4 ms·

I voted by mail in Seattle for years and never had an issue or even heard of one. The ballot goes in a tamper-evident envelope, sealed within the mailing envelo

by srj 6y ago

I voted by mail in Seattle for years and never had an issue or even heard of one. The ballot goes in a tamper-evident envelope, sealed within the mailing envelope. You also get online tracking to know your ballot was received and processed.

specialist 6y ago
You're welcome. Me and my peeps did the yeoman work to both protect the secret ballot and ensure end-to-end auditability. If every jurisdiction nationwide adopted the rules, procedures, and operations used by King County Elections, we'd be in good shape. But they won't.
- spenczar5 6y ago
  Why not? I am curious to know more - is it expensive or difficult to implement? Couldn’t other jurisdictions copy King County’s system?
  - specialist 6y ago
    Election administration is chronically underfunded. A lot of people have some very funny ideas about how to conduct elections. For examples: Should ballots be required to be received or postmarked by Election Day to be accepted? (Correct answer is postmarked.) If a voter makes a mistake, how does it get corrected? Some jurisdictions just toss any ballot with any mistake. What are the standards for signature verification? What happens if the admins identify a mismatch? Sadly, the minutia goes on and on.
xhkkffbf 6y ago
Please pay better attention and read the news occasionally: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seven-charged-in-vote-fraud-scheme/ https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seven-charged-in-v... And here's a story from a postal worker committing voting fraud. It was published in the Seattle Times even though it occurred in WV. https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/west-virginia-mail-carrier-admits-attempted-election-fraud/ https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/west-virgin... This took me 10 seconds to find. Tamper resistant envelopes don't stop fraud. They just stop tampering. The real problem is people making up 1000s of fake names (or borrowing real ones) and then filling out the ballots for their favorite candidate. Then they dutifully seal them in a tamper-resistant envelope which preserves the vote for their favorite candidate. Open your eyes and your ears.

by srj 6y ago

specialist 6y ago

You're welcome. Me and my peeps did the yeoman work to both protect the secret ballot and ensure end-to-end auditability. If every jurisdiction nationwide adopted the rules, procedures, and operations used by King County Elections, we'd be in good shape. But they won't.

spenczar5 6y ago
Why not? I am curious to know more - is it expensive or difficult to implement? Couldn’t other jurisdictions copy King County’s system?
- specialist 6y ago
  Election administration is chronically underfunded. A lot of people have some very funny ideas about how to conduct elections. For examples: Should ballots be required to be received or postmarked by Election Day to be accepted? (Correct answer is postmarked.) If a voter makes a mistake, how does it get corrected? Some jurisdictions just toss any ballot with any mistake. What are the standards for signature verification? What happens if the admins identify a mismatch? Sadly, the minutia goes on and on.

xhkkffbf 6y ago

Please pay better attention and read the news occasionally: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seven-charged-in-vote-fraud-scheme/ https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seven-charged-in-v... And here's a story from a postal worker committing voting fraud. It was published in the Seattle Times even though it occurred in WV. https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/west-virginia-mail-carrier-admits-attempted-election-fraud/ https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/west-virgin... This took me 10 seconds to find. Tamper resistant envelopes don't stop fraud. They just stop tampering. The real problem is people making up 1000s of fake names (or borrowing real ones) and then filling out the ballots for their favorite candidate. Then they dutifully seal them in a tamper-resistant envelope which preserves the vote for their favorite candidate. Open your eyes and your ears.