absentee ballot

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">belated? 519</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">see vote by mail, target trump 5/20
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">several races in so had this?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">authoritarian</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/trump-goes-ballistic-over-twitters-fact-check-but-he-has-no-idea-what-hes-talking-abou">https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/trump-goes-ballistic-over-twitters-fact-check-but-he-has-no-idea-what-hes-talking-abou</a>t</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">T<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">hat didn’t take long.</span></font></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Around 5:30 PM</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> Twitter slapped a label on two of President Donald Trump’s tweets, inviting social media users to “get the facts about mail-in ballot.” It’s the first time Twitter has placed what some are calling a “warning label” on any individual tweet.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And while others say it’s not sufficient – Trump lies remain and the label isn’t especially strong – Trump went ballistic just two hours later.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Despite the fact that Trump was engaging in voter suppression, he is accusing Twitter of “<a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1265427538140188676" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election</a>."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">'They are saying my statement on Mail-In Ballots, which will lead to massive corruption and fraud, is incorrect, based on fact-checking by Fake News CNN and the Amazon Washington Post.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Actually, his tweets are filled with lies and falsehoods, no fact-checking required.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Trump did not stop there.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In yet another example of his belief that he is all powerful, Trump decreed, “<b>Twitter is completely stifling FREE SPEECH, and I, as President, will not allow it to happen!</b>”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The President, who has never read the U.S. Constitution and little to no understanding of it, does not comprehend that he is using a private platform operated by a private company, and the only “free speech” guarantee is when the government “stifles” it.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter can do what they want. And they have.</font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">cody f</font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Twitter finally took a minor step to address the deluge of distortions, lies, and blatant disinformation flowing from President Donald Trump’s account.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Now, following a pair of Trump’s bogus tweets sent Tuesday morning spreading lies about mail-in voting, Twitter has inserted an alert telling readers to “Get the facts about mail-in ballots” as seen below:</font></p></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/twitter-finally-takes-a-step-to-counter-trumps-online-disinformation"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/twitter-finally-takes-a-step-to-counter-trumps-online-disinformation</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...[twet] C<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">licking the link brings readers to a page that addressed Trump’s falsehoods. It explained:</span></font></div><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; position: relative; line-height: 1.7; overflow: hidden; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: none !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On Tuesday, President Trump made a series of claims about potential voter fraud after California Governor Gavin Newsom announced an effort to expand mail-in voting in California during the COVID-19 pandemic. These claims are unsubstantiated, according to CNN, Washington Post and others. Experts say mail-in ballots are very rarely linked to voter fraud.</font></p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It continued:</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Trump falsely claimed that mail-in ballots would lead to “a Rigged Election.” However, fact-checkers say there is no evidence that mail-in ballots are linked to voter fraud.</font></span></p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; position: relative; line-height: 1.7; overflow: hidden; background: rgb(245, 245, 245); border: none !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">– Trump falsely claimed that California will send mail-in ballots to “anyone living in the state, no matter who they are or how they got there.” In fact, only registered voters will receive ballots.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">– Though Trump targeted California, mail-in ballots are already used in some states, including Oregon, Utah and Nebraska.</font></p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">While it’s important to rebut Trump’s attempt to manipulate the election and mislead the population about the integrity of American democracy, it’s easy to see how this solution from Twitter will raise further problems.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Conservatives will undoubtedly be outraged by the fact-check. Given how social media outlets have caved to faux and unjustified conservative outrage in the past, it’s easy to imagine that Twitter will respond poorly to these attacks.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">It also creates the problem that the rest of Trump’s Twitter feed remains littered with disinformation and lies, including smears about President Barack Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden and a horrendous conspiracy theory insinuating baselessly that former Rep. Joe Scarborough murdered a congressional staffer. Correcting some lies and not others could create the appearance that Twitter is putting its seal of approval on misinformation.