Arizona Mail-In and Early Vote Ballot Envelopes Show Party

[ThoughtCriminal]

I requested and received my mail-in ballot. In Arizona, verification of mail-in and early ballots is done by matching the voter's signature on the outside of the ballot with the signature on file. This did not bother me too much since, as I understand it, the signature is matched before the envelope is opened. This means that the person matching the signatures cannot know how the ballot was cast. However, the envelope DOES display the voter's Party registration, so they will know that I'm a Democrat!

I do not really think that it would be practical for someone in the recorder's office to reject a large number of ballots based on being pickier about signatures from a particular party, but if someone wanted to dump a bunch of ballots, it's a convenient way for the "right" ballots to get lost.

Why is party registration printed on the outside of a GENERAL election ballot envelope????

[NMDemDist2]

1. most counties use regular poll workers to process those ballots

on election day. as long as there is a signature they make it into the pile

it's the poll workers, as a group, who verify the sigs, not the recorder's office usually.

if it bothers you, call the recorder's office and express your concerns and ask what their procedure is in handling absentees

[ThoughtCriminal]

6. The Recorder's Office

These are absentee and early ballots cast before election day. The Recorder's Office has employees that receive training in signature matching. I do not know what happens to ballots that are rejected as non-matching.

My concern is that identifying the party of the voter on the ballot envelope creates an opportunity for ballots of one party to be disposed of before the ballot is processed. I cannot think of any valid reason for printing this information on the ballot envelope for a general election.

[NMDemDist2]

7. i specifically asked and was told that the civil servants merely

see there is a signature and don't "verify" it at all. that is for the full election board as they process the ballots on election day

it's like it's own little polling place at the office where normal poll workers spend all day verifying, opening and counting the stack of absentee ballots that have been returned

your milage may vary so call your local county election office and ask. then volunteer to work the polls :evilgrin:

edit to add, they keep a tight count of ballots sent out and ballots returned as well as which are "disallowed" and why. ask them for the numbers and see how many were due to signatures if you smell a rat. they *must* keep the disallowed ballots just like the regular ones for a certain length of time

[ThoughtCriminal]

11. Arizona is different.

As far as signature verification is concerned. Also, in the case of mail-in ballots, the ballots/out - ballots/in accounting is not going to balance since not everyone who requests a ballot sends it back in. So, if incoming ballots that are marked "DEM" get lost before the signature verification, there is no way to prove the ballot was ever returned by the voter or was not lost in the mail.

We assume that the ballots are secure once the Post Office delivers them, but in recent years I've become more cautious. If the party of the voter was NOT on the envelope, it would be far more difficult for anyone in the pipeline to destroy or spoil ballots based on party affiliation. They would have to tamper with each ballot envelope.

(I will be working at the polls this election):thumbsup:

[Eric J in MN]

2. Is your Secretary of State a Republican? NT

NT

[ThoughtCriminal]

3. Republican - NT

[NMDemDist2]

4. yeah, AZ's sec of state is a wingnutjob. but the Gov's one of the best

around!

:bounce:

[NMDemDist2]

8. your county clerk or recorder's office is the first line

they do all the grunt work of handling those ballots prior to election day

get to know your county clerk and their staff. then you only have to worry about the state's main tabulator is the county is clean

[aquart]

5. Since it's NOT a primary, WTF are they pulling?

There is no reason on this planet for the party to be on the envelope.

Ask your state representatives WTF they were thinking when they approved this.

[havocmom]

9. Right, No reason for this besides being able to tell which ballots

to lose.

[Igel]

10. When they check the signature, it's against a

book (in all likelihood) that indicates your party affiliation.

They can find out by looking at the envelope, or at a letter that's positioned fairly close to your sample signature. It's not a question of them knowing, but when they know.

I've seen poll workers challenge those voting in person based on their party affiliation, being more persnickety with comparing signatures for those of the opposing party, so I assume that partisan-based challenges occur. (FYI, the other party usually responded, challenging the next suitable voter. It was usually a dem that started the silliness. Not always, but usually. Then again, it was an area in which dems were a growing minority, seeking to be the majority.)

Perhaps they use the same computer system and envelopes for the primary as for the general election. A guess, nothing more. There's undoubtedly some reason for it, perhaps administrative, perhaps because it's the only way it's doable, perhaps because the law requires it. Ask; most BOE's are staffed by fairly mindless bureaucrats, but you might get and intelligible answer.

[Wilms]

12. K & R n/t

[ISUGRADIA]

13. It is probably a generic envelop used for all elections

see if there is any language on the envelope or instructions stating it is only to be filled in for primary elections.