A question for all who have mail-in voting...

[Faux pas]

I live in Washington state and got my primary ballot last week. This time you have to mark on the OUTSIDE of the mail-in envelope what party you're voting for. I don't remember having to do this before and am kinda bothered by it. Anybody else have this requirement? Thank you!

[ificandream]

1. Not in California.

I'm guessing there's a primitive system in Washington to split the mail-ins acccrding to party to give them an initial sort. I wouldn't be too too concerned about that. Have you tried to call your Registrar of Voters?

[Voltaire2]

3. CA has an open primary.

All candidates are in the same contest regardless of party.

[ificandream]

12. Correct

[Retrograde]

13. Except for president

in presidential primaries, the 6 recognized parties can choose to allow voters registered as No Party Preference to vote in their primaries. This year - as in 2020 - the Democratic, American Independent, and Libertarian parties chose to do so; the Republican, Green, and Peace and Freedom parties did not, and only voters registered in those parties can do so.

There are no designations on the return envelope to show how a voter is registered. Since the vote-counting software has to handle multiple contests on the same ballot (and often multiple state senate, assembly, or Congressional districts in the same county), programming it to put the presidential primary votes in the right piles is no big deal.

[Brother Buzz]

27. Um, by US constitution, the presidential primary, and only the presidential primary, is excluded from the open primary

[Faux pas]

16. Thank you ificandream

[TheBlackAdder]

28. Not in NJ. Doing that is a surefire way to have ballots 'lost in the mail.'

[hlthe2b]

2. If primaries in your state are party-restricted (i.e., no cross-over independent votes) that is why

In CO, if you are registered by party affiliation, you ONLY get the ballot for the Dem candidates, for instance, and conversely, R if you register as Republican. Indicating party affiliation on the outside of the ballot would be WA's way of double-checking (and streamlining the process of ballot counting).

The only downside I could see is if you did not trust your USPS people (I do) to not interfere with ballot return if they saw ballots for the party not of their preference. I sincerely think this is not an issue, but if you are concerned return the ballot to a designated drop box or your registar's office.

[Faux pas]

17. Thank you hlthe2b

[Attilatheblond]

23. Works that way in Arizona too. n/t

[TheBlackAdder]

29. A partisan in the county office mail room could also intercept them. Most have shredders in the room.

A primary might not make a difference, but it could for the general election.

[Ohio Joe]

4. Here in Colorado...

There is a tiny window on the envelope of primary ballot votes that show the color so they know what party you are voting in. Makes for easy sorting. The General election does not do this.

[Faux pas]

18. Thank you Ohio Joe

[2naSalit]

5. Not in Montana.

[Faux pas]

19. Thank you 2naSalit

[CrispyQ]

6. For the primary it makes sense.-nt

[Faux pas]

20. Thank you CrispyQ

[RandomNumbers]

7. If they provide a drop-off box just for ballots, I would use it

rather than postal mail.

I use the drop off box and can't recall whether the party is indicated on the outside envelope. It doesn't matter to me because my envelope will only be handled by election workers and it is anonymous at that point (my returning it will be determined by the outside envelope going through a scanner that picks up the barcode).

If I were to return it by postal mail, I would take it to the post office and use the slot. Then no person actually knows it is MY ballot.

The only thing someone would gain by indiscriminately trashing D ballots would be to achieve an even lower than usual turnout rate. Since most voters don't even pay attention to that sort of thing, I can't really see a motivation for someone to risk being caught and charged with a felony.

[lees1975]

8. I haven't seen my primary ballot yet.

They're due out next week. It wasn't that way last time here in Illinois.

[Faux pas]

21. Thank you lees1975

[blurplenurple]

9. It comes down to law, secrecy of the ballot, and logistics.

It was on the outside in 2020 also, and before that I'm not sure because the caucus results were used by the party instead.

To answer your question, it's required to be on the envelope in law at the request of the party. It used to be under a flap, but then a huge number of people forgot to sign it, so that was changed years ago. Then, once your county receives your ballot, they have to sort by party declaration, because if someone marks R on the envelope but a D on the ballot, the vote can't be counted. So, if it were on the inside, you'd be able to match the identity of the person to their vote (not just which party they identify with), thereby eliminating secrecy of the ballot (another legal requirement).

[marble falls]

14. Interesting.

[Faux pas]

22. Thank you blurplenurple

[northoftheborder]

10. Texas mail in ballots............

—-have your name and party printed on the outside envelope. The inside sealed envelope containing the ballot has no identifying marks. The ballot itself has name, precinct, address , place to write your driver lic.. number, and optional info such as phone, email, ss last 4 digits. This is the first year I have used this method of voting. They also provide a number to call to find out if your ballot has been received. Our county is majority Repub. but the county clerks office bends over backwards to help people with voting efforts.

By the way, I have not seen a single sign or bumper sticker in at least 9 months with TFG’s name on it — in this strongly Republican area.

[Faux pas]

24. Thank you northoftheborder

[rogerballard]

11. I got a form before I got my primary ballot in Michigan

I had to black out the proper voting square ( Dem or Rep) before they would send me a primary ballot, i have never had to do that before.

[Faux pas]

25. Thank you rogerballard

[caraher]

15. It's only for the presidential primary

I'm also in Washington state and they had the same thing in 2020.

Even if it weren't on the outside of the envelope your party choice is technically public, so concealing it (perhaps by adding one more layer of envelopes) would not keep your party declaration private.

[Faux pas]

26. Aha

that's why I got confused, I never got my 2020 primary ballot! Thank you for clearing that up for me caraher.