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Some, including Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), have advocated that Twitter ban Trump completely because of his abuse of the platform.</b> Ultimately, someone like Trump leaves companies like Twitter in an incredibly difficult, perhaps impossible, situation. The best solution is to get reckless spreaders of disinformation out of power.</font></p><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/why-experts-are-worried-about-absentee-voting-across-the-country/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/why-experts-are-worried-about-absentee-voting-across-the-country/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">More than 30 <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vU6qp_0p0-3yV3t98jLIj-BTa69MemDUQ7g-HLrhwyA/edit?usp=sharing" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">statewide elections</a> will be held in the 91 days from May 19 to August 18, previewing how unfamiliar or difficult absentee voting may be across America this fall.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The next big test is June 2, when eight states and the District of Columbia hold their presidential primaries. Despite President Trump’s <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/04/trump-mail-voting-fraud-coronavirus-vote-suppression.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">claims</a> that absentee voting cannot be trusted, red-run states (Indiana, Iowa, South Dakota) holding primaries that day have <a href="https://www.voteathome.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Voting-policy-changes-from-COVID.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">more experience</a> with voting by mail and voters dropping off ballots at polling places than blue states and territories (Maryland, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and D.C.). Only one state in this group, purple Montana, <a href="https://www.voteathome.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Voting-policy-changes-from-COVID.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">has held</a> an election where most people voted absentee.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">States are turning to absentee voting in response to the pandemic. But as the next wave of statewide contests nears, experts are beginning to worry about the capacity of many states to handle surges of mail-based voting—now and in the fall. April’s primaries in <a href="https://elections.wi.gov/sites/elections.wi.gov/files/2020-05/May%2020%2C%202020.Final.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Wisconsin</a> and <a href="https://www.nationalmemo.com/ohio-primary-raises-new-election-worry-rejected-provisional-ballots" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Ohio</a> were mostly mail-based elections that were beset with problems due to partisan factors and rapidly changing plans. Meanwhile, many election officials preparing for June 2 primaries are scrambling.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Administrators have struggled to accommodate both the requests for and issuance of absentee ballots in a timely manner during low turnout primaries,” Christopher Thomas, Michigan’s former election director, and Matthew Weil, director of the Elections Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), wrote in one of the few recent <a href="https://bipartisanpolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/BPC_Elections_absentee-Ballot-1.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">reports</a> to assess voting in the pandemic. “During a high turnout general election, these [requests] are likely to overwhelm jurisdictions, causing huge delays in sending and subsequently counting absentee ballots."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">in 2018, 52 million people, or 43.2 percent of voters nationally, cast ballots outside of Election Day in-person options, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission <a href="https://www.eac.gov/sites/default/files/eac_assets/1/6/2018_EAVS_Report.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">said</a>. In 2016’s presidential election, the figure was 57.2 million, the EAC <a href="https://www.eac.gov/documents/2017/10/17/eavs-deep-dive-early-absentee-and-mail-voting-data-statutory-overview" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">said</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Regardless of what policy changes are made, we predict that vote-by-mail ballots will represent more than half of all ballots cast in [the fall of] 2020,” the BPC authors <a href="https://bipartisanpolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/BPC_Elections_absentee-Ballot-1.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">said</a>, “which would be at least a 190 percent increase over 2016.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Precedents for the Fall?</font></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the next three months, starting with Idaho on May 19 and continuing to Florida on August 18, <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vU6qp_0p0-3yV3t98jLIj-BTa69MemDUQ7g-HLrhwyA/edit?usp=sharing" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">more than 30 states</a> will be holding presidential primaries or other statewide elections. While many states have <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Changes_to_election_dates,procedures,and_administration_in_response_to_the_coronavirus(COVID-19)pandemic,2020" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">updated</a> some aspects of their absentee voting rules, what is becoming clear is that most of these states are not likely to offer voting options that meet the <a href="https://www.voteathome.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/VAHScale_StrategyPlan.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">best practices</a> touted by elections experts.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">How easy or hard mail-based voting will be <a href="https://www.voteathome.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Voting-policy-changes-from-COVID.