Accessibility and voting polls

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

For Cat, and any others, who may not know what happened to me during the Primary election, here is my account from the politics thread:




In California, we have an open primary, which means the primary ballot contains every candidate from every party for every voter.

Here’s an article explaining why that could be problematic, especially in the 2020 election:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...b02143b7cd5b65

I can’t describe the volume of flyers, letters, circulars, and phone calls I’ve received in the past 30 days. It’s incredible. And maybe somewhere among all of that junk mail, my absentee ballot was hidden.

Because I don’t have my ballot, and I am a permanent absentee ballot voter.

I called the Registrar of Voters, and I was told that my ballot was mailed on 5/7. Without it my options were: a) I could go to the county seat and get an emergency ballot; b) send someone to the county seat to get my emergency ballot; c) find an early voting location and go there to vote; d) vote at my polling place on June 5.

I asked, “What if I’m unable to do any of these things?”

The answer was, “I can’t help you.”

I’m furious and disgusted. I have never not received my ballot. What happens to it after it leaves my mail box with the mail carrier, who knows?

All of these flyers I receive indicate my party preference, so maybe someone in the post office might just notice that and accidentally lose my ballot?

Am I paranoid? Do I live in America, in a conservative county?

Yeah.

******************

To this, I will add that Jim and I went through every flyer and other pieces of junk mail every day, because we were looking for my ballot.

I think I'll call the Registrar in October to find out exactly when my ballot will be mailed for the mid-terms. If I don't receive it within a few days of that date, I will call again. If I have to do it, I'll go to early voting polls to avoid crowds. Of course, that is dependent upon what's happening with Jim and Jon, which is unpredictable from day to day, let alone 3 months from now. That is why I vote absentee.

Love & Light,



Rose

[Virginia]

I have, so far, not had any problem with absentee voting in NC. The outside of the envelope does not have my party preference on it.

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Virginia)))))) ~

My absentee ballot also arrives in an unmarked envelope, which doesn't display my party preference. But all of the flyers and campaign mail sent to me does specify my party preference. And if our mail carrier has the other party preference, what is to prevent the mail carrier from "losing" my ballot in the mail? Nothing.

And if I pursued this, as in mail fraud, how far would I get and how much stress would it cause me? I have zero proof of any kind of tampering with my ballot.

I've been voting absentee for about 20 years, and this is the first time I have not received my ballot.

The options available to me were not suitable for an individual, who is elderly, or disabled, or is a 24 hour caregiver, or is ill, or can't drive, etc.

But the Registrar's office just told me that they couldn't help me.

To me, that is a red flag, which is preventing certain citizens from voting.

The reason I stopped going to the polling place and became an absentee voter is because November is flu season. If I get the flu, I can't take care of my family, plus they get sick, and then it's ICU and a ventilator. For me, voting became a life and death matter.

I have voted in every election since I was eligible to vote. And, I'm still furious that I was denied that right in the Primaries.

My experience isn't unusual. We had several voting irregularities in California, including preventing sight-impaired people from voting.

I have absolutely no trust in our government now. Nothing would surprise me.



Love & Light,



Rose

[Catdancer]

It could simply have been lost. Or with the flurry of junk mail, got thrown out. Starting conspiracy theories only drives you crazy and brings out the wacky folks. I live in very red very rural very small town America. Im.pretty sure my husband and I are some of the very few democrats in this county . my Ballots arrive well within.the time I need them. Ballots here come in very large envelopes, well marked "absentee ballot" . Because I don't have to declare which party I'm in, every ballot for every party is included, and I have to sort through to get the ones I need. As I said before, it's easy. I pull out the ones I need, fill them out, off they go.

Yes, you do.read about errant mail carriers who discard mail, or take it home, or whatever. But to suggest that there's a political motive behind it? Not likely. .if you sorry about your particular mail carrier, you could always mail it somewhere else.

Did you check your regstration? Could it be that you've been dropped, somehow?

[agate]

I often get mail that is clearly addressed to other people, usually neighbors here in this building. They get my mail too. Somehow those pieces of mail usually find their way back to the correct addressees eventually but sometimes they don't.

I've received an envelope addressed to me from one source with an envelope addressed to someone else stuck to it, from the same source. Envelopes that are put out in huge quantities, as absentee ballots are, can and do stick together, and someone else may have got your ballot.

Maybe that person was away on vacation or in the hospital or whatever, and the mail was piling up, and whoever was in charge of the mail stupidly tossed out anything that went to the wrong addressee. Or opened it by mistake, assuming without looking closely enough that it was properly addressed.

