Is McCain pushing voting by absentee ballot?

[Minimus]

I just got home from working the phone bank - we are calling registered Dems. On one of my calls this evening the very nice lady told me she is definitely voting for Obama (Yay!!)and then told me her husband is a registered Independent and he received a mailer from McCain urging him to vote by mail. She wondered if Obama was going to do the same thing because she thought it was a good idea since people do not like to stand in line to vote. I told Obama's campaign is doing a mailing about early voting but she was very specific that the McCain mailer addressed voting by mail.

I discussed it with the the campaign coordinator and she and I are completely puzzled by this. Voting by mail would apply to absentee ballots and it is odd that a campaign would be sending out mailers urging people to vote this way. She is going to alert her supervisor.

Has anyone here on DU heard of McCain pushing voting by absentee ballot?

[calmblueocean]

1. I got one of those mailers today.

It's funny, because I actually am one of those people that likes to stand in line and vote. But it looks like McCain's definitely pushing his supporters to vote absentee.

[FVZA_Colonel]

2. Maybe he knows something.

Doesn't want them to get caught up in the "haul."

[BlueIdaho]

3. You are correct! nt.

[Minimus]

5. I just looked up voting absentee in my state:

Mail-in Absentee Voting:

An absentee ballot can be requested from the Board of Elections by mail or in person. Your spouse, parent, grandparent, legal guardian, child, grandchild, or sibling can make the request for you. Absentee ballots are available by mail between 50 days before an election (30 days if municipal election) and 5 p.m. on the Tuesday before the election. If the voter is permanently disabled or serving in the military, and the situation is stated in the request, a single request will be sufficient for all elections to be held that year. The ballot must be completed, witnessed, returned to and received by the Board by 5 p.m. on the day before the election.




It seems fishy to me - if the ballot is not witnessed and received by the designated day and time then it will not be counted. Seems like they are trying to make it so some votes are not counted- but maybe I'm just paranoid.

[Cosmocat]

10. COMMON practice in Pa.

not just McCain, but Rs in general - they send out absentee ballow applications to every old person they can find, with whatever fear based nonsense they can package it in - democrats are going to let child molestors out, or whatever.

[Cosmocat]

11. COMMON practice in Pa.

not just McCain, but Rs in general - they send out absentee ballow applications to every old person they can find, with whatever fear based nonsense they can package it in - democrats are going to let child molestors out, or whatever.

[Arkansas Granny]

12. I voted absentee for the first time in the 2006 election. I will probably do this from now on

because there were some initiatives on the ballot that I was not even aware of. I was able to look them up and do a little research on the pros and cons before casting my vote. It allowed me to make a much more informed decision on these issues than if I had first encountered them in the voting booth. There is also the advantage of having a paper ballot.

[Doremus]

4. Here in Ohio the Dem SoS is urging us to vote absentee.

As opposed to last cycle when Ken Hackwell did everything but castrate himself to keep us from voting, period.

Brunner's rationale is that the absentee ballot is PAPER, not ELECTRONIC. Good advice I think, at least here in Diebold country.

[Minimus]

6. I guess that is a good way to look at it. Paper not Electronic.

[goodgd_yall]

18. The local registration coordinator

--an Obama supporter--is telling us volunteer registrars to try to give a little push of encouragement for voting by absentee ballot. The reasoning is that we want to ensure the vote gets in, in case there is a problem at the polling site.

[Beaverhausen]

7. They are up to something - read this thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x7002562

something is going on. I have seen threads from people in many states about this.

[Gabi Hayes]

8. he needs people to vote ASAP so that when they dump sister sarah, he'll have

tons of votes in that can't be changed

[Inkyfuzzbottom]

9. Here in Missouri

my husband got one the other day. I did not. He is NOT a registered Republick. We thought it seemed fishy so we threw it away. He will be going to the polls with me and we are both voting for Obama.

[EC]

13. These have gone out all over

the return address is to John McCain's Headquarters...the vote will not count...There is only voting by mail in states where it has been approved like Oregon, Washington, Florida and Texas...it's basically absentee without having a reason for not making it in person...we can now do it here in WI too. The only reason I haven't done it, is absentee's are counted last and have a way of getting lost in some states where the county clerk and secretary of state are Republicans...


http://www.fec.gov/votregis/vr.shtml

[Beaverhausen]

14. kick

[PermanentRevolution]

15. Got one in Florida

[flamingdem]

23. Florida may be a battleground for this. nt

[Joe the Revelator]

16. This is fairly normal campaign fare.

Lock down your votes when the locking is good.

[Statistical]

17. Push for absentee is a good tactic if you think you are going to "limp over" finish line.

Push for absentee is a good tactic if you think you are going to "limp over" finish line.

If McCain runs out of money. Or polls turn against him. Or enthusiasm dies.......

It is great to have already tricked millions of people into locking their vote in.

Say somebody gets absentee ballot and it is same day some puff piece of Palin comes out.
They vote and mail it.

Over next month they see more and more..... wait for it........ FACT.
Suddenly they don't like McCain but too late. There is no "undo" button on absentee ballot.

[Thegonagle]

19. Actually, there is, but many people don't know that.

Before an absentee ballot envelope is opened, the name on the envelope is compared with the register from the voter's home precinct. If that person signed the register, indicating that they voted in their precinct on election day, their absentee ballot is "spoiled" and not counted. This is how they prevent people from voting twice. In my state there is no penalty for doing this; it is simply assumed that the voter changed their mind. Hence, there is a way to "undo" your absentee ballot.

Still, you make an excellent point. Many people won't try to "undo" their absentee vote.

(I should add, in 2002, when Sen. Wellstone died in a plane crash one week before the election, under state law, absentee votes for Wellstone could not be counted for Walter Mondale, who replaced him on the ballot. People wishing to change their absentee vote from Wellstone to Mondale were told to show up at their precinct, and vote again. Many people did exactly that. Many absentee ballots were spoiled that year. It was perhaps unfair to Mondale, as some people were unable to go to the polls that day, but that was the law in Minnesota.)

[backscatter712]

20. Our local Obama campaign is pushing to register people to vote-by-mail.

I posted a thread on this earlier:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3960316

I would advise voters to register directly at their local elections offices, and turn in their mail-in ballots at their election offices, rather than voting on election day on Diebold machines.

[amborin]

21. sounds like a trick

[flamingdem]

22. YES!! Please k & r this thread so people realize what they're up to

My family in various locations reports that these absentee ballots are everywhere. Especially in Florida!

They are supposed to address them only to registered Republicans. Obama's campaign is NOT doing this.