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">varies</a> by state. A few states automatically send voters ballots. Most states require voters to apply for an absentee ballot. That step has variables, such as providing IDs, who pays for postage and deadlines. On the receiving end, officials have to vet applicants and then send ballots. Ballots have to be returned on time with correctly filled-out envelopes or dropped off at polling places. Just like voters are checked into precincts, these envelopes have to be vetted before ballots are counted. These steps are <a href="https://elections.wi.gov/sites/elections.wi.gov/files/2020-05/May%2020%2C%202020.Final.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">laborious</a>, even with technology that automates some of the processes.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The dividing line between less-prepared and better-prepared states does not always follow the map of red and blue states. While there is a <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/ignoring-trump-and-right-wing-think-tanks-red-states-expand-vote-by-mail?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter#952484" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">split</a> among some GOP-run states that are making absentee voting easier (ignoring President Trump’s rants that mail-based voting cannot be trusted) and states where partisan legislators are forcing state election officials to impose procedures that have <a href="https://www.nationalmemo.com/new-voting-rights-battles-erupting-in-key-swing-states" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">confounded</a> voters, the real dividing line is battleground and non-battleground states.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The most recent example of that contrast can be seen in Ohio and Nebraska, which held their primaries on April 28 and May 12, respectively. The rule-heavy process in Ohio <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-went-down-in-ohios-primary/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">resulted</a> in 20 percent voter turnout, a historic low. Two weeks later, nearly 14 percent of all ballots had yet to be officially <a href="https://liveresults.ohiosos.gov/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">accounted for</a> (see “Ballots Cast” tab). Nebraska, in contrast, <a href="https://www.omaha.com/news/state_and_regional/thanks-to-vote-by-mail-option-more-nebraskans-than-ever-cast-their-primary-ballots/article_a6e0f91c-c48e-5072-9dff-f6ed38dcf558.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">loosened</a> its rules and sent absentee ballot applications to all registered voters. It set a turnout record that was <a href="https://www.omaha.com/news/state_and_regional/thanks-to-vote-by-mail-option-more-nebraskans-than-ever-cast-their-primary-ballots/article_a6e0f91c-c48e-5072-9dff-f6ed38dcf558.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">14 percent</a> higher than its prior record set during 1972’s primary. (In 2018, 24 percent of Nebraskans had <a href="https://www.voteathome.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Voting-policy-changes-from-COVID.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">voted</a> absentee, underscoring its experience with mail-based elections.)</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Looking to the 10 primaries on June 2, the assessments are not overly encouraging.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.voteathome.org/about/?link_id=1&can_id=74ee040b6c1911219a7bc4a9c1151efe&source=email-national-vote-at-home-institute-to-host-press-call-to-discuss-their-50-state-analysis-plan-for-vote-at-home-policy-expansion-2&email_referrer=email_803594&email_subject=starting-soon-national-vote-at-home-institute-to-host-press-call-to-discuss-their-50-state-analysis-plan-for-vote-at-home-policy-expansion" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">The National Vote at Home Institute</a> (NVAHI), the leading national organization promoting mail-based voting, on May 14 issued a <a href="https://www.voteathome.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/NVAHI-50-State-Policy-Analysis.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">report</a> assessing every state and the District of Columbia’s ability to meet best practices. On a one-to-five scale based on 30 variables in running mail-based elections, six of the nine places holding June 2 primaries received a low grade of two (Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Washington, D.C.). Two states received a grade of three (New Mexico, Rhode Island) and one a grade of four (Montana).</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The NVAHI report is a policy document. It strives for what it considers to be the ideal. As its experts said on a May 14 conference call, a successful vote-at-home election is glitch-free and boring. They cited Alaska’s trouble-free Democratic Party primary and Wisconsin’s problematic primary (for both parties), both held the same week in April, as counterpoints.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The contrast makes a broad point, but the two primaries were different in scale. Alaska’s party-run primary had <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Alaska_Democratic_primary" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">19,600 voters</a>—all were sent mail-based ballots, while Wisconsin’s government-run primary had <a href="https://elections.wi.gov/blog" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">1.55 million voters</a>, who endured court fights, had to request absentee ballots or had to find an open polling place to vote.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nonetheless, NVAHI has the difficult role of trying to advise state officials and lawmakers of what to do while encountering layers of resistance for adopting their preferred voting method: partisan <a href="https://www.nationalmemo.com/in-some-red-states-partisan-officials-blocking-mail-ballots" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">opposition</a> to expanded balloting, administrative challenges, budgetary constraints and little time to prepare for upcoming elections. Legislatures that haven’t looked at updating their voting rules or have not acted have left many election officials <a href="https://www.voteathome.