Comments

1
Goldy - You simply don't understand that the reason guys like Jason Mercier want to move back the date has nothing to do with knowing the result. They want to limit voting full stop. If they can shave off a few days it is to conservatives benefit.

Nothing more nothing less.
2
@1 I fully understand. I'm just choosing to counter them with math.
3
"Math." Everyone knows that math only matters to pencil-necked geeks. We're Americans, and we're better than math.

Incidentally, what's involved with signature verification? Does a computer flag suspicious signatures for a human being to look at? What criteria are used to verify a signature? For example, I'm ambidextrous, and my signature looks very different depending on which hand I use. I always use my right for legal documents, but what if I wanted to change it up and use my left?
4
@2 Better than w/ garlic & rosaries...
5
@3 - I think humans check the signatures and then scan the ballots through the vote tally machines. Well, based on the ST article linked.
6
@5: You mean I hafta read, too? Whatevs.
7
"About 77 percent of ballots are typically received by election day, about 97 percent are received by the day after. [...] That's the bottleneck: The time it takes to verify signatures."

Our vote by mail ballot design includes a ballot, inside a security/privacy envelope, inside the return envelope with the signature on the outside. If the bottleneck is actually signature verification, there is no reason that any number of systems/processes could not be employed that would allow them to verify signatures prior to closing the polls without loosing the ability to track or revoke a ballot by identified voter without violating the secrecy/anonymity of the ballot.

Why don't we do this better?
8
@3 I'm working on a post that addresses that, but in brief, a human compares the signature to one a digitized one on file. If they're not sure, it goes to a specialist who examines more closely. If the signature is rejected, the voter will be notified, and has three weeks after election day to respond. About 2 percent of KC ballots are rejected, and about half of those are ultimately "cured".
9
I like the idea of votes being cured like ham or syphilis.
10
@9 - But what about syphilis ham?
11
So our second favorite ALEC funded Tea Party group Washington Policy Center speaks out (our FAVORITE being Freedom Foundation, the home of voter suppression, Koch Brothers style). So does Jason Mercier have anything to say about King County Republicans going around snatching up our ballots in black vans? And what is his position on voter suppression? For it? Against it? For it only as long as Republicans don't get caught with their hands in the cookie jar?

Please wait...

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