By: Diane Benjamin
The only way to have free and fair elections is to vote in-person with a voter ID on a paper ballot.
That is why none of the above happens in Illinois.
One thing the left knows is the only thing that matters is winning elections, the right just plans to fight harder the next time. Voting in Illinois isn’t a sacred right, it’s a game.
All registered voters have or will receive an application for mail-in voting with an option to receive a mail-in ballot automatically for every election. This application was required by law from a State that passed the Safe-T Act which will result in crime skyrocketing after January 1st. (Of course after the election so the guy who signed it can’t be held responsible)
Why does Illinois want people voting by mail? Remember, the only thing the left cares about is winning. Lists of people voting by mail are available from election authorities. I know in previous elections the left has convinced people to request a mail-in ballot and then followed up with them on “who to vote for”.
If you search “mail-in voter fraud” you will find sites claiming it is safe and secure. You will also find stories saying the opposite. France banned mail-in voting in 1975. See this link: https://politics.stackexchange.com/questions/57152/why-isnt-mail-in-voting-allowed-in-france
Excerpt:
Mail-in voting offers opportunities for fraud
A major difficulty in organizing political voting is that no single person or organization is trusted to tally and report votes sincerely. A trustworthy voting process must make any attempt at tampering evident. This is very difficult with mail-in voting because the chain of custody is long.
The voting process in France ensures that every point of the chain of custody of votes and vote tallies is verified by multiple people, and any voter is authorized to observe it. Voting is done with paper ballots which the voter places in a transparent ballot box, which never leaves the polling station. Any voter who is registered in the same municipality can observe both the voting (which takes place over a single day) and the tallying at the polling station. Fraud at this stage requires controlling or intimidating all would-be observers, which is a high threshold. The threshold for polling-station fraud over mail-in votes is a lot lower. It is impractical to verify that the mail received over the course of days or even weeks was kept securely, that none of it was thrown away and that extra votes are not added.
It is also more difficult to prevent impersonation with mailed-in votes. At best, casting a mail-in vote on behalf of someone else requires the knowledge of some secret code that was mailed to the voter, and of the voter’s signature. Both of these are very easy to do for the entity that organizes the vote. Other would-be fraudsters need to intercept mail, which is a higher threshold, but less high than impersonating someone who is supposed to be physically present.
Another difficulty with mail-in voting is that it makes coercion and vote selling easy. Even if it was possible to validate the chain of custody of the ballot after it was filled by the voter, remote voting makes it impossible to verify that the voter could cast their vote confidentially.
The reason that usually comes up in political discussions and in the press is fraud through an opaque of chain of custody.
My application is shredded in the trash.
You make some interesting points on mail-in ballots. I have mixed thoughts on the subject. Surely mail-in can increase voter participation at a time when apathy is at its peak. These peaks also in my opinion create an opportunity for organized fraud to maximize its effect. Democracy is also a duty. That means voters have to do some work too. Apathy creates opportunity for uninformed voters to check boxes without understanding the issues and positions of candidates and their party. In-person voting is not always easy to do if the goal in increasing voter turnout. Take for example the demographic represented in your Connect Transit posts. These folks can’t even rely on CT to get to a decent job reliably, how will they get to polling places? Voting is a right for all citizens, but in our digital world, analog processes present obstacles that need solutions. Still trying to educate myself on the actual fraud that has occurred with mail-in voting vs the perceived threat. Are there other alternatives or is there a better way to handle mail-in? And no, sadly I do not trust the post office any longer. It’s been deconstructed and politicized which is another matter …..
Well said!
Voting by mail is NOT new and has always been an option.
The part that is NEW is the constant mailers encouraging mail-in voting.
I find it really annoying that my tax dollars are being spent to promote mail-in ballots in Illinois.
Having fielded many questions over the years I can conclude that it can be confusing to know how to register to vote and how to opt for a mail-in ballot, and the timelines to factor in. One can’t just show up on voting day and hope for the best. Maybe the mailers help with that? I have only received one note over the last year from the clerk relative to mail-in voting. I have however never received a communication asking if I want to be a registered voter (maybe because I am?).
Renew your drivers license and you are registered
@ TP
The laws in Illinois have all been changed and you CAN just show up on voting day!
I don’t think the process was ever confusing – all of the information was/is readily available leading up to every election. But a person has to actually seek the information and then take action in order to vote. It makes me wonder – Are these same people going to take action to research the candidates and make the best choices with their mail-in ballots?
well, there you go. I presume the same with a state ID if one does not drive? Super easy. Even after decades of voting lol.
Received my application yesterday. Went right into the shredder!