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Voting-policy-changes-from-COVID.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">without</a> clear rules or funds for voting this fall.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When asked for examples of progress, NVAHI’s responses revealed that elections evolve incrementally. For example, they said that Pennsylvania might adopt one of its suggestions, a <a href="https://www.democracy.works/ballot-scout" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">tool</a> that helps voters to track ballots in the mail like people track Amazon packages. Some Wisconsin counties were eyeing the same tool, NVAHI said. But that step, as helpful as it may be, was only one of the 12 “categories that we determined to be the foundation of a vote by mail system,” its <a href="https://www.voteathome.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/NVAHI-50-State-Policy-Analysis.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">assessment</a> said.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Their other 11 foundational categories and concerns included: do voters need to give an excuse to obtain an absentee ballot—and does COVID-19 qualify? Does the state have good enough “data integrity” to mail all registered voters a ballot? Does it have online voter registration? Does it have online absentee ballot request forms, or must voters submit paper forms? Does the state pay for postage on ballot applications and ballot return envelopes? Does it have other return options, such as drop boxes? Do state deadlines allow for all of the processing—applying for, sending, receiving, vetting and counting ballots—to be completed? Does the state have a uniform signature verification process (before taking ballots out of envelopes)? Does it have processes to allow voters to fix mistakes? Does it count ballots postmarked on Election Day that arrive later? Does it mail ballots to voters?</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a <a href="https://elections.wi.gov/sites/elections.wi.gov/files/2020-05/May%2020%2C%202020.Final.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">report</a> prepared for the Wisconsin Election Commission’s May 20 meeting, statewide administrators said that 120,989 ballots—9.3 percent of the 1.3 million ballots sent to voters for April’s primary—were not returned or counted. That figure was lower than the <a href="https://www.eac.gov/sites/default/files/eac_assets/1/6/2018_EAVS_Report.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">national non-return rate</a> of mail-based ballots in 2018, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Voting Isn’t Always Simple</font></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Standing up absentee voting systems is more complex than debuting a new voting machine. NVAHI’s list also was not the full picture of what awaits voters. Other national groups, such as the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, have compiled charts with every state’s voter registration and absentee balloting <a href="https://lawyerscommittee.org/state-election-law/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">laws, applications and filing deadlines</a>. Some of these rules are the subject of more than two-dozen <a href="https://www.democracydocket.com/our-cases/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">federal lawsuits</a> by the Democratic Party, which seeks to reverse or suspend pre-COVID-19 requirements such as that an absentee ballot envelope must have a witness signature or be notarized.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Voting rights activists also look at the emerging absentee voting landscape differently than policy experts. Instead of seeing what needs to be done to have a functional process, advocates such as <a href="https://pdamerica.org/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Progressive Democrats of America</a> and <a href="https://advancementproject.org/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Advancement Project</a>, a civil rights law group, have been discussing what can go wrong for voters—and how to educate voters so that they can vote and their ballots count.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These discussions have identified voter information that is not readily available. For example, Voting Booth has yet to find a table of which states allow people to register to vote and to receive an absentee ballot at the same time. (In most states, one has to register first, wait until they are added to voter rolls, and then apply for an absentee ballot; all of which cannot be done at the last minute.)</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Grassroots groups are also scrambling to compile state-by-state advice on what to tell voters to do if they have applied for an absentee ballot and it does not arrive. Must they go to a polling place and vote with a provisional ballot? Those ballots are the last to be counted and are rarely audited when assessing vote count accuracy.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In short, most stakeholders—voters, advocacy groups and election officials—are scrambling to stand up new systems and fill in the blanks. Against this backdrop, the Bipartisan Policy Center <a href="https://bipartisanpolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/BPC_Elections_absentee-Ballot-1.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">report</a> subtly suggested that many states might not have the ability to accommodate a surge in absentee voting.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“States that choose to push more voters toward this option must address policy, implementation, and capacity issues on an extraordinarily short timeline,” Thomas and Weil wrote for BPC. “Regardless of what decisions are made, we strongly believe by November there will be high voter interest in the presidential election; voting by mail will likely represent well over half the ballots cast; and some amount of Election Day voting will continue but may be very different than normal.