The rise in mail voting comes with a price, as mismatched signatures lead to ballot rejections

By Free Republic | Created at 2024-12-31 15:55:59 | Updated at 2025-01-07 21:49:45 1 week ago

The rise in mail voting comes with a price, as mismatched signatures lead to ballot rejections
Channel 3000 News/AP ^ | December 31, 2024 | AP Bitter LOSERS

Posted on 12/31/2024 7:47:51 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin

As with many voters on Maui, Joshua Kamalo thought the race for president wasn't the only big contest on the November ballot. He also was focused on a hotly contested seat for the local governing board.

He made sure to return his ballot in the virtually all vote-by-mail state early, doing so two weeks before Election Day. A week later, he received a letter telling him the county couldn’t verify his signature on the return envelope, jeopardizing his vote.

And he wasn't the only one. Two other people at the biodiesel company where he works also had their ballots rejected, as did his daughter. In each case, the county said their signatures didn't match the ones on file. “I don’t know how they fix that, but I don’t think it’s right,” said Kamalo, a truck driver who persevered through traffic congestion and limited parking options to get to the county office so he could sign an affidavit affirming that the signature was indeed his.

He said he probably wouldn’t have bothered to fix it if the South Maui county council race wasn’t so close. The co-founder of his employer, Pacific Biodiesel, was the candidate who ended up on the losing side.

Kamalo's experience is part of a broader problem as mail voting rises in popularity and more states opt to send ballots to all voters. Matching signatures on returned mail ballot envelopes to the official ones recorded at local voting offices can be a tedious process, sometimes done by humans and sometimes through automation, and can lead to dozens, hundreds or even thousands of ballots being rejected.

If the voter can't correct it in time, the ballot won't count.

(Excerpt) Read more at channel3000.com ...

TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; Politics/Elections; US: Hawaii
KEYWORDS: fraud; mailinballots

“There’s been a big push toward mail voting over the last few years, and I think the tradeoffs aren’t always clear to voters,” said Larry Norden, an elections and government expert at the Brennan Center for Justice.

He said it's important for states and local governments to have procedures that ensure large numbers of eligible mail ballot voters aren't being disenfranchised.

To: Diana in Wisconsin

I guess this explains Heels Up Harris’ loss. *SMIRK*

2 posted on 12/31/2024 7:48:36 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set.)

To: Diana in Wisconsin

And he wasn’t the only one. Two other people at the biodiesel company where he works also had their ballots rejected, as did his daughter. In each case, the county said their signatures didn’t match the ones on file. “I don’t know how they fix that, but I don’t think it’s right,” said Kamalo, a truck driver who persevered through traffic congestion and limited parking options to get to the county office so he could sign an affidavit affirming that the signature was indeed his.

So the lesson is voting in person is better and just as easy. Wonder what he does next time?

3 posted on 12/31/2024 7:52:06 AM PST by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued, but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere)

To: Diana in Wisconsin

mismatched signatures lead to ballot rejections“

You can bet your house for every legitimate vote that gets kicked mail voting brings in 10 fraudulent votes.

4 posted on 12/31/2024 7:55:35 AM PST by iamgalt

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