The irony is that for years, more Republicans used vote-by-mail or absentee ballots than Democrats did. In NC, for example, in 2016 there were just under 200,000 mail-in absentee ballots. There were about 20,000 more Republicans than Democrats who voted that way - probably because the vast majority of them were elderly voters, who trend Republican. As long as more Republicans were voting that way, you’ll notice that none of them had a problem with it (what a shock, I know)!

It was Republicans in NC who got caught trying to cheat with absentee ballots in 2018. They even had to re-do the election in NC-9.

This year, there were almost a million mail-in ballots in NC, and Dems outvoted Republicans by about 200,000 votes. Now that Democrats have discovered vote-by-mail, suddenly it’s corrupt. See how that works? 🙄

subterranean

(3,427 posts)

4. Very, very few people have been charged with mail-in voter fraud.

Reply to Sugarcoated (Original post)

Thu Dec 3, 2020, 09:59 PM

Dec 2020

In this election, I've only heard of one case, a Republican in Pennsylvania who applied for a ballot for his deceased mother.

If it was really as widespread as they claim, we'd see a lot more people being arrested for it. But we don't.

Instead of trying to disprove it, ask them how they think voter fraud would be committed with mail-in ballots.

By voting multiple times? Not possible, because the voter rolls are checked for each ballot to make sure the person hasn't already voted.

By impersonating another voter? It's possible, but you'd have to obtain their ballot somehow, know what their signature looks like, and be sure they haven't already voted and aren't planning to vote. How many people are willing to go to that trouble and risk imprisonment just to give their favorite candidate an extra vote or two?

By printing up lots of fake ballots and security envelopes? That's hard to do, and you'd have to make them look identical to the real ballots and envelopes. Plus, many states have security measures like barcodes on the envelope that are unique to each voter.

By collecting uncompleted mail-in ballots from voters and filling them out yourself? Someone was caught doing that for a local election in North Carolina in 2018. It would be almost impossible to do it on a large scale without getting caught.

We vote exclusively by mail in Washington, and voter fraud here is extremely rare. Certainly nowhere near enough to affect the outcome of an election.

Ms. Toad

(34,082 posts)

5. It's even more complicated:

Reply to subterranean (Reply #4)

Thu Dec 3, 2020, 10:06 PM

Dec 2020

By printing up lots of fake ballots and security envelopes? That's hard to do, and you'd have to make them look identical to the real ballots and envelopes. Plus, many states have security measures like barcodes on the envelope that are unique to each voter.

Each precinct (generally) has a different ballot order (to rotate who is at the top of the ticket, to permit local issues, etc.) So you can't mass-produce ballots.

The vote tally is also compared to the number of voters whose ballots were returned (signature verified, etc.) So if somehow you managed to get a functional ballot, the tally would be off - and we would have heard about it.

There are multiple checks and balances, so simply carting in ballots pre-markedfor Biden would fail at numerous check-points and send up flags that could not be reconciled.

subterranean

(3,427 posts)

6. Excellent points!

Reply to Ms. Toad (Reply #5)

Thu Dec 3, 2020, 11:20 PM

Dec 2020

It's much more complicated than the "president" and his surrogates make it out to be.

Sugarcoated

(7,726 posts)

7. Thanks for the responses...

Reply to Sugarcoated (Original post)

Fri Dec 4, 2020, 12:37 AM

Dec 2020

I know it won't change a wingnut Trumper mind but sometimes you just want to tell truth to a lie

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