
Why Has It Taken California So Long to Count Ballots? Because All Votes Count - blondie9x
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/11/why-has-it-taken-california-so-long-to-count-ballots-because-it-actually-wants-every-vote-to-count/
======
briandear
All valid votes should count. I just registered to vote in California and at
the DMV there was a question about getting ballots by mail even if you
intended to vote in person. While I know the intent of that, the reality is
that you will inevitably have people voting twice. Of course only one of those
votes would be valid, but what if they are conflicting votes? Which one has
precedence? And voting twice is a crime, so should both votes be thrown out
and the person arrested. Are counties cross-checking that someone moving from
LA didn’t vote by mail with that ballot, then vote in person in San Jose?

How many votes by mail were cast by people that received the ballot for
someone else in the household? Voting by mail is such an easy fraud vector
that it makes no sense to allow it. If you are overseas, vote at a consulate.
Extend in-person early voting to allow for contingencies that prevent Election
Day voting.

There should be a voter registration number tied to a social security number
instead of doing subjective things like “comparing signatures.” That voter
registration number should be in a national database and validated on the
federal level, something like e-verify for voting.

When a candidate is up by 8% on Election Day and then eventually loses, and
especially when that candidate is in the opposite party of those in charge —
there is certainly some room for a reasonable person to question the system.

~~~
wahern
> When a candidate is up by 8% on Election Day and then eventually loses, and
> especially when that candidate is in the opposite party of those in charge —
> there is certainly some room for a reasonable person to question the system

More than half of Californians vote by mail, and the majority of those arrive
on or after election day so they're not counted until later.[1] So, no, it's
not even facially suspicious. I _am_ skeptical of the new rule which allow
someone to deliver sealed vote-by-mail ballots on the behalf of multiple
people, but so are some legislators, including Democratic legislators. As I
said, California is _also_ continuing to improve auditing and other
safeguards. Easier voting and the integrity of elections are not mutually
exclusive.

[1] For example, "In Alameda County only about 5 percent of vote-by-mail
ballots arrived before Election Day."
[https://www.kqed.org/news/10347248/mail-in-ballots-will-
soon...](https://www.kqed.org/news/10347248/mail-in-ballots-will-soon-require-
only-a-postmark-by-election-day)

