Subj : Mail In ballots To : paul lee From : Lee Lofaso Date : Tue Jan 12 2021 07:50 pm Hello Paul, > DS> PL> Just recieving mass-mailed envelopes an carte blanche DS> PL> > accepting that they are all correct and valid. DS> DS> They do not carte > blanche accept that they are all correct and valid. > DS> They check the signature on the outside envelope and verify against > the > DS> voter roles. > DS> DS> PL> We can do better. > DS> DS> How? > >So my girlfriend and I got into this topic this week... I understand that > this time around we reached many more legal voters than we normally would. > And I am all for that - I'm all for bringing voters who are otherwise > disenfranchised from the voting process, to it. However... I still have > some hangup with mass mailing every registered voter a mail-in ballot. Some states have only vote by mail as a means for voting. And none plan on returning to in-person voting only as a means of voting any time soon. People like the convenience, and not having to go out in inclement weather in order to vote person. We have plenty of safeguards in place in order to make it virtually impossible for voter fraud to happen. Once a person has been registered to vote, what more does one need? >On normal years, unless you request a mail-in ballot, or live in a mail-in > only state, you have to physically go in person and vote. You show your ID. > You vote. You get checked off, so that you can't vote twice. Why should anybody be forced to vote in person? That is a very anti-democratic way of doing things. The more options people have, the more democratic this country is. So why not promote democracy by being pro-democratic rather than anti-democratic? Make it the normal for every state to have mail-in ballots and early voting allowed for all elections. Sure, in-person voting should also be available. But that can be regarded as an option by states. >I heard your reply that they 'check signatures' but I have heard this > disputed in the news... and I DO think we can do better. There are ways that 'check signatures' can be abused. Some folks have poor handwriting. Some lawyers try to argue that a signature of an individual is a forged signature, trying to get that vote thrown out (a means of voter suppression). >In a non-pandemic year, I think the process of in-person voting and mailing > to registered voters who show a reason for the mail-in need, is great. Mail-in voting and early voting should be the normal in all elections, regardless of whether or not there is a pandemic. In-person voting can always be kept as an option, but there is no necessity for making that mandatory. >I do think that even in a pandemic, folks should have to raise their hand or > otherwise request a mail-in ballot. Why? Some states have only mail-in ballots and early voting available. So why force folks to have to raise their hand in order to request a ballot? That is anti-democratic. Let's be the democracy this country was always meant to be by being pro-democratic rather than anti-democratic. Certainly that makes more sense. >If we mass-mail all registered voters, it DOES increase the probability that > say 'the man of the house' could mark whatever side they prefer and 'vote' > for all in the household, that nursing homes or other similar situations > can happen like that... and that there is some middle ground that is better > than what we did this year. You are being silly. Voter registration is for individuals only. Entire families cannot be registered as a unit. And people can only vote as individuals, not as entire families or groups of people. When filing taxes, one can claim to be 'head of household'. But that is not the same as voting for everybody in the family. What silly nonsense. What would be great is to totally do away with using age as a factor as to who should be allowed to vote. It used to be age 21 was when people could vote, even though one had to be age 25 in order to hold a seat in Congress. Then the age was lowered to 18, since people that age could be drafted and sent to war. But why should there be an age minimum at all? We have no age maximum, with old folks who cannot remember their own name being able to vote. So why not children? Or newborn babies? Or babies still in the womb? If we are a democracy, we should go whole hog. Let everybody vote! >That being said, I think we did an awesome thing this year... It was a start in becoming a better democracy than it was before. >I just don't like the mass mail-ins. Period. The more options people have, the more democratic this country is. --Lee -- Pussy grabs back! --- MesNews/1.08.05.00-gb * Origin: nntp://rbb.fidonet.fi - Lake Ylo - Finland (2:221/360.0) .