By "cheat" I meant that it's harder for the GOP to suppress the vote.
🔹There's a paper trail, so recounts are possible. With some machines, there's no paper trial (looking at Texas)
🔹The voter can find out way in advance if there is an issue. With in-person voting. . .
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🔹There's a paper trail, so recounts are possible. With some machines, there's no paper trial (looking at Texas)
🔹The voter can find out way in advance if there is an issue. With in-person voting. . .
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. . . voters often show up at a polling place and learn they've been dropped from the rolls. This requires a provisional ballot and big hassles and it might not be counted.
🔹There are no tricky ballot marking machines (looking at Georgia). . .
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🔹There are no tricky ballot marking machines (looking at Georgia). . .
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. . . this means that all ballots are paper and hand marked (so the voter has complete control).
🔹No worries about machines flipping votes and leaving no trace (looking at TX again)
🔹No worries about polling places suddenly closed, or switched . . .
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🔹No worries about machines flipping votes and leaving no trace (looking at TX again)
🔹No worries about polling places suddenly closed, or switched . . .
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. . . this is a favorite trick for suppressing votes: Close polling places in heavily Democratic areas and make people travel to a remote place (often people can't do this.)
🔹No worries about long lines.
🔹Less worry about large scale hacking
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🔹No worries about long lines.
🔹Less worry about large scale hacking
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As far as procedures, one advantage of federalism is that states can try procedures if they work, other states can adopt them.
A few states have been doing all mail-in voting for years. They have the details worked out.
Want proof it's good for democracy? ⤵️
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A few states have been doing all mail-in voting for years. They have the details worked out.
Want proof it's good for democracy? ⤵️
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One problem is that lots of them aren't counted because they come in with errors like no signature. Some registrars are good about letting voters know so they can come in and cure the error. Procedures can help with that.
Another solution is to take your ballot to your. . .
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Another solution is to take your ballot to your. . .
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. . .clerk (or whatever office is designated) I do this. The clerk checks to make sure everything is in order and gives me my sticker.
Can things still go wrong? Certainly. But less likely on a large scale.
In fact, I'll tell you all a story . . .
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Can things still go wrong? Certainly. But less likely on a large scale.
In fact, I'll tell you all a story . . .
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In law school, I was interested in election law (initially I wanted to BE an elections lawyer; I like elections 😉)
I attended a lecture from a visiting elections lawyer, who talked about his work. He told us this story (so you have to go to the next tweet for the story 🤣)
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I attended a lecture from a visiting elections lawyer, who talked about his work. He told us this story (so you have to go to the next tweet for the story 🤣)
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A volunteer worker in a local election found a box of ballots that hadn’t been counted.
She took the box out to her car.
It was raining.
She forgot to close the lid, so the ballots got wet.
She thought about what to do🤔 and got an idea.💡
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She took the box out to her car.
It was raining.
She forgot to close the lid, so the ballots got wet.
She thought about what to do🤔 and got an idea.💡
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This was before CA had the rule that all ballots must be handled with at least 2 workers present.
She took the ballots back inside and put them in the microwave to dry them out.
You guessed it. When she finished trying to dry them out, they were ruined and unreadable 🤦♀️
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She took the ballots back inside and put them in the microwave to dry them out.
You guessed it. When she finished trying to dry them out, they were ruined and unreadable 🤦♀️
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What happened next was that lawyers for the candidates got together to decide how to handle the situation.
The point (according to the teller of the story) is that people often have the idea that elections work like clocks: Perfectly.
Nope.
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The point (according to the teller of the story) is that people often have the idea that elections work like clocks: Perfectly.
Nope.
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They are managed by mere mortals, so, well, things go wrong.
But a system whereby each person gets a ballot to take home, fill out by hand, and return at leisure solves a host of problems. It makes wide-spread cheating a lot harder.
Check out how states like CO do it.
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But a system whereby each person gets a ballot to take home, fill out by hand, and return at leisure solves a host of problems. It makes wide-spread cheating a lot harder.
Check out how states like CO do it.
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I have no counter-argument to this ⤵️
As another commenter said, it would be like worrying that theater tickets can be photocopied.
In CA each has a barcode.
In CA each has a barcode.
That's how it's done in CA also.
If there is an issue with the signature, good clerks call the person in to find out what's the deal. For example, sometimes signatures get shaky as a person ages.
Forgers don't usually show up in person to discuss.
If there is an issue with the signature, good clerks call the person in to find out what's the deal. For example, sometimes signatures get shaky as a person ages.
Forgers don't usually show up in person to discuss.
Adding this:
Adding this here as well:
