Reports of absentee ballot problems in Ohio

[noamnety]

This is from another (nonpolitical) forum I frequent.

"what the hell is going on with absentee balots? i don't know about where you guys are, but in ohio things are getting f*ed up. i haven't talked to one registered democrat who has gotten their balot in an orderly fashion. could just be some mishap, but i've talked to one girl whose stub was ripped off (it says in huge bold black letters DO NOT TEAR) when she received it. my roommate, neighbor, a couple other people in my dorm have not even received a ballot and i have not even received our ballot yet. one of my friends received a letter that said she "filled out her form wrong." i don't know what the heck is going on, the only person i have talked to that received her ballot is a register republican.

maybe i am fixed on some conspiracy theory or something. oh well, just rambling."

http://www.yayhooray.com/thread/16580/absentee-balots?

[BQueen]

1. Suspiciously consistent, eh?

no extra info here, but a kick for visibility

:kick:

[LiberalFighter]

2. Should call both Democratic office and Election Board immediately

Should go in and vote early in person

[LisaL]

6. You are not allowed to actually vote in person if you had

asked for an absentee ballot. It said so on the instructions to the ballot??? My father in Oh however received his without any problems and already send it out. It was a punch card (shades of Chads, anyone). They sure don't make voting easy, do they?
:)

[LiberalFighter]

11. Is that for Election Day or Early Voting too?

[LiberalFighter]

3. We should identify political affiliation of each county election board

And see if the problems coincide with that problem

[mongo]

4. My ballot was just fine

Perry county, Oh. The only thing weird was that they gave you an envelope to mail it back that was an inch too short for the ballot.

I folded it on the stub end. I bet that if you folded it on the ballot end your vote wouldn't be counted.

The other thing that struck me was that after I punched out my votes, ALL the holes I made had a hanging chad. I don't know if it was because of the cheap poker they provided.

[mtnester]

7. The fold was OK, when I voted in person, they told me to bend it there

I looked hesitant, and she said yes, it is OK, so I did and put it in the envelope, sealed it, then they stamped it and initialed it.

[mongo]

12. That's a relief!

[LisaL]

8. Yep, those chads.

You are actually supposed to turn it around and get rid of all the chads. It says so in the instructions.

[mongo]

13. You bet I got rid of the chads

[ohtransplant]

5. Instead of messing with a mail-in absentee ballot,

I went right to the Delaware county board of elections today. They had 3 voting booths set up right in their office. The votes cast there will count as absentees and seem more reliable to me. If I had messed up the ballot, I could have asked for a new one and I don't have to worry about the mails. From this point, I have to assume my vote will be counted. This looks like the way to go to me.

[LisaL]

9. I didn't think OH even allowed early voting????????

I sure would have liked to vote early and get it over with.

[ohtransplant]

16. Call your county board of elections

That's how I found out. I'll be outside the county on election day so I just called them and they said, "Come on down. We're all set up."

It will also free up the polling places on election day.

[noamnety]

10. More problems - also Wood County Ohio

We have another person in the same thread now, also from the same county, having a problem with their ballot.

"I registered for an Armed Services Absentee Ballot and the "Identification Envelope" where I mark why I'm voting absentee says nothing about Armed Services. Only "I am on active duty with the organized militia of Ohio". I'm hoping I can just mark "I will be out of the county on election day" and that will be sufficient if they really did f* up.
The way their website talks about it though is that I was supposed to get a completely different BALLOT all together.
If it really is f*ed up, you can bet I'm going to be chewing someone's *ss out on the phone tomorrow."

(I apologize for the gutter mouths on all my friends - birds of a feather, you know.)

[TruthWins]

14. Also voted early in Ohio

I am being a poll challenger on election day so voted today at Cuyahoga County (cleveland) Board of Elections. They don't really ask for any reason if you want to vote early, but you do have to go to the county board. They give you an absentee ballot but have regular voting booths set up. If you're worried about your vote and can do it, vote early.

[noamnety]

15. The second person in that thread

She was out of state, so she can't just go in person.

Myself, I'm all set, I turned in my ballot in person last week in Michigan. I just saw that on another forum, and wanted to make people aware of it. Some people aren't aware of voting issues enough to recognize the need for reporting problems, they just think about fixing their individual situation.

[seabeyond]

17. shaking head, dont know why anyone trusted absentee ballots

what they played with the most in florida