We have heard many changes suggested after the Early Voting issues from the recent election. First it was a huge job counting all those votes and then a long time before mostly accurate results were produced.
Back when the changes were being put into law by the General Assembly and the Secretary of the State we proposed three major changes to the proposed laws that were never considered. We have have heard calls for at least two of these, so far…
We have heard many changes suggested after the Early Voting issues from the recent election. First it was a huge job counting all those votes and then a long time before mostly accurate results were produced.
Back when the changes were being put into law by the General Assembly and the Secretary of the State we proposed three major changes to the proposed laws that were never considered. We have have heard calls for at least two of these, so far.
First that voters should cast the ballots into voting machines. We argued primarily that voters voted for Early “Voting” not another version of in-person absentee voting. Then they would have the assurance that their vote would be rejected if they made a mistake like overvoting and have a chance to correct their vote (I was a machine tender this election on election day and was amazed at the number of over votes, primarily by new voters. We had numerous voters voting for two, three or even four presidential and U.S. Senate candidates!!!) .
Now the reason some are calling for casting into the machine is to save time in counting on election day. Yes that will save much official time doing the tasks of opening, checking off envelopes, checking envelopes, organizing ballots and even hand counting those ballots that are rejected.
Others just want to get the results sooner.
Second making officials responsible for voters signing envelopes. I said that then because, once voters IDs are checked and their registration verified, just like election day voting they should not be subject to any more, redundant checks that they would on election. I a town where voters were told not to sign, instead of counseling officials, they made voters come back to sign them.
Third that early voting places should be polling places, except. Instead of a law that copied some polling place requirements, early voting places should simply be defined as polling places, with defined exceptions. Now we are seeing calls for individual changes to the law as time worn rules are implemented one at a time. (As far as I know, so far, nobody is calling for such changes.)
After several years of our asking, Secretary Thomas uses 10-sided die for drawing. This is much more fair, transparent, and random than drawing slips from a barrel. The Secretary gets our applause for this change.