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Dem Woman On Facebook Asks For Unused Ballots
30 Oct 2013 09:25 #17
by ScienceChic
Notice that there's a little strip on the back of the envelope that covers the area where you sign the envelope. The bar code is on the back down below that along with your name and address so it could get to you by mail. When the envelope comes in, they are put into counted batches in a tray that is given to an election judge in room #1. That little strip is pulled off to reveal your signature, the bar code scanned to pull up your voter registration file on computer screen, and your previous signature pulled up on a the screen. The election judge holds the envelope up and compares the signature on the envelope to the one on the screen to verify they match. Unconfirmed signatures are placed into one pile and confirmed into another. The envelopes are counted to confirm they are all present, logged, and placed back into trays that are taken into a separate room.
Once in room #2, they are scanned and counted by a machine that stores the signatures electronically and counts the envelopes so the county can confirm that there aren't more ballots sent in than actual registered voters in the county (this is also why you and your spouse can't send both ballots back in one envelope). The machine also separates the confirmed ones from the unconfirmed ones. The confirmed ones go back into a tray that stays in room #2, the unconfirmed ones go into a tray that goes back to room #2 for additional scrutiny using older signatures of yours on file. Keep in mind that throughout every step to this point, the envelopes are still sealed and your ballot hasn't been seen - only your name, address, and signature.
There are several tables in this room at which sit 3 election judges. One judge opens the envelope and pulls out the ballot, hopefully inside its secrecy sleeve (this is the part where if you don't follow instructions, it is possible that the person opening the envelope who can see your name will also see who you voted for, but they were constantly moving doing this process so it's highly doubtful they see anything, but if you choose to not use the secrecy sleeve, it's on you). This judge hands the ballot still inside the secrecy sleeve to another judge across the table, and places the envelope in a pile next to them. The 2nd judge pulls out the ballot from the secrecy sleeve and puts it into a pile that will again be counted and put into another tray to go into yet another room where the ballot scanning machines are. Because the person who pulls the ballot out of the envelope with your name never sees the ballot, and because the person who pulls the ballot out of the secrecy sleeve never touches the envelope, your name and ballot are kept entirely separate and confidential.
The ballots aren't even scanned until less than 14 days to election. There is a citizen panel that watches the ballot counting election day. The results are loaded up onto a computer at precisely poll closing time that is not connected to the internet so no hacker can come in and fix the results. Those results are transferred to a flash drive that is taken to a computer that is connected to the internet so the results can be sent to the media. All the "results" that you see during broadcasts up to that point are the results of exit polls and assumptions that people affiliated with a party will vote party line on every option (Ms. Anderson said that us Unaffiliated voters really throw things off - I cheered)
Of course, that isn't the end because there are ballots that come in right up to close of polls at polling locations that have to be brought in and soldiers overseas who opt to vote by paper instead of electronically just have to have their ballot postmarked by election day, it obviously takes a while for them to make it over after that so they give them some specific amount of time for that (I think 14 days?). But since the majority of ballots are counted by closing time, the election results are usually how it turns out unless it's really, really close. (There's another story about the hanging chads I'll have to relate another time - I've gotta run to volunteer at my kids' school for the Book Fair)
Seriously, you should go see the operation - it's elegant, efficient, and very well controlled. We had to wear name tags that had the word Observer written on them so that if they have to pull video footage up of that day, they can see on camera who was in the room and what their function was. No pictures are allowed to be taken and every square inch of the facility is under video surveillance.
Your vote matters to these people and your privacy matters to these people. Their job is to provide you the ability to complete your duty as a citizen to vote in private and have every one counted if legitimate and every one caught that isn't. And anyone can apply to become an election judge.
"Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence. We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another as if we were one single tribe.” -King T'Challa, Black Panther
The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it. ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. ~Winston Churchill
Replied by ScienceChic on topic Dem Woman On Facebook Asks For Unused Ballots
on that note, you misunderstand - your name is in no way attached to the actual ballot and their simple yet elegant procedures protect your right to privacy the entire way if you follow the instructions (except for those who vote overseas - their vote has to be sent with their verified signature, but that is explained and those who vote that way waive their right for the convenience of being able to vote securely online).on that note wrote: This stuff is not cool. Not even in the slightest. COLORADO is the only state I have voted in where I had to ID myself on the ballot, when I argued at the polls, they told me to write my legislator. Yes in other states I did have to show ID, that was not recorded to get in the room. They cross my name off the list and then I walk far away from them to vote and my ballot has nothing to ID me on it. That is the way I voted in every state I lived in until I got to CO and was expected to sign my ballot envelope. The fact that this is embraced is just disgusting and why I no longer vote in CO. Unfortunately, this means that mail voting is not ok. Your identity should never, in the slightest be associated with your ballot. I don't care if you are at war, on a mountain or vacationing in India. Esp in CO where so much fraud by the vote administrators is always brought up. You don't break a system just to make it easy.