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Steven Rosenfeld is the editor and chief correspondent of <a href="https://independentmediainstitute.org/voting-booth/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Voting Booth</a>, a project of the Independent Media Institute. He has reported for National Public Radio, Marketplace, and Christian Science Monitor Radio, as well as a wide range of progressive publications including Salon, AlterNet, the American Prospect, and many others.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">This article was produced by </span><a href="https://independentmediainstitute.org/voting-booth/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Voting Booth</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">, a project of the Independent Media Institute.</span></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/north-carolinas-election-fiasco-about-voter-suppression-not-voter-fraud">https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/north-carolinas-election-fiasco-about-voter-suppression-not-voter-fraud</a></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">wapo</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div><b>Judge orders Ga. officials to stop tossing absentee ballots over signatures</b></div><div>Republican gubernatorial candidate for Georgia Brian Kemp speaks as Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams looks on during a debate in Atlanta Tuesday. (Pool/Reuters)</div><div>
</div><div>By </div><div>Amy Gardner </div><div>Oct. 24, 2018 at 1:04 p.m. PDT</div><div>A federal judge on Wednesday ordered Georgia election officials to stop summarily tossing absentee ballots because of mismatched signatures, delivering a crucial win to voting-rights advocates — and to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams — less than two weeks before Election Day.</div><div>
</div><div>The ruling resulted from two lawsuits filed earlier this month after election officials in a single Atlanta suburb, Gwinnett County, rejected hundreds of absentee ballots with signature discrepancies, missing addresses or incorrect birth years.</div><div>...</div></div><div><p style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: both; margin: 0px 0px 1.25em;"><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">blow to 'usurper' elected officials in North Carolina</font></strong></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: both; margin: 0px 0px 1.25em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A state judge recently struck down a voter ID amendment to the N.C. Constitution because the legislators who ratified it were elected in unconstitutional, racially gerrymandered districts. Meanwhile, two white sheriffs who ousted black sheriffs with the help of a suspected election fraudster are also facing legal problems. (3/12/2019)</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: both; margin: 0px 0px 1.25em;"><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://default.salsalabs.org/Tcba5521e-1ac2-46b0-92c1-0c766c6205d4/da4155fc-1ea7-11e6-8ef9-12c35146c141" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Read More ></font></a></p><p style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></p><p style=""><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/election-03918/north-carolina-board-elections-report-new-details-election-fraud">https://www.alternet.org/election-03918/north-carolina-board-elections-report-new-details-election-fraud</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><h2 class="election-18 frontpage_dedup" style="margin: 1px; line-height: 26px; padding: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/election-03918/north-carolina-board-elections-report-new-details-election-fraud" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Officials reveal new nefarious details in the apparent scheme to steal a North Carolina election for the GOP</font></a></h2><p style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> =</font></p><p style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/election-03918/north-carolina-election-fraud-board-elections-meeting">https://www.alternet.org/election-03918/north-carolina-election-fraud-board-elections-meeting</a></font></p><div class="headline" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 class="node-title" style="line-height: 52px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; clear: both;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Actual election fraud may have taken place in this North Carolina race — but it looks like it helped the Republican</font></h1></div><div class="teaser" style="margin-bottom: 15px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="field field-name-field-teaser field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">There is a possibility the 9th Congressional District results will simply be thrown out and the election redone.</font></div></div></div></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Friday, the North Carolina Bipartisan State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/nc-election-officials-plan-hearing-over-fraud-concerns-in-us-house-race-raising-possibility-of-new-election/2018/11/30/d1fc0450-f4b7-11e8-aeea-b85fd44449f5_story.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">voted</a> 7-2 to hold a hearing before December 21 over the allegations of election fraud in the race for the 9th Congressional District. This follows the unanimous vote of every Democrat and Republican on the board to <a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/election/article222263905.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">refuse to certify</a> the results earlier this week.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Republican Mark Harris defeated Democrat Dan McCready by a razor-thin margin of 905 votes. But the result has been marred by reports of <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/11/30/18119546/north-carolina-9th-district-election-board-bladen-county" style="text-decoration-line: none;">irregularities with absentee ballots</a> in Bladen County.