The Russian trolls are out Re mail in voting

[Johnny2X2X]

I'm seeing trolls telling stories about mail in voting everywhere right now.

Stories usually go a little something like this: "Vote in person only, I volunteered to help process absentee ballots for the primaries in (Insert major city here) and it was a mess, we had to throw out 72% of the absentee ballots, imagine 72% of the ballots in (Insert major city here) not being counted!"

They then usually take shots at the local Democratic politicians as being at fault somehow.

Find it, identify it, report it, call it out, delete it!

[Just_Vote_Dem]

1. Yes, they're out in force

trying to depress the vote in many different ways. Thanks for the post!

[Johnny2X2X]

2. The Trump campaign realizes they are getting crushed in early voting

Russian trolls are a full member of his campaign. So it's 2 pronged, discourage Dems from voting absentee by these tactics and by making Dems think Trump will have mail in votes thrown out.

2nd line we've seen from Trump, he's encouraging his voters to mail in their ballots.

Voting absentee is safe! I am dropping my ballot off at a drop box put there by my county, but mailing it in this early is safe too. Do not fall for it, vote early!

[Just_Vote_Dem]

4. Exactly!

I'm expecting my ballot soon and I will go to my local election office and deposit it there. I could mail it, but I need to go out for a drive as I'm usually cooped up like everyone else these days, heh

[rzemanfl]

3. All part of the PSYOP. n/t

[PatSeg]

5. Where are seeing such stories?

Primarily Facebook? I haven't seen any yet, but I want to be ready when I do.

[Johnny2X2X]

6. I saw them on my college's sports message board, also on Facebook

Almost the same exact story. I live in MI, so both were about "volunteering" in Detroit to help process or country absentee ballots, both mentioned a high % that were thrown out.

The one on FB was a post that was shared by a Dem actually, it was just one of those posts people share from people they don't even know.

People need to realize this, even if absentee ballots get thrown out or challenged at a higher rate, the net result is still a ton more votes counted. Absentee ballots increase voter turnout by a lot even when more challenged ballots are factored in.

Say 1 million people vote absentee, if absentee wasn't available, many of those people would not vote at all, maybe half, so even if 250,000 ballots get thrown out the net result was still more people voting.

They want people in cities to vote the day of where they'll potentially have to stand in line for several hours. They realize that people in the city voting absentee means smaller lines the day of and an overall huge boost to vote tallies.

[PatSeg]

14. The 72% figure was definitely a red flag

That is absurd. They might get more traction with their lies if they used a more realistic number, but obviously there are people who will believe it in this social media age. At least on Facebook, we can alert deceptive posts.

I know the opposition's goal is to discourage Democrats from voting, but though Democrats might get upset, I don't see them not voting because their ballot might not be counted. There is always that risk in any election, but that doesn't mean we don't vote. I do, however, see some votes not being cast because some people cannot stand in line for long periods of time to vote in person. So, it is easy to see what their sinister plan is.

You make a good point that more people will vote because of mail-in ballots and even if some are thrown out, we still end up with more votes. We have to overwhelm republicans with sheer numbers. The Democratic party is the majority party, it is ridiculous that republicans keep winning elections.

[Johnny2X2X]

16. Push for early counting too!

in MI, they will begin counting ballots a day early now, this is important too.

[PatSeg]

18. Yes

We need to consider commonsense solutions, as this is an unprecedented presidential election. Counting ballots a day early is more than reasonable.

[LisaL]

7. It's not just Russian trolls.

We have apparently well meaning posters declaring we MUST all vote in person and expose ourselves to infection instead of voting by mail, because Trump doesn't like voting by mail.
I am seeing multiple threads every day and it's starting to get on my last nerve.

[Johnny2X2X]

9. Vote early!

If you have early voting in person do it! If you have absentee voting do it and drop it off. If you must vote mail in, fill it out early and track your ballot when you send it in.

These voting options increase voter turnout, voting the day of decreases voter turnout by making lines longer.

[LisaL]

10. I plan to vote as soon as I get my ballot.

Which is going to be sometime after October 6th.

[Johnny2X2X]

11. We will get out ballots this weekend

I will drop them off in a drop box for the county by Sunday.

[LisaL]

12. OH starts mailing them out on October 6th.

Apparently it can take up to five days to get to you. But I have been getting my mail fine lately.

[PatSeg]

15. I agree

and meanwhile, Trump and the RNC are actually encouraging their voters to vote by mail in many red states. Trump likes voting by mail when it serves him and being a lot of his base are elderly and vulnerable, it benefits them to use mail-in ballots.

[Johnny2X2X]

19. I believe he made a misstep

Very few Reps will be voting by mail, they'll be waiting in lines on election day. I think he's realized this now and is pivoting because he knows he's cooked if he doesn't get mail in votes too. Especially with early counting being instituted by several states.

[PatSeg]

20. He definitely has been very inconsistent

and erratic, reacting impulsively in real time. Being an adviser to Trump must be maddening, as you never know what he's going to do or say next.

[dalton99a]

8. Kick

[OregonBlue]

13. I've been tweeting and posting on lots of boards about what really happens with ballots when

they are returned. It sometimes shuts them up.

There is absolutely no difference between how a ballot is handled whether it is an absentee, mail-in, or military ballot. When a ballot is returned, it is verfied for registration and signature. If both of those things are correct, it is then removed from the mailing envelope but is still (usually) in a secrecy envelope. At a time specified by each State, it is then removed from that envelope and processed. Once it's out of the mailing envelope, no one knows or cares whether it was absentee, mail-in, or military because it has been treated the very same way.

When they argue, I ask them why the GOP is setting up signature challenge processes all over the country in order to defeat their opponents.

[Johnny2X2X]

17. Exactly!

People need to understand that voting by mail will dramatically increase the number of votes that get counted, regardless of if they get challenged more often.