Plus, lets just vote on less stuff and have less leaders. Then there will be less to fight about as we try, gasp, to run our own lives. Plus, in voting, you are often supressing the will of 49% of your community members by force. It is rarely if ever 95 or 99 or 99.9%, which would make things slightly more moral, only slightly. I have a hard time using this voting thing as a tool to force half of the people around me to do what they don't want. That feels like a system it is immoral to participate in. It is the feel good version of beating and steeling.
Notice that there's a little strip on the back of the envelope that covers the area where you sign the envelope. The bar code is on the back down below that along with your name and address so it could get to you by mail. When the envelope comes in, they are put into counted batches in a tray that is given to an election judge in room #1. That little strip is pulled off to reveal your signature, the bar code scanned to pull up your voter registration file on computer screen, and your previous signature pulled up on a the screen. The election judge holds the envelope up and compares the signature on the envelope to the one on the screen to verify they match. Unconfirmed signatures are placed into one pile and confirmed into another. The envelopes are counted to confirm they are all present, logged, and placed back into trays that are taken into a separate room.
Once in room #2, they are scanned and counted by a machine that stores the signatures electronically and counts the envelopes so the county can confirm that there aren't more ballots sent in than actual registered voters in the county (this is also why you and your spouse can't send both ballots back in one envelope). The machine also separates the confirmed ones from the unconfirmed ones. The confirmed ones go back into a tray that stays in room #2, the unconfirmed ones go into a tray that goes back to room #2 for additional scrutiny using older signatures of yours on file. Keep in mind that throughout every step to this point, the envelopes are still sealed and your ballot hasn't been seen - only your name, address, and signature.
There are several tables in this room at which sit 3 election judges. One judge opens the envelope and pulls out the ballot, hopefully inside its secrecy sleeve (this is the part where if you don't follow instructions, it is possible that the person opening the envelope who can see your name will also see who you voted for, but they were constantly moving doing this process so it's highly doubtful they see anything, but if you choose to not use the secrecy sleeve, it's on you). This judge hands the ballot still inside the secrecy sleeve to another judge across the table, and places the envelope in a pile next to them. The 2nd judge pulls out the ballot from the secrecy sleeve and puts it into a pile that will again be counted and put into another tray to go into yet another room where the ballot scanning machines are. Because the person who pulls the ballot out of the envelope with your name never sees the ballot, and because the person who pulls the ballot out of the secrecy sleeve never touches the envelope, your name and ballot are kept entirely separate and confidential.
The ballots aren't even scanned until less than 14 days to election. There is a citizen panel that watches the ballot counting election day. The results are loaded up onto a computer at precisely poll closing time that is not connected to the internet so no hacker can come in and fix the results. Those results are transferred to a flash drive that is taken to a computer that is connected to the internet so the results can be sent to the media. All the "results" that you see during broadcasts up to that point are the results of exit polls and assumptions that people affiliated with a party will vote party line on every option (Ms. Anderson said that us Unaffiliated voters really throw things off - I cheered)
Of course, that isn't the end because there are ballots that come in right up to close of polls at polling locations that have to be brought in and soldiers overseas who opt to vote by paper instead of electronically just have to have their ballot postmarked by election day, it obviously takes a while for them to make it over after that so they give them some specific amount of time for that (I think 14 days?). But since the majority of ballots are counted by closing time, the election results are usually how it turns out unless it's really, really close. (There's another story about the hanging chads I'll have to relate another time - I've gotta run to volunteer at my kids' school for the Book Fair)Seriously, you should go see the operation - it's elegant, efficient, and very well controlled. We had to wear name tags that had the word Observer written on them so that if they have to pull video footage up of that day, they can see on camera who was in the room and what their function was. No pictures are allowed to be taken and every square inch of the facility is under video surveillance.
Your vote matters to these people and your privacy matters to these people. Their job is to provide you the ability to complete your duty as a citizen to vote in private and have every one counted if legitimate and every one caught that isn't. And anyone can apply to become an election judge.
"Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence. We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another as if we were one single tribe.” -King T'Challa, Black Panther
The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it. ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. ~Winston Churchill
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