Lina Hidalgo clinging to 1-pt lead against GOP's Alexandra del Moral Mealer (Victoria: fingerprints, attorney)

[SanJac]

Originally Posted by houston-nomad

What does that even mean?

Making it easier for people to vote is nothing like "stealing" an election, or "taking advantage of legal loopholes." Both of those concepts suggest that making it easier to legally cast a ballot is somehow wrong. Maybe the problem is that Republicans think it is RIGHT to make it difficult for people to vote? To me, that is undemocratic (small d).

Can’t we all agree that 2020 was an extraordinary circumstance due to COVID? All I’m saying is I believe the Democrats took advantage of the voting concessions made due to COVID. So be it. Some call it stealing the election. I don’t because I believe the votes were all legit.

Enough with the name calling. Since the 1960s anybody can vote.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by utche96

Says the party that made up the Russian collusion hoax.


Seriously though I don't even like Trump. And he lost because he was a bad candidate. That said, mail in voting is a bad system.

Fair enough.

[Dopo]

I still haven’t found one person capable to give a good reason as to why absentee voting (mail in voting by a small group of people) is ok but mail in voting for everybody is bad.

[hereticiam]

Oregon has been doing mail-in voting for 20-plus years.
Mail-in voting is popular in Arizona as well.
Before Covid happened Republicans were casting more mail-in votes than democrats.
During Covid, there was a partisan divide between Republicans and Democrats. Democrats were more likely to be concerned about Covid, more likely to put masks on and take vaccines.
In the last presidential election Democrats cast far more votes by mail as they wanted to avoid crowds.
This was the first time more mail-in votes were cast by Democrats.
This is why mail-in voting was viewed by some people as bad/dangerous option.

There is no evidence that mail-in voting was any less secure than in-person voting.

[oil capital]

Originally Posted by hereticiam

Oregon has been doing mail-in voting for 20-plus years.
Mail-in voting is popular in Arizona as well.
Before Covid happened Republicans were casting more mail-in votes than democrats.
During Covid, there was a partisan divide between Republicans and Democrats. Democrats were more likely to be concerned about Covid, more likely to put masks on and take vaccines.
In the last presidential election Democrats cast far more votes by mail as they wanted to avoid crowds.
This was the first time more mail-in votes were cast by Democrats.
This is why mail-in voting was viewed by some people as bad/dangerous option.

There is no evidence that mail-in voting was any less secure than in-person voting.

There is a difference between mail-in voting and dropping ballots in drop-boxes. There are legitimate concerns about ballot security with the use of drop-boxes.


A related point: recall the ignorant and dishonest screams of voter suppression because of the supposedly limited number of drop-boxes available in some jurisdictions, all of which reports ignored the fact that the ballots could also be dropped in any mailbox AND ignoring the fact that many jurisdictions didn't offer any "drop-boxes."

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by oil capital

There is a difference between mail-in voting and dropping ballots in drop-boxes. There are legitimate concerns about ballot security with the use of drop-boxes.


A related point: recall the ignorant and dishonest screams of voter suppression because of the supposedly limited number of drop-boxes available in some jurisdictions, all of which reports ignored the fact that the ballots could also be dropped in any mailbox AND ignoring the fact that many jurisdictions didn't offer any "drop-boxes."

I wouldn't drop a ballot in a mailbox. Too many reports of thieves with mailbox keys opening them up, stealing anything that feels or looks like a credit card or cash, and the rest gets thrown aside. Harris County is huge. Having drop boxes makes voting easier for many folks.

[oil capital]

Originally Posted by WRM20

I wouldn't drop a ballot in a mailbox. Too many reports of thieves with mailbox keys opening them up, stealing anything that feels or looks like a credit card or cash, and the rest gets thrown aside. Harris County is huge. Having drop boxes makes voting easier for many folks.

And drop boxes are somehow immune from being broken into, tampered with?

We make voting VERY easy to accomplish for anyone with an interest in doing so. Absentee, weeks of early voting at locations all over the County, long hours of voting on election day at even more locations all over the County. Going door to door to collect ballots would make it easier to vote too, that doesn't mean we need to do that or that failing to do that constitutes voter suppression. (And just like drop-boxes, going door-to-door to collect ballots adds opportunity for mischief.)

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by oil capital

And drop boxes are somehow immune from being broken into, tampered with?

We make voting VERY easy to accomplish for anyone with an interest in doing so. Absentee, weeks of early voting at locations all over the County, long hours of voting on election day at even more locations all over the County. Going door to door to collect ballots would make it easier to vote too, that doesn't mean we need to do that or that failing to do that constitutes voter suppression. (And just like drop-boxes, going door-to-door to collect ballots adds opportunity for mischief.)

Harris County had election staff at the drop boxes to check the ID's of people dropping off ballots. I don't believe they drop boxes were open 24 hours per day, and were never left unmonitored when available. It's actually better to have drop boxes, as the ballots go directly into the hands of election officials, unlike the risk of sending something by USPS.

There are no valid objections to allowing mail ballots to be dropped off at multiple locations throughout a county.

[oil capital]

Originally Posted by WRM20

Harris County had election staff at the drop boxes to check the ID's of people dropping off ballots. I don't believe they drop boxes were open 24 hours per day, and were never left unmonitored when available. It's actually better to have drop boxes, as the ballots go directly into the hands of election officials, unlike the risk of sending something by USPS.

There are no valid objections to allowing mail ballots to be dropped off at multiple locations throughout a county.

So... outside of pandemic times when people might legitimately be afraid of walking into a voting location, what is the purpose? We have far more early voting sites, scattered all over the county. if one needs to vote by mail, then vote by mail.

And by the way, you can track mailed-in ballots, to make sure yours wasn't the victim of a one-in-a-billion mailbox theft occurrence.

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by oil capital

So... outside of pandemic times when people might legitimately be afraid of walking into a voting location, what is the purpose? We have far more early voting sites, scattered all over the county. if one needs to vote by mail, then vote by mail.

And by the way, you can track mailed-in ballots, to make sure yours wasn't the victim of a one-in-a-billion mailbox theft occurrence.

So, no real issues with drop boxes, other than you don't like them.

Some people want to make sure their ballot makes it to the election officials without risking the mail, where the chances of your ballot disappearing are much higher than one in a billion, and the chances it gets delayed past the deadline are very high.

Who might not want to walk into the poll location? People with mobility issues. People with cancer. People with COPD. People who don't like crowds or lines.

Why does the right hate for people to be able to vote more easily?