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Showing posts with label absentee ballots. Show all posts
Showing posts with label absentee ballots. Show all posts

Thursday, August 20, 2020

#VoteByMail - The odd, 2020 political issue that nobody could've predicted last year would arouse so much anger and passion. But it's also the issue that, like the weather, everyone feels they're an expert on, even when they aren't. To say nothing of being in the dark about how the finances of the USPS, and why it's so in the red


#VoteByMail - The odd, 2020 political issue that nobody could've predicted last year would arouse so much anger and passion. But it's also the issue that, like the weather, everyone feels they're an expert on, even when they aren't. To say nothing of being in the dark about how the finances of the USPS, and why it's so in the red.

Today's blog post serves as a bit of a follow-up to my previous comments here of July 12th regarding the realities of #VoteByMail, with some links to some interesting articles and columns on an surprising political divide in the U.S. that almost no reasonable person could have imagined last year would cause anger among some Americans: Where do you stand on the issue of local and state governments deciding to send out election ballots to all registered voters regardless of whether or not they requested them, and the potential for abuse.

SUNDAY, JULY 12, 2020
#VoteByMail - A word or two or three about the reliability of absentee ballots, via Wisconsin's recent very negative experience; Friends don't let friends vote for #JenniferGottlieb
https://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2020/07/votebymail-word-or-two-or-three-about.html

Here's a Washington Post story that's likely to be driving much of the #VoteByMail media conversation for a while, despite very few people in America really knowing all the very gruesome financial details regarding the US Postal Service and how it got that way.

It's worth remembering that U.S. Senators from more rural states -including some I know- will always be forced by virtue of public pressure to insist that their constituents not receive any less service than residents in urban areas, i.e. Saturday mail, the one thing that most urbanites are willing to do without in order to reduce costs, both institutional and long-term.

The Washington Post
Postal Service tells 46 states that mail-in ballots may not arrive in time to be counted
The warnings point to a grim possibility: Even if people voting by mail follow all the election rules, the pace of delivery may disqualify their votes.
By Erin Cox, Elise Viebeck, Jacob Bogage and Christopher Ingraham
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/usps-states-delayed-mail-in-ballots/2020/08/14/64bf3c3c-dcc7-11ea-8051-d5f887d73381_story.html


FoxNews Channel
Tucker Carlson: Media go all-in on mailbox conspiracy
Uploaded August 17, 2020
No one is stealing mailboxes. #FoxNews #Tucker
https://youtu.be/KGvpaejsrkU






















🗳 Fueled by mail ballots, Florida voters showed up this summer in remarkable numbers, turning out amid a pandemic at the highest rate seen in a presidential-year August primary since 1992. More than 3.8 million voters participated in Tuesday’s election, according to data posted late Tuesday by the Florida Division of Elections. In South Florida, more than 900,000 ballots were cast — more than two-thirds of them by mail. The increased participation generated expectations of a high-turnout presidential election between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden this November. And if Florida is expected to once again be a key electoral battlefield, mail ballots — one of Trump’s most controversial foils this year — will almost certainly play an unprecedented role. In Miami-Dade, where the number of votes in Tuesday’s election surpassed the number cast in the 2018 midterms by about 100,000, voter participation was up across the board this summer. But Democrats emerged from Tuesday’s election especially enthusiastic about mail voting, which helped boost turnout among voters between the ages of 18 and 34 and among voters who’d never before participated in an August election. Statewide, Democrats voted overwhelmingly by mail, casting more than 1.1 million mail ballots before Election Day began. Republicans, who once used absentee voting to build up pre-Election Day leads over Democrats, submitted at least 766,000 mail ballots, with results still being tallied Tuesday night. You can read more at the link in our bio // ✍️: David Smiley, 📸: @pportalphoto
A post shared by Miami Herald (@miamiherald) on   

South Florida Sun Sentinel
Editorial Board 
Big changes in Broward: Record turnout and a culture change in criminal justice  August 19th, 2020
Broward voters made history Tuesday, both in how we vote, and in who will likely lead the criminal justice system in this Democratic-rich, majority-minority county.
Contrary to elections of yore, when Broward became a national laughingstock for its untimely election results, appointed Elections Supervisor Pete Antonacci delivered a seemingly seamless election under the most trying of pandemic conditions.
Nothing speaks louder on election night than numbers. People want the results, quickly and accurately. And Antonacci's office delivered the rolling tallies without delays, far before Palm Beach County did. It also live-streamed its vote-counting and canvassing board's work. 
Also for the history books, almost 75% of Broward voters made clear that they prefer to vote by mail, which could lead to a record turnout in November's presidential election. This election proves that when government makes it easier and safer for people to vote, and people take sensible precautions, a lot more people will vote. About 25% of Broward voters turned out for this primary, up from 16% four years ago. That's a healthy sign for democracy.
And what's that about not trusting the Postal Service? The USPS delivered.
See the rest of the editorial at:
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/editorials/fl-op-edit-florida-election-takeaways-20200819-27r4kt27ljddxe6qahmxtc5qwi-story.html