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Democratic attorneys presented multiple sworn affidavits to the Board of Elections from voters, including elderly African-Americans, who reported a young woman unexpectedly arriving at their house to take their ballots, in one case even saying she would fill in votes for offices that were left blank. Another voter reported seeing unauthorized people running election results after the polls closed, while yet another alleged to have overheard people saying that Leslie McCrae Dowless, Jr., a local political operative working with Harris' campaign on absentee ballots, would be paid a $40,000 bonus if Harris won the election.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">On top of it all, the absentee ballot numbers in Bladen County are <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/11/30/18119546/north-carolina-9th-district-election-board-bladen-county" style="text-decoration-line: none;">bizarre</a>, with far more unreturned ballots than in any other county in the district, and with the Republican winning these ballots by 61 to 38 even though registered Democrats led Republicans in accepted absentee ballots by 42 to 19.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Taken together, it is unclear whether any of this was decisive in Harris winning the election, but the irregularities are serious enough that the Board of Elections cannot certify the results.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In the greatest twist of irony, Republicans in North Carolina have long used the specter of "voter fraud" to enact draconian identification laws that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/07/29/the-smoking-gun-proving-north-carolina-republicans-tried-to-disenfranchise-black-voters/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">disproportionately impact people of color</a>. The type of fraud they claim these laws fight — people showing up in person at polling places to cast multiple ballots — <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/debunking-voter-fraud-myth" style="text-decoration-line: none;">virtually never happens</a>. Now, one of the most significant potential cases of fraud in the state appears to have been perpetrated to favor the Republican candidate — and no voter ID law would have prevented it.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">This House race was one of the most closely-watched in the country. Harris, a controversial Baptist pastor from Charlotte who <a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article73748797.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">led the charge</a> to legislate discrimination of trans people in public restrooms, has argued women should <a href="https://www.alternet.org/mark-harris-defends-his-claim-wives-should-submit" style="text-decoration-line: none;">submit to their husbands</a>, and thinks <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/north-carolina-candidate-congress-criminalize-homosexuality-05e8b5914d7b/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">homosexuality should be criminalized</a>. Earlier this year, he shocked observers when he <a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/election/article210774979.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">unseated</a> incumbent GOP Rep. Robert Pittenger in his primary. Though the 9th District is <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-score/robert-pittenger/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">very conservative</a>, Harris' liabilities as a candidate made it a <a href="https://shareblue.com/marine-vet-dan-mccready-congress-north-carolina-nc-09/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">close race</a> against McCready, a Marine veteran and green energy investor.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">It is unclear what happens now. Harris, who was already <a href="https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2018/11/16/newly-elected-nc-congressman-mark-harris-attends-orientation-in-dc" style="text-decoration-line: none;">setting up shop in D.C.</a>, is now in a legal limbo that could prevent him from being seated in Congress. Ultimately, the Board of Elections could end up certifying the results after their investigation, or they could <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/nc-election-officials-plan-hearing-over-fraud-concerns-in-us-house-race-raising-possibility-of-new-election/2018/11/30/d1fc0450-f4b7-11e8-aeea-b85fd44449f5_story.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">throw out the election entirely and do it over</a>. Meanwhile, North Carolina Republicans are <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/11/30/18119546/north-carolina-9th-district-election-board-bladen-county" style="text-decoration-line: none;">threatening to sue</a> to force the election to be certified as is. And as if all of that were not enough, a bill passed by Republicans in the state legislature made partisan changes to the Board of Elections that will <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/nc-election-officials-plan-hearing-over-fraud-concerns-in-us-house-race-raising-possibility-of-new-election/2018/11/30/d1fc0450-f4b7-11e8-aeea-b85fd44449f5_story.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">dissolve the current membership in a few weeks</a>, creating the potential that their replacements will overturn all of this.</font></p><p style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><interaction data-token="5b96855f8198b4e625350260" data-context="true" data-tags="" data-fallback="true" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">There is no telling what the end result of this process will be. But the whole affair is a test to the integrity of the democratic process — and to people's faith in it.