Incredibly, for a guy who votes by mail himself, Dotard Trump is singularly obsessed with the idea that it is the most dangerous method of casting a ballot. Now this deranged grifter criminal con man has referred to a new Nevada law as a "coup" because it mails ballots to all active voters. This bollocks follows earlier nonsense, i.e. tweeting “Rigged Election,” of New York’s well-publicized struggles with counting mail-in votes.
He then chirped: “Same thing would happen, but on massive scale, with USA.” He went on to proclaim that "voting by mail is a catastrophic disaster and “an easy way for foreign countries to enter the race.” Also, blabbering: "Any election conducted by mail would be INACCURATE AND FRAUDULENT.”
This merely sets the stage for Adolf Jr. to threaten to file a lawsuit against Nevada - which he can't do - because he isn't a damned dictator. Yet. And so Trump's campaign against the legitimacy of mail voting continues in a depraved effort to take the votes away from millions in November, and award himself an unearned 2nd term. This toxic and divisive propaganda has now also emerged the op-ed pages (wouldn't you know?) of The Wall Street Journal. This with the absurd piece 'An Invitation in the Mail For Election Fraud', Aug. 3, p. A13) by a Scott Hogenson.
Hogenson's first lie - or rather misapplied selection effect is that "The U.S. Postal Service appears to be operating fairly well". This based on one single sample - his own - that the USPS "helpfully forwarded his ballot" to his new address in Texas. (This after his family moved from Washington state to Dallas in mid-June).
The truth is the postal service has been subjected to major slowdowns and even postal workers themselves have complained, e.g.
https://fortune.com/2020/07/24/usps-mail-delivery-postmaster-general-louis-dejoy-us-postal-service/
Noting:
"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” So goes the unofficial motto of the United States Postal Service (USPS),...but it appears that the 108-year-old credo may have met its match in new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
“These changes are happening because there’s a White House agenda to privatize and sell off the public Postal Service,” said Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union. “But there’s too much approval for the organization right now. They want to separate the service from the people and then degrade it to the point where people aren’t going to like it anymore.”
How is the slowdown happening? Well, by dramatically cutting overtime work despite:
"Data obtained by the American Postal Workers Union, which represents about 200,000 postal workers, shows that nearly 20% of all work by mail handlers, city carriers, and postal drivers is done in overtime."
I.e.
"Overtime will be eliminated…If the plants run late they will keep the mail for the next day,” reads an internal memo reviewed by Fortune. “If we cannot deliver all the mail ue to call offs or shortage of people and you have no other help, the mail will not go out.”
Not processing that the postal service IS a service and designed as such from its inception. That means if overtime is needed to complete the service, it must be allowed. So it's kind of like asserting government itself ought to function as a business. So no wonder Hogenson next claims "I have been invited to participate in Washington state's August elections so has my wife" adding "Since we aren't residents that would be fraudulent".
Hence, he's trying to imply the state has encouraged him to commit voter fraud. Incredibly, this joker isn't even aware of the double checks Washington has in place against such a fiasco or that his "helpful" postal service may actually have been responsible for the screw up by not forwarding his change of address to Washington authorities in time. But this character is so determined to slime the mail ballot system used in Washington that he'd rather invoke the fraud bogey like his master, Dotard.
First, let's look at how Washington's VPM system would proactively prevent this fraud Hogenson is so worried about. As noted on the Washington state VPM site, which this turkey could have read if he really wanted - before putting his rant on the WSJ op-ed pages. If he did he would have read "ballot status can be checked by voter online". Then, if anything is amiss, it can be immediately reported. The same system holds true here in Colorado. Any missent ballot can then be corrected for by going to the states's website, as opposed to expecting the Secretary of State to act "in loco parentis" and hand-hold the clueless adult child.
In addition, "signatures and voter addresses are checked against voter registration records before processing." In effect, if Hogenson had sent his change of address notice in time - and the USPS hadn't slowed it down or lost it - the state never would have sent him a ballot after his move to TX.
Hence, Hogenson is simply creating a drama out of nothing. Let's look at other macguffins he's touted in his screed:
- "There's no way to tell how many non-residents will receive ballots they're not legally allowed to cast."
Of course there is a way! It's just that this dunderhead isn't aware of it. That is, each mail ballot has imprinted upon the equivalent of a UPC bar code specifically matched to the voter's registration which includes his-her address and other details (birth date, etc.) This was made clear by Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold last week on MSNBC. Further the fact of such bar coding before ballots are sent out means the only way they end up at the wrong address (including to "dead people") is if the USPS itself fucks up.
Please see response already given above!"
Ans. None - because of the use of the bar code on each ballot and the resulting processing when sent to the bar code- designated address. If multiple ballots are received by the same people, well, again you will have to blame the post office - probably for being overworked.
"We don't know how many ballots actually make it through the mail in time."
Well, this one is really more on the voter himself. It's the voter's job and duty to ensure - especially in a pandemic election- his ballot is mailed in plenty of time to be counted. 15 days in advance would be a reasonably good guide, given the USPS slowdown. For an even better option, the voter can simply deposit his ballot in a dropbox so the mail system is entirely avoided. If the particular voter wants to know if HIS ballot actually arrived he can check his ballot status online by referencing the ballot code assigned.
"How many ballots are delivered to the place where they're to be counted?"
Ans. Again, this is more a question for the USPS to address. After all, it is USPS duty to deliver ballots to the designated venue to be counted. You cannot expect the state VPM system to assume responsibility for the delivery process as well as ballot preparation and verification! But again, even if ballots are delivered to the wrong place, they will not be counted unless a host of criteria are met.
"Even if every bureaucrat and volunteer involved in the process is honest and efficient voting by mail is still fraught with problems."
No, do not believe this twaddle for a second. As Jena Griswold - our Secretary of state - has pointed out, given our state's redundant QA checks on the VPM process the overall accuracy and effective delivery is at the 99.999% level. I can live with that any day of the week and will when the time comes to vote here in Colorado. Mail vote.
If forlorn crackpots like Hogenson are unable to grok that, so be it. Let them try to do Dotard's dirty work of casting suspicion on this upcoming election by attacking the integrity of mail ballots. But that doesn't mean any of us has to be stupid enough to believe it.
See Also:
Trump’s attacks on mail voting prompt alarm over GOP turnout
And:by Heather Cox Richardson | August 3, 2020 - 7:14am | permalink
And:
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