NorCo's Elections Office is all atwitter that "outside groups" are mailing unsolicited voter registration and mail-in ballot applications to citizens in Northampton County. The groups doing this are the Voter Participation Center, the Center for Voter Information and the RNC. What they are doing is perfectly legal and is designed to increase voter participation. I see nothing wrong with sending out voter registration applications, something that the Elections Office should be encouraging. But I am bothered by the practice of handing out MIB applications to people who may have already applied for a MIB.
According to Wikipedia, Voter Participation Center is actually Women's Voices Women Vote (WVWV), founded by Democratic political activist Page Gardner. It works in tandem with the Center for Voter Information.
The RNC, of course, is the Republican party.
In 2018, Voter Participation Center sent voters a "Pennsylvania State Voter Report," detailing the voting history of both the recipient and several neighbors. It asked, in bold upper caps, "What if your friends, your neighbors, and your community knew whether you voted?" It was an obvious attempt to shame people into voting. But there's nothing nefarious about trying to register voters. The County should be doing all it can to encourage voter participation.
Unsolicited MIB applications are more troublesome. These are legally, but do create a small risk of voter fraud when sent to a deceased person, which the elections office avers has happened. A family member could fill out the application, and so long as there still is a driver's license number on record, cast a fraudulent vote.
If someone has already applied for a MIB, sending out a second request for one is bound to cause confusion.
Just so you know, only one MIB will be counted.
“We want the public to know that the Elections Office does not send out unsolicited applications,” says NorCo Registrar Amy Cozze. “These mailings have generated a great deal of confusion and, in the case of the recently deceased, much pain for family members. Anyone who receives one of these unsolicited applications should check the ‘Paid by’ notice to see which group sent it.”
The Elections Office performs regular maintenance of Northampton County’s voter rolls, removing ineligible voters after they have passed away, moved out of the County or have been inactive for a period of time.
15 comments:
More Northampton county pr. Is there anyone over there that does not crave publicity?
Yes, the ballot wars are in full swing. You can bet that there will be more innovative ways to register and get people to the polls.
Mail in ballots should only be allowed to be requested by the voter.
They should have to be directly returned by the voter to the county's voter registration office by mail or in person (no collecting of ballots for others/ballot harvesting by others; no additional drop boxes for ballots).
And there should be no way for individuals or outside groups to see who has applied for a mail-in ballot or already voted by mail.
It took four years for Oregon to secure MIB, and they still have some problems. PA isn't going to solve this in less than two months. MIB in PA is going to be a mess, as should be expected from rushing into it with zero experience and no controls in place. NorCo is the exception that will prove this rule statewide. This is going to be very dirty.
6:37 is absolutely correct! We are headed for a very messy election due to this push for universal mail-in voting. No matter how prepared Northampton County claims it is to prevent tampering, Northampton County is only a small part of any national election. Problems are already being reported all across America.
Just did a quick search using Firefox and Duck Duck Go with the words ‘ mail-in ballot application fraud.’ Lots of examples with details listed founded in several states already. In one case, the mail return envelope was barcoded on the outside, and underneath the code was a string of numbers, plus either an R, or a D, printed outside the envelope! See the problem in that example?
A box of such envelopes could be presorted out to remove applications from either one of the political parties. One can read for hours about the problems inherent in this push. It only takes successful fraud in a couple states to swing the swing the election. Get ready.
Don't change anything. Go to the polls and vote if you want your vote to count. Follow the typical absentee ballot procedures if you can't make it to the polls.
If someone has already applied for a MIB, sending out a second request for one is bound to cause confusion.
It certainly did for me. I got these two times. I went online to check if Lehigh County received it. Online it said there's no record. I called the Lehigh County Elections (which answered he phone promptly). And there most certainly is a record. What concerns me these mailers are making double work for the county if people start sending these in when they already requested online plus a number of people like myself making inquires.
It sounds like this country needs to have another Constitutional Convention of sorts and review how our "Democracy" can be improved.
I know it gets into states rights, but there should be federally mandated minimum requirements that fully eliminates partisan gerrymandering, restructuring of the primary process and creating basic standards on how/where to vote. I'd also suggest a reevaluation of private money in political contributions and a more strict interpretation of "Equal-Time" on cable networks.
Blue is the new Red Comrades. Wake Up America
The problem is that these mailers are being sent by third party activists outside of the government voter registration system. Encouraging people to vote is a good thing, but of course, there are those with agendas always trying to pervert it.
As for access to see who voted by MIB, I had to file a right to know request to access election records. If I could improve one thing, I would make it illegal for anyone who accesses those records for research to publish individual names and info, only the results of any research. People deserve privacy, but access must be allowed so that legitimacy can always be seen through transparency.
Bernie, please clarify. Your report suggests that mailed-in votes are verified by the presence of an active driver’s license, making it possible for a ‘dead person’ to vote. All depends on each County maintaining up-to-date voter rolls. Nationwide, many areas are known to have out-of-date roll books. Flooding a community with ballot applications addressed to deceased persons is happening all over from what I read. That’s concerning to me.
Today’s Epoch Times includes a story by Zach Stieber. It describes a case of a California voter who was charged for having voted for a dead person. Nicely done report, but the most interesting part is the individual was just now charged with voter fraud 7 years after he committed the act !
Our November election will be contested. Count on it.
Pay attention to the Post Office's allowing people who do not live at your address having mail sent to themselves at your address. We have several family members, one of whom has an address at her home in Georgia (since mid-1990's), and one of whom has an address at her home in England (since 1997) who signed up 3 or 4 years ago to receive mail at our house. After years of it piling up and then being eventually discarded, I started putting it back in the mailbox marked "not at this address." But it keeps on coming. BTW, one place that was sending mail to one of the non-residents is that voter registration outfit in Harrisburg.
Lets try a civil old fashion Vote. GO TO THE POLLS !
Send in one, the present the second one at the polling place and state "I never send any in". Mass confusion at the polls. Lines around the block.
Post a Comment