting process and not the politicians or lawyers. Do your duty and get out and vote.

[Carole clausen]

I sent a priority package on June 30th to Minneapolis, it arrived on July 30th. Priority rates!

[MDLNB]

Originally Posted by Carole clausen

I sent a priority package on June 30th to Minneapolis, it arrived on July 30th. Priority rates!

Must be the reason they call it "snail mail."

[LianneMigiano]

Originally Posted by Topspinmo

IMO it will take till Xmas to count all the mail in votes. This will be the most SAFU election of all time.

Just read the other day that mail-in votes were the FIRST ONES COUNTED. That's how they get the first posted results. The rest come in from the various precincts as they are provided.

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by Topspinmo

IMO it will take till Xmas to count all the mail in votes. This will be the most SAFU election of all time.

My opinion is that it is MOST important to get the election results CORRECT. If it takes until Dec., then so be it! I can wait - just get it RIGHT.

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

The first post is just a copy/paste from an internet meme. It is fabricated.

Meanwhile, back in reality, there are states still encouraging semi-isolation. There are still states that have towns still with mask mandates and strict enforcement of curfews and social distancing.

The US Postal Service serves ALL of those states. And in some of those states, there's a legitimate concern about gathering at the polls to vote. In November, in the north, it will be COLD. If you're social distancing - 6 feet apart, then no polling place will be able to accommodate every one who shows up to vote. Many will have to stand outside, some of them for hours.

And so - mail-in ballots are a thing. An important thing. A significantly important thing. What I see is people who live "in the bubble" once again not noticing that the rest of the world exists, and is not like the bubble. The bubble is not real. It's a facade. Even immediately outside the bubble, there are people getting sick and dying at higher rates than in some states that have stricter guidelines. Marion and Lake Counties in particular. Those residents of those counties - if they have any brains in their heads, will want to know what other way they can vote, besides gathering in a crowded polling place without social distancing, or being stuck outside with social distancing waiting to get in to vote. And it doesn't even get all that cold down here.

The rest of the world is experiencing a world of hurt, coming at it from every subject-matter that can affect the world. Some people in the bubble are paying close attention to it. Some are intentionally ignoring it. And some are sincerely oblivious because it doesn't occur to them that they probably should care.

True and GREAT last sentence!

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by Bonnevie

my problem with voting in person is that there is no back up to the computer. this is what Florida has: Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) Systems: DRE systems employ computers that record votes directly into the computers' memory. These interfaces may incorporate touchscreens, dials, or mechanical buttons. The voter's choices are stored by the computer on a cartridge or hard drive.

Florida has DRE with no paper back up unlike other states. we know this happened in 2016: Russian hackers breached the systems of two county elections systems in Florida in 2016, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday at a news conference. DeSantis said no data were tampered with and vote tallies were not affected.

so I'm more concerned about interference. at least by voting by mail there will be a paper ballot to check if necessary.

I agree 100%. An accounting princple is ALWAYS have a paper back-up.

[joseppe]

Originally Posted by ufu1395

A Villages mail carrier just shared this with me.

I have told many customers that if you care about your vote please do not put it through the mail. And that’s highly unfortunate to say but, I do see and hear about the issues the office is having with standard letters and bills. I strongly suggest voting in person, and spreading that word too to yourself friends and anyone who cares about their vote at all.

I wholly trust the Post Office. Every year I mail off my letter to Santa Claus, North Pole and he gets it year after year because everything on my list is under the tree. If you're really worried about your vote send it 'certified mail' with return receipt or better yet spend a little extra and try sending by 'registered mail'. Very secure.

[Astron]

Originally Posted by banjobob

Vote in person , no one is so busy they need a mail in vote period . Voter fraud is real , and improperly filled out ballots are destroyed.

Yes voting fraud has occurred, but it is incredibly rare and has had no real effect on modern elections. The Heritage Foundation, a very conservative think tank, data base found only 1298 proven cases of voter fraud. You are more likely to get struck by lightning while winning Both the Powerball and Mega Millions lotteries than to see an election outcome successfully effected by voter fraud. This is not a real issue. Voter Fraud Map: Election Fraud Database | The Heritage Foundation

[Sherry8bal]

I totally agree. I want to make sure my vote is counted!!

[meridian5850]

Originally Posted by chet2020

Five states have systems where most votes are cast by mail. Three blue states, a red state, and a back-and-forth state. You can monitor your ballot online from the date it is sent to you to the date they receive your completed ballot. They confirm whether your ballot was accepted, i.e. contained no errors that invalidate it, giving you time to resubmit or vote in person. Post-election, there are hard copies of the ballots available for auditing. The latter is why they have no problems with fraud.

OK, let's say I'm a die-hard union supporting postal worker and I've got a hundreds or thousands of ballots to deliver to wherever they are supposed to be delivered for tabulation, but first I drop them off at a campaign location. The workers there steam open the envelopes and replace the ballots with new ones marked for their candidate. When all the ballots are swapped out, they call me back to pick them up. I come get them and deliver to their final destination.

You monitor your ballot online and you see that it was accepted, except the ballot they received was marked for the candidates of the opposite party. And you think "good, my votes in." You have no reason to think anything nefarious happened.

The reason everyone says there is very little voter fraud is because it's not detectable because they've had years to perfect how it's being done.

[Ladygolfer93]

Originally Posted by Dana1963

You can fill out your absentee ballot and drop it off at register of voters drop box.
There are no mail persons at the Villages mailbox they are contractors that pick up your mail in Lady Lake then distribute it to us, the lowest hanging fruit on the Postal Chain Gang.

EXACTLY ! Not at all surprised that professionalism is not practiced by all. Of course like the world at large, some are exceptional, some are adequate, and some really don't use discretion while on the job. ( I assume this mail person was not a personal friend and did not pass this "advice" in the privacy of a home and a purely social exchange). But the advice that IF you are convinced this is a possibility (as one person said recently, " fraud, are you kidding me ? Where I came from a "mail person" would sell you an entire pick up of ballots for less than $500 !". I have no idea if this kind of bribe would work or not, but, it's possible. Just drop off your absentee ballot if in doubt, easy solution !

[Ladygolfer93]

omissio

Originally Posted by PaulinTV

From Chicago (CBS) a snippet, full article link below:
"Those are just a few of the cases CBS 2 Investigators found by merging Chicago Board of Election voter histories with the death master file from the Social Security Administration.

In all, the analysis showed 119 dead people have voted a total of 229 times in Chicago in the last decade.

Jim Allen, a city election board spokesman, says a majority of those dead voters were most likely clerical errors, involving family members with the same names and addresses."

My opinion - I cannot think of any system in our country that services 331Million people that doesn't have a few flaws, errors, glitches in it. If we consider 229 times over a DECADE a lot, it sounds like someone is trying to create something where there is almost nothing.

Chicago Voters Cast Ballots From Beyond The Grave – CBS Chicago

Those dead people in Chicago and other locations would have a tough time if they ever decide to purchase a Disney annual pass. I had to have my index finger scanned and every time I enter the park it's scanned. Heaven help the person who is NOT ME if they attempt to enter as me, and extend their finger for the I.D. ! ! Maybe we could do this for voting ? Once you bring all the proper documents initially when you register in person, and establish your ACTUAL status as a full U.S. citizen, your finger is scanned just like at Disney, and ........ but I suppose that is considered more intrusive than my Alexia Show ???

[Marshaw]

I assume you're referring to strictly absentee voting only. If you can take your mail and vote by car to a variety of different places to drop it off why can't you get your butt to a voting center if it's other than absentee.