I've done this myself--opened an envelope and then found it was addressed to someone else. I've always seen to it that it got to the right person but some people don't notice or don't bother.

There's a lot of this indifference. Mail carriers don't always bother to read those addresses carefully. Many people have reading skills that are at about the 6th grade level.

There are any number of ways an absentee ballot might fail to reach the addressee, seems to me.

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

Cat ~

My registration wasn't dropped, since the Registrar told me that my ballot had been mailed to me. She then advised me on options to allow me to vote, all of which involve more than I can manage with my responsibilities to Jim and Jon, and I don't have any friends, who can run to the county seat, about an hour from our home, on my behalf.

I'm not starting a conspiracy theory. In 20 years, my ballots have all arrived in time. This is the first year it hasn't. In 20 years, I know exactly what my absentee ballot envelope looks like. And Jim and I were ferreting through tons of political mail, because we live in highly populated area and a huge state, with a large number of candidates on the Primary ballot, plus propositions. Our ballots are very long and complicated. The amount of mail we got was unbelievable.

I'm not the only voter in my district, who didn't get an absentee ballot, and there were issues at my district's polling places. I live in a large metropolis, which is rife with county and local government corruption.

For these reasons, I am suspicious as to why I did not receive a ballot. It's not driving me crazy, but it is irritating me considerably, particularly in the face of the mid-term elections. My right to vote is very important to me.

And, if my fact-based experience is bringing out "wacky folks," well, I just don't know how to respond to that. I only shared my experience, with the parameters of where I reside and what happened in my district. I can't be in charge of how that's interpreted by the receiver.

Voter fraud is a real thing, and I may have been a victim of it. Now, after all of these years, I have to determine how to protect my right to vote. Any option other than an absentee ballot presents obstacles for me to cast my vote. Those options are very discriminatory toward voters with disabilities, and/or who are elderly. I feel that my concern is reasonable and warranted.



Love & Light,



Rose

[funnylegs4]

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((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

For Cat, and any others, who may not know what happened to me during the Primary election, here is my account from the politics thread:




In California, we have an open primary, which means the primary ballot contains every candidate from every party for every voter.

Here’s an article explaining why that could be problematic, especially in the 2020 election:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...b02143b7cd5b65

I can’t describe the volume of flyers, letters, circulars, and phone calls I’ve received in the past 30 days. It’s incredible. And maybe somewhere among all of that junk mail, my absentee ballot was hidden.

Because I don’t have my ballot, and I am a permanent absentee ballot voter.

I called the Registrar of Voters, and I was told that my ballot was mailed on 5/7. Without it my options were: a) I could go to the county seat and get an emergency ballot; b) send someone to the county seat to get my emergency ballot; c) find an early voting location and go there to vote; d) vote at my polling place on June 5.

I asked, “What if I’m unable to do any of these things?”

The answer was, “I can’t help you.”

I’m furious and disgusted. I have never not received my ballot. What happens to it after it leaves my mail box with the mail carrier, who knows?

All of these flyers I receive indicate my party preference, so maybe someone in the post office might just notice that and accidentally lose my ballot?

Am I paranoid? Do I live in America, in a conservative county?

Yeah.

******************

To this, I will add that Jim and I went through every flyer and other pieces of junk mail every day, because we were looking for my ballot.

I think I'll call the Registrar in October to find out exactly when my ballot will be mailed for the mid-terms. If I don't receive it within a few days of that date, I will call again. If I have to do it, I'll go to early voting polls to avoid crowds. Of course, that is dependent upon what's happening with Jim and Jon, which is unpredictable from day to day, let alone 3 months from now. That is why I vote absentee.

Love & Light,



Rose

As a person who loves being involved in the voting process I am disturbed this happened to you regardless of party. It should not be that easy for a ballot to get lost.

[Sunshine]

I don’t think it’s paranoid. It happened in another city a few years ago, post office employee selectively threw out mail attempting to register, or do something that required mailing. They arrived one day late because an errant employee made sure they were late.

Can you find that news story?

[Sunshine]

Here it is
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/n...lications.html

They delayed delivery of DACA application, screwing the applicant. Sent it all around the city for a few days,

[Catdancer]

One lost absentee ballot does not equate to a conspiracy. However inconvenienced Rose was, there were other ways to vote. There were not other ways for the DACA folks to resolve this.....and there were many more than one person, who had for years gotten her ballot in the mail. If it happens say n, you might convince me that something is going on. But not once.