Seems that voting by mail delays reporting of results

[question everything]

If most of the country will vote by mail in November, I shudder to think of the consequences.

[BlueIdaho]

1. Why?

Many states vote by mail now, more allow absentee voting which is virtually the same thing. So what bothers you about vote by mail?

[question everything]

10. That we will not know who won for several days

I can see both sides protesting.

[Thunderbeast]

2. Consequences?

I hope this is sarcasm!

What consequences? Nowhere in our Constitution does it claim that we are entitled to know who won en election at 8:01 Pacific Time on election night.

Why have we been conditioned to believe that fast is better than correct?

The Florida 2000 debacle took an argument to the Supreme Court that said it was OK to hand the Presidency to the wrong candidate in order to end uncertainty.

After careful review, it was determined that Al Gore won that election, and that the corrupt Florida government machinery, coupled with the "Brooks Brothers Riot" gave us the wrong answer and, as a result, the disastrous Cheney-Bush administration!

[Javaman]

3. apparently Oregon does just fine.

stirring the pot is very unproductive.

[gratuitous]

8. Oregon has it pretty right

They require ballots to be at the registrar by 8 p.m. on election day. Washington allows for ballots to be counted as long as they're post-marked by election day. In Washington, that means a very close race might have to wait for several days before it can be called one way or the other, but usually they're able to call most races within a day or so.

In Oregon, we get announcements all the time from local media that ballots have been mailed out, that ballots should have hit your mailbox by now, if you don't have your ballot, here's where to go to check that you're properly registered to vote or to pick up a replacement ballot, and then a countdown for mailing back your ballots. The Friday evening before the Tuesday election day, it's announced that you're too late to mail your ballot, so you'll have to take it to a ballot drop box, and here's where they're located all over your area. You can also drop off your ballot at your county election headquarters, and here's the address for that. When it's 8 p.m. on election day, the ballots are loaded into the scanning machines and totals are tabulated.

It's amazing how smoothly the operation runs when the government wants citizens to vote, and enables them to cast a ballot in several different ways.

[fierywoman]

13. Here in WA we know by around the weekend who won. Big whooping deal.

[oregonjen]

21. Thank you for a factual reply

It’s awesome to sit with a cup of coffee, the voter’s pamphlet and loved ones. We can discuss the issues, look up info whether using the pamphlet or the internet. No waiting in line, no hurried decisions and a chance for healthy debates with family members. Oregon does it right. Oh and you can look up whether your ballot was received through the Sec, of State‘s website. It’s awesome.

[gratuitous]

22. Our church sponsors volunteers

One of our volunteers this year is a nice young man from Indiana. He got his Voter's Pamphlet and was thoroughly bamboozled. The Elections Division sends this out to each household?! You can just thumb through it and decide who you want to vote for at your leisure?!

We suggested he send it off to his Indiana relatives to show their elections people.

[question everything]

23. And do you think that this can be multiplied in all 50 states?

Look what happened in CA - where the March primary results were not expected until April - and where, in LA, people stood in line for six hours, same as in TX, and two days ago in GA.

Yes, these were vote in person but we have seen how much the states differ.

[Retrograde]

27. Provisional ballots account for much of the delay in CA

since each one has to be manually checked and verified that it's not a duplicate vote. The Secretary of State has a great election site that during the month after the election lets you look at all the unprocessed absentee and provisional ballots county by county. Since Los Angeles county has ~4 million voters this understandably takes time.

Close elections are automatically subject to recounts - I think 1 or 2% is the threshold. These are the ones that typically aren't resolved on election week.

My county - Santa Clara - also had huge lines on election day, even though every registered voter was automatically sent a ballot a month before election day, with a postage-paid return envelope, and in-person early voting and ballot drop-off sites throughout the county. I guess some people just like to wait until the last minute.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

33. Thank you.

I have been suggesting that states new to a lot of vote by mail ballots need to find out how the states that do only vote by mail handle things.

[question everything]

11. One state, one system. one secretary of state. But 50 different ones?

[Javaman]

19. Your concern is noted

[question everything]

24. Oh, thank you so much. I am honored

[Javaman]

29. And you may now have the last word because that seems all that

Matters to you. Please proceed.

[Bev54]

4. Better to wait and get true results

by having a paper trail than using easily manipulated voting machines without a paper trail

[MissMillie]

5. Consequences?

Of a system that can't be electronically hacked?

Of having a paper trail?

Of people not risking covid infection in order to exercise their rights?




Hell... I'd be willing to wait for accurate results under these circumstances.

[Brother Buzz]

6. In my county, mail in ballots are processed and stacked, ready to be tallied....

the moment the polls close. The earliest returns are the vote by mail ballots. That's a fact, Jack.

[Autumn]

7. It's not a problem here in CO. nt

[Ms. Toad]

9. It generally doesn't.

Most places are permitted to scan ballots as they come in, but just not tally them. A few places don't permit scanning until the day of the election. But if they can be scanned ahead of time, tallying them is instantaeous. The only delay would be for ballots that are legally permitted to be received after the day of the election (typicaly a very small portion of all ballots).

[BlueIdaho]

12. A majority of states already have mail in voting as an option.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/501577-heres-where-your-state-stands-on-mail-in-voting

[GeorgeGist]

14. BFD ...

instant gratification is part of the problem.

[yortsed snacilbuper]

15. Stop and smell the,

roses.

[roamer65]

16. A lot more votes will be on paper ballots.

That is a good thing.

All it takes is 270 EV’s and Dump is gone.

[moondust]

17. Teevee probably made it worse.

Pushing for immediate gratification on election night back in the 60s-70s.

I can wait.

[Doremus]

18. Ohio's last primary was mail-only. It was a complete success and results took a reasonable time.

Let's not buy into the repuke's BS about it taking too long, too much fraud, etc.

[question everything]

25. One state, one system. Will it work so well in other?

[MiniMe]

20. Makes sense, the vote by mail goes by the postmark date, not the date received

So they most likely don't have all the votes in on election day.

[Retrograde]

26. Depends on the state

What you wrote is true for California (ballots must be postmarked by the close of polls on election day but have 3 days to arrive): other states require the ballots to be received by election day itself.

[LiberalFighter]

28. They don't send all the ballots to one place to count.

[Iggo]

30. I'm a patient man.

[Hekate]

31. Well yeah. People need to learn to be patient & not expect instant gratification...

What we want is accuracy and the ability for every citizen to cast a ballot and have it counted.

Steve Kornacki and the rest of the media are just going to have to take a chill pill and report results every 24 hours over a matter of days instead of every 15 minutes leading up to a Big Reveal at midnight on Election Day.

And so will the candidates.

In other words, a cultural shift.

[PufPuf23]

32. Of course I support expanded vote by mail

My own choice of vote by mail is a non-issue is I live way rural and we have only had vote by mail for 10 plus years.

But here is what is worrisome.

Louis DeJoy, a Republican fundraiser and Trump lackey, was appointed Postmaster General in May 2020.

Mail in ballots come in slowly then faster as election date occurs.

Ballots in specific precincts could be disappeared and never tallied, changing the outcome of the election.