</font></p><p style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><div class="r" style="margin: 0px; line-height: 1.54; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/18/18229711/north-carolina-election-fraud-leslie-mcrae-dowless-indictment" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/18/18229711/north-carolina-election-fraud-leslie-mcrae-dowless-indictment&ved=2ahUKEwjek_yJwq_iAhUOUa0KHdZ5DpIQFjAAegQIBRAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /></font><h3 class="LC20lb" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.33;"><a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/18/18229711/north-carolina-election-fraud-leslie-mcrae-dowless-indictment" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/18/18229711/north-carolina-election-fraud-leslie-mcrae-dowless-indictment&ved=2ahUKEwjek_yJwq_iAhUOUa0KHdZ5DpIQFjAAegQIBRAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></a><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/18/18229711/north-carolina-election-fraud-leslie-mcrae-dowless-indictment" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/18/18229711/north-carolina-election-fraud-leslie-mcrae-dowless-indictment&ved=2ahUKEwjek_yJwq_iAhUOUa0KHdZ5DpIQFjAAegQIBRAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/18/18229711/north-carolina-election-fraud-leslie-mcrae-dowless-indictment" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/18/18229711/north-carolina-election-fraud-leslie-mcrae-dowless-indictment&ved=2ahUKEwjek_yJwq_iAhUOUa0KHdZ5DpIQFjAAegQIBRAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/18/18229711/north-carolina-election-fraud-leslie-mcrae-dowless-indictment" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/18/18229711/north-carolina-election-fraud-leslie-mcrae-dowless-indictment&ved=2ahUKEwjek_yJwq_iAhUOUa0KHdZ5DpIQFjAAegQIBRAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/18/18229711/north-carolina-election-fraud-leslie-mcrae-dowless-indictment" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/18/18229711/north-carolina-election-fraud-leslie-mcrae-dowless-indictment&ved=2ahUKEwjek_yJwq_iAhUOUa0KHdZ5DpIQFjAAegQIBRAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">North Carolina election fraud: Leslie McRae Dowless indicted - Vox</a></font></font></font></font></h3><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font><div class="TbwUpd" style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.54; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-top: 1px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><cite class="iUh30" style="font-style: normal; padding-top: 1px; line-height: 1.43;">https://www.vox.com/.../north-carolina-election-fraud-leslie-mcrae-dowless-indictmen...</cite></font></font></div><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; position: relative; margin: 1px 3px 0px; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;"><a class="GHDvEf ab_button" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=gop+republican+absentee+ballot+tamper+boletero&oq=gop+republican+absentee+ballot+tamper+boletero&aqs=chrome..69i57.18599j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#" id="am-b0" aria-label="Result Options" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="button" jsaction="m.tdd;keydown:m.hbke;keypress:m.mskpe" data-ved="2ahUKEwjek_yJwq_iAhUOUa0KHdZ5DpIQ7B0wAHoECAUQAg" style="border-radius: 0px; cursor: default; 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cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></a><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Gw-KCYGlPMJ:https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/18/18229711/north-carolina-election-fraud-leslie-mcrae-dowless-indictment+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:Gw-KCYGlPMJ:https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/18/18229711/north-carolina-election-fraud-leslie-mcrae-dowless-indictment%2B%26cd%3D1%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwjek_yJwq_iAhUOUa0KHdZ5DpIQIDAAegQIBRAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"><span class="st" style="line-height: 1.54; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="f" style="line-height: 1.54;">Feb 27, 2019 - </span>North Carolina operative indicted in ballot fraud scandal that led to new House election ... Mark Harris, the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Republican</span> candidate in North Carolina's Ninth ... plot to <span style="font-weight: bold;">tamper</span> with <span style="font-weight: bold;">absentee ballots</span> in a US House election that remains ... But she insisted more than once that the <span style="font-weight: bold;">GOP</span>candidate, Harris, had not ...</font></span></a></font></font></font></div></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Gw-KCYGlPMJ:https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/18/18229711/north-carolina-election-fraud-leslie-mcrae-dowless-indictment+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:Gw-KCYGlPMJ:https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/18/18229711/north-carolina-election-fraud-leslie-mcrae-dowless-indictment%2B%26cd%3D1%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwjek_yJwq_iAhUOUa0KHdZ5DpIQIDAAegQIBRAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" color="#000000"></font></a></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/disgusting-chat-log-with-photos-show-alleged-tampering-with-absentee-ballots-in-miami/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/disgusting-chat-log-with-photos-show-alleged-tampering-with-absentee-ballots-in-miami/</font></a></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ost of the chat log for a group, which named itself after the candidate they served, seemed to be the typical dry canvassing discussion you’d expect between campaign workers: coordinating lunch plans, meeting points, talking strategy, etc.</font></font></font></font></p><div class="p1_16" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Until, that is, it suddenly wasn’t.</font></font></font></p><div class="p2_16" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="alt_ad_block story-page-in-content-graph-2" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="teadsNative" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alex Diaz de la Portilla used to be a GOP Florida Senator for 10 years. He ran in last year’s election against Zaraida Barreiro for Miami-Dade County Commissioner. Although the election is nominally nonpartisan, Barreiro is a Democrat, and Diaz de la Portilla is Republican.