President Trump has already offered $10 billion to fix Postal as part of a COVID relief package. Democrats have said no. They’re holding up a relief bill (including stimulus checks and small business relief) until they get more of their policy wishlist demands included.
— Mark Meadows (@MarkMeadows) August 16, 2020





























Latest new re #VoteByMail at: https://twitter.com/hashtag/votebymail?f=live



Dave 
David B. Smith 

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Sunday, July 12, 2020

#VoteByMail - A word or two or three about the reliability of absentee ballots, via Wisconsin's recent very negative experience; Friends don't let friends vote for #JenniferGottlieb



Over the weekend I shared this interesting news about voting by mail with about 175 or so politics-centric friends and collegues in South Florida and Tallahassee via email, and a different version of that to the folks on the local #HollywoodFL #NextDoor website, which I'm now contributing a considered thought or two more often than I have in the past.

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 This Reality Check re the reliability of absentee ballots comes via a tweet last week by veteran U.S. politics and elections expert Amy Walter, the National Editor of The Cook Political Report and a weekly guest on The PBS NewsHour, who also hosts one of the best political podcasts around.
It's called, logically enough, "Politics with Amy Walter" https://www.npr.org/podcasts/675388201/politics-with-amy-walter
Twitter: @amyewalter https://twitter.com/amyewalter/with_replies
Read her columns at: https://cookpolitical.com/about/staff/amy-walter/analysis

 This bit of news also serves as a real counter-intuitive slap in the face to most of the U.S. TV network correspondents reporting recently on the Wisconsin primary, who focused mostly on the effect of #COVID19 on election turnout and public engagement, NOT on the very bad blood between the Republican-majority Wisconsin state legislature and the Democratic governor, Tony Evers

The Wisconsin elections had also figured in a recent decision where the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a lower court's decision to grant six extra days for absentee ballots to be received in Wisconsin's statewide balloting.

https://twitter.com/amyewalter/status/1281930223819333638
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel “The U.S. Postal Service has identified hundreds of absentee ballots for the April election that never made it to voters or couldn't be counted because of postmark problems, a new report says.“ https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2020/07/10/wisconsin-absentee-ballots-didnt-get-counted-because-late-delivery-misdelivery-and-bad-postmarks-pos/5417084002/
I incorporated Amy's catch of this Journal Sentinel article last week after seeing an interesting tweet by Anthony Man of the Sun Sentinel about the number of election ballots being requested by Broward voters for the upcoming August 18th election, some of which will soon be making their way to friends who are smart enough to be up north in places not nearly as hot, humid, and muggy as Hollywood and Hallandale Beach in the summer.

That election includes lots of races for offices in Broward that in my opinion ought to be appearing on the November ballot, like the Broward School Board races.
More on that last point soon!

Speaking of elections and how they are run and who runs them, re #JenniferGottlieb.
Friends don't let friends vote for #JenniferGottlieb.



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For the most recent info re #VoteBymail: https://twitter.com/hashtag/votebymail?f=live
Dave 
David B. Smith 


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Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Deadline for requesting Absentee Ballot from Broward County Supervisor of Election's office is Wednesday at 5 p.m. -unless you want to drive to Lauderhill and pick it up!


Within the past hour, I sent the following information as part of a larger email about another subject altogether, to a LOT of people around Broward County.
I'm posting it now instead of that larger email on the chance that it might do some voters and candidates some good, because thus far, I have heard nobody mention it anywhere.
Some deadlines really are deadlines!
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Because I've been receiving so many emails from local, county and state candidates everyday, as well as ones from the various constitutional ballot issues, this morning I decided to contact someone I know at the Broward Supervisor of Elections to get the official line about what they were telling voters calling in to their "request" line, about what  the deadline was, since the emails and mailers I receive never mention the deadline. 

Yes, you'd think it would be obvious.
As Election Day gets closer, the window for the public to request absentee ballots and have them received in time to mail back or drop-off at polling stations gets smaller and smaller.
Yet the person I know at SOE told me that some people actually think that they can call on Friday morning and still get an absentee ballot in time, which is crazy, but par for the course.

I was told that they are telling the public that absentee ballot requests must be made by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, otherwise, voters have to drive up to their Lauderhill facility to get one in-person.

Obviously, if people are already trying to avoid going somewhere in their own city to begin with, you'd think that the prospect of having to drive to Lauderhill to get a ballot would dissuade people from waiting and cause them to vote Early if they were really concerned about long lines on Election Day, but then you almost never lose by underestimating the apathy level of the majority of South Florida residents...

I was told that they are telling the public that requests must be made by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, otherwise, voters have to drive up to their Lauderhill facility to get one in-person

Broward County Absentee Ballot Requests - (954) 357-7055

REMINDER: Voted absentee ballots MUST be received by the SOE's office no later than 7 p.m. on Election Day. 
They can NOT be accepted at polling locations!

If you requested an absentee ballot and later decide to VOTE AT THE POLLS, take your absentee ballot with you to be cancelled at your polling place.


Oh, no, this type of thing could never ever happen in Hallandale Beach!
Poll workers call 911 on Volusia County candidate's mom
Caller tells authorities woman was starting 'a riot'
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