NYT: Growing Absentee Voting Is Reshaping Campaigns

[DeepModem Mom]

Growing Absentee Voting Is Reshaping Campaigns
By JOHN M. BRODER
Published: October 22, 2006

....Thirty states now allow no-excuse absentee voting, and most of them also allow voters to cast early ballots in person at county clerks’ offices or satellite polling places....

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Candidates are maneuvering to adapt to a changed political calendar, accelerating their advertising, their mailings and their get-out-the-vote calls. They are figuring out exactly who votes early and are trying to get to them before they cast their ballots. They are raising more money and spending it faster....

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Experts estimate that more than 20 percent of voters nationwide will cast their ballots before Election Day by mail or at early-voting locations, a proportion of the electorate that is rising with each election. Some states and counties open the ballots before Election Day and keep the results secret; others count them with regular ballots.

Analysts and party officials who study early voting trends say that a decade ago those who took advantage of absentee ballots tended to be relatively well off and highly educated, with Republicans outnumbering Democrats by almost two to one. But as the ease of early voting has spread, the ratio is slipping and some analysts say that nearly as many Democrats as Republicans now vote early.

Those who favor the practice say it is convenient for voters and increases turnout....But some experts say there is no proof that early voting increases turnout and may well have the opposite effect because some voters request absentee ballots and then neglect to send them in. They are also concerned that absentee ballots are more open to fraud than votes cast at established polling places....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/22/us/politics/22ballot.html

[Stardust]

1. I changed my status to "Permanent Absentee Voter" but I've

read so many conflicting reports about how safe absentee ballots are, how not showing up at the polls is a bad thing, etc. Who the hell knows...And why do I have to pay the postage? (It's late...whine time.)

[DeepModem Mom]

2. I see conflicting advice even here at DU about absentee voting. Agreed...

it's hard to know what to do.

[Peace Patriot]

3. So now the Corporate spin on the huge surge in Absentee Ballot voting

has made it up to the NYT. I first saw it in the Sacramento Bee (Dan Walters, corporate shill) three or four days ago. --that the dramatic increase in Absentee Ballot voting is voters choosing "convenience."

I think it's bullshit. Absentee Ballot voting has ALWAYS been convenient. Why the surge NOW--up to 50% to 60% in some places? Why the really huge surge--the biggest of all--in CALIFORNIA, which has ALWAYS had easy rules for AB voting? This is a VOTERS' REVOLT AGAINST THE MACHINES!

People who have gotten the word think, "oh, crap, Bushite corporations controlling the vote count with TRADE SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code--how can I get my vote counted? what happened to hand-counted paper ballots--vote counting that we could all see and understand? I don't want my vote to disappear into some black box...."

THAT's what's going on. And, in order to PREVENT this voter revolt from forcing election officials to reform this non-transparent, unverifiable, extremely insider hackable, FRAUDULENT voting system, and exposing the peoples' "vote of no confidence" in it, they're spinning it early and spinning it hard.

Spin, spin, spin. They are just making shit up--that it's new easy rules (--what about California??!!), that it's "convenience" (why has this surge paralleled the cancerous spread of electronic voting?--which I'm sure is trackable on a graph, doubling and trebling, as the machines and knowledge of the machines spread.)

True, Absentee Ballot voting is not particularly safe, in this extremely corrupt environment, and will not likely give us accurate vote counts in this election. Nothing can. But Absentee Ballot voting has these merits...

1. It is a BOYCOTT of the machines. It is a PROTEST. It is NON-COOPERATION in your own oppression--like the Montgomery Bus Boycott. If you want segregation to end, DON'T USE the segregated bus!

2. If the boycott is big enough--and it's up to 50% to 60% of the vote in some places--it can give election reformers the clout they need, at the state/local level, to demand TRANSPARENT, VERIFIABLE vote counting, and to force reform of the system. Voters are REJECTING this expensive, crapass, unreliable, hackable, secretly programmed technology--get rid of it!