</font></font></font></p><div class="p3_16" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The chat log <a href="https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/alex-diaz-de-la-portilla-campaign-discussed-ballot-tampering-whatsapp-transcript-shows-11177865" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">was leaked to the <em style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Miami New Times</em>.</a> The chat showed pictures of absentee ballots accompanied by disturbing texts.  These were first posted by a Miami blogger that I have linked to, but you can also see the photos on the main <em style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">MNT</em> story.</font></font></font></p><div class="p4_16" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One showed a photo of an absentee ballot marked for Zoraida Barreiro with the text  “<a href="https://www.crespogramnews.com/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Byebye</em></a>.”</font></font></font></p><div class="p5_16" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another person in the group posted a different ballot and wrote “<a href="https://www.crespogramnews.com/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">S</a><em style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><a href="https://www.crespogramnews.com/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">tolen, hahahaa. I did not give it to the lady but what do we do if she voted for Zoraida????</a>"</em></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Below is a <a href="https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/alex-diaz-de-la-portilla-campaign-discussed-ballot-tampering-whatsapp-transcript-shows-11177865" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">discussion</a> between five people in the group:</font></font></font></p><div class="p7_16" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Person 1: Tear up the ballot good.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Person 2: Are you sure?<br style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Person 1: Take it to [NAME REDACTED].<br style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Person 2: Take it better.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Person 3: She will know what to do.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Person 3: Okay, perfect!<br style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Person 4: [Thumbs up and happy-face emojis]<br style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Person 5: Take it to [TOWING COMPANY] at the end. Make sure that nobody sees it please.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Person 2: Nooo<br style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Person 2: I already have it super hidden.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Person 5: [Thumbs-up emoji]<br style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Person 2: Ready!<br style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Person 2: Thank God we took away votes from two democrats, hahaha</strong></font></span></font></font></p><div class="p8_16" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alex Diaz de la Portilla <a href="https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/alex-diaz-de-la-portilla-campaign-discussed-ballot-tampering-whatsapp-transcript-shows-11177865" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">responded</a> to the paper’s story by saying “None of this is from my campaign or my campaign workers,” he said. “Your article is libelous.”</font></font></font></p><div class="p9_16" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As a reminder, the group called itself “Alex Diaz de la Portilla” and had 150 pages of political chat discussion that included photos of absentee ballots they acquired.  I should also mention that Diaz de la Portilla <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-2001-11-08-0111080284-story.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">was once fined $311,000 for 311 campaign violations.</a> Moving on.</font></font></font></p><div class="p10_16" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Zoraido Barreior responded as well:</font></font></font></p><div class="p11_16" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Proof they will do anything to steal an election!”</font></font></font></p><div class="p12_16" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Diaz de la Portilla is currently running for the city of Miami’s commission, and is <a href="https://www.voterfocus.com/CampaignFinance/candidate_pr.php?c=muncitymiami" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">far ahead in the money game,</a> as you can see.</font></font></font></p><div class="p13_16" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This speaks to a wider issue. Absentee ballot fraud has been rampant in Miami for decades. Way back in 1997, the Miami mayor’s race <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article111207622.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">was overturned </a>because of more than 5,000 fraudulent absentee ballots.  “Boleteros”, or ballot brokers, who can have large teams of people working for them, get paid for collecting absentee ballots. This has been <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article1942201.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">problematic</a>. Rick Scott paid thousands to a <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2012/10/8/1141573/-Still-Wondering-How-Rick-Scott-Won-U-Need-to-Read-This" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">shady boletero for his 2010 election</a>, and despite losing with early and Election Day voting in liberal Miami-Dade, Scott suddenly surged there with thousands of absentee ballots.</font></font></font></p><div class="p14_16" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Surprisingly, Scott always targeted the non-existent “in-person” voting fraud as governor; yet he never addressed the massive actual fraud with absentee ballots.</font></font></font></p><div class="p15_16" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Odd that.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></font></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>