3. The more people who vote by AB, the greater the scrutiny on how AB votes are handled and counted. If we can get it up to 70% to 80%, we will almost have created hand-counted, paper ballots by default (--then we go after the secretly programmed central tabulators, and demand posting of the results BEFORE any electronics are used).

4. When the machines break down on election day, as they often do--whether by accident or fraudulent intent--the AB voter will not be denied the right to vote--they will already have voted! Corrupt election officials cannot deny you a paper ballot--or shove a "provisional" ballot at you. You have taken the matter in your own hands!

5. Every time you vote on an electronic voting machine, you are ENDORSING the product of some of the most corrupt and evil corporations in America--the corporations who have come close to killing our democracy, corporations with very close ties to the Bush Junta and far rightwing causes who have PRIVATIZED our voting system, corrupted our election officials, vacuumed up billions of taxpayer dollars, and are now "counting" all our votes BEHIND A VEIL OF CORPORATE SECRECY. An Absentee Ballot vote is a REFUSAL to endorse this evil product and its evil manufacturers.

Ordinary Americans are pointing the way. BOYCOTT the damned machines!

Election reformers need to get on this, and reverse this spin. We need to focus and lead this citizen protest, and see that it is correctly interpreted by election officials. People are crying out for TRANSPARENT vote counting. For godssakes, let's HELP them--instead of second-guessing their decision!

The Absentee Ballot voters are people who have gotten the word that rotten corporations like the NYT have tried so hard to prevent them from getting. Electronic voting is a corporate FRAUD that makes a mockery of our elections and our system of government.

PROTEST! PROTEST! PROTEST! DO NOT vote on these machines. BOYCOTT these machines. Let these machines gather dust. Throw these diabolical election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' NOW!

[Peace Patriot]

4. California deadline for requesting an Absentee Ballot: OCTOBER 31.

Plenty of time.

The California deadline for registering to vote is Oct. 23, one week earlier--this Monday. Check local rules for other states.

You can hand-deliver your AB vote to your registrar, beforehand, or to your polling place on election day. (Calif rules.) 1st class postage is acceptable--but beware and check the weight. (I picked up that somewhere in Calif, the ballot was so heavy, it takes two stamps. Also, that some counties pre-pay and some do not.) Or, mail it certified/return receipt requested (cheap) or Fed Ex (not cheap), to insure that it gets there.

Fill out ballot and envelope very carefully (to avoid disqualification).

Other measures: Photocopy ballot, envelope and proof of mailing, and keep copies. AB votes can be very important in election statistical analysis and recounts. (Several 2004 studies showed a clear bias to Bush in e-voting vs. paper ballots.) You may need to prove that you voted. WRITE/CALL media about WHY you are voting by AB. Tell them of your distrust of the machines. Tell them the NYT has it wrong! Get on your local election officials about TRANSPARENT vote counting, in particular hand-counting of AB votes, and posting results, before any electronics are used. (--also optiscan ballots). (The fraud likely occurs in the central tabulators--so precinct counts are the check and balalance.) Be a nuisance! Watch everything they do. Take pix, take notes. Work with an election reform group--or the Dem Party or a candidate.

[Toots]

5. Republican Party has been mailing out Absentee ballots to Party members

for over a decade now. Democrats are just now seeing the wisdom in it. Why do you think the GOP brags about it's GOTV so much. People are far more likely to vote from the comfort of their kitchen table than they are dealing with either getting off from work for a while or dealing with rush hour voting. That usually means standing in a line after you have successfully found a parking spot and then quite possibly running into that obnoxious person you have been avoiding for some time. All in all quite a hassle compared to receiving your ballot weeks in advance giving you time to study all the issues and referendums and discussing them with SO or friends allowing you to make a more informed choice. Except for the fact that some states are making you pay postage, I think it is illegal (poll tax), I can only see absentee (vote by mail) balloting as a huge plus....