On the surface it seems like everyone would be in favor of eliminating voting fraud, of manipulating the outcome of an election. In sports you have the game (getting both teams and their fans to the event), and each team’s offense (getting their fans/voters out and counted), and defense (denying the other side a chance to be counted or counted less well). It’s a potentially precarious view when it comes to democracy and the future of our republic. Parsing “fraud” (manipulation) into these categories I think we need to be sure were talking about votER fraud as the problem or votING fraud. Both, I suspect are worthy of inspection if we truly believe that our democracy is sacrosanct.
In McLean County, if you request and receive a ballot in the mail YOU MUST BRING IT WITH YOU if you change your mind and decide to vote at a Polling Location. If you show up to the Polling Location without the ballot, then THE Election Judge MUST GIVE YOU A >>>>>>PROVISIONAL BALLOT <<<<<<
That is stated in Illinois Statute 10 ILCS 5/18A-5
"Illinois State Board of Election Statutes
When a Provisional Ballot should be used."
THIS STATUTE HAS NEVER CHANGED!!!
HOWEVER
McLean County Clerk Kathy Michael is NOT
REQUIRING the Election Judges to give the voter a Provisional Ballot in this situation. Why not??
FedUp; your information is incorrect. It used to be that one needed to “surrender” their ballot at their Polling Place. Now, with technology advances, election judges can delete or void that in the check in station, and the voter can then vote the usual way. Let’s say, there is still a concern about voter ID or perhaps a glitch in the system, EVERYONE is allowed to vote; they vote provisionally. Judges are trained to never turn anyone away who indicates they have the right to vote and perhaps something is wrong at the Polling Place. Voting “provisionally” simply means, the voters, gets the regular ballot, they vote it in privacy, submit it in a Provisional ballot envelope and given to the judges. These are sealed, brought back to election headquarters on election night, and then carefully reviewed usually the next day. Every effort is made, if there is any question at all, to reach out to the voter, to come in and verify anything if needed, and the vote counts if all is in ordered; supervised by Republican and Democratic judges at all times. And the public, if requested. If verification is provided, the vote doesn’t count. If it is verified the voter’s ID and information was indeed correct, the vote counts. NO ONE walks out of a Polling Place, without the opportunity to vote; and safeguards are in place to verify each such case. Kathy Michael, McLean County Clerk. If you have evidence that voters were turned away, we ask that you provide where and when that occurred, what Polling Place, so that we can investigate and talk with the judges involved. however, our judges are well-trained, with Lead Judges and in house technical support at our larger locations, with a hotline to call for help whenever needed.
Thank you for the clarification. Much appreciated.
Kathy, I watched this happen at my polling place. A gentleman came in and stated that he had voted by mail but wished to change his vote. He was given a provisional ballot. Can you please explain how we know for sure that this guy’s original ballot was deleted? I didn’t think that beyond declaring a party in the general election that anyone could actually keep track of how you voted.
My concern when I originally saw this happen was that the original, mailed in ballot would never get deleted, with the net effect being that the guy got to vote twice. I have been curious about this ever since.
Centralizing the data, systems, support and process and using centralized tools/process is a bad decision and should have never happened. Tracking folks and manipulating and centralizing votes is not secure nor is the process. Opens more integrity issues in fact. But sounds all “inclusive” and so called secure I guess to majority who don’t think.
My one comment has a typo and where it sayd, “If verification is provided, the vote doesn’t count” and shoud say, “if verification is not provided, the vote doesn’t count.” Kathy Michael, McLean County Clerk
Thanks Fedup, it’s good to be able to reply to comments like yours, meant in good faith, and I mean this seriously, I don’t know who y ou are, but urge you and others, if you ever wish to be a judge (pay is $200 for the long day) I think it’s a real eye opener for everyone to get that experience, talk to fellow judges many of whom might be your friends or neighbors, to see how transparent we are. Sure, we make mistakes. . . . everyone does, we’re human, but we don’t make many, and we are up front about it. So, please stay in touch and keep the questions coming and if they don’t make sense, stay after me/us! We work for you.
You can have a thousand judges that that won’t protect data integrity or the back end process or secure elections.
But the narrative makes it sound all secure and safe and digitally safe and “secure”.
Theatrics at taxpayer expense. Digital is not the answer. Nor is the tools, proces and systems they promote and we pay for.
Even here in Tennessee I don’t trust post office. Our current delivery person is either dyslexic or just plain stupid
Don’t trust the data, process or systems in place or partners. The Mail In Voting rhetoric and narrative is both deceptive and not understanding how the final “counting” and manipulation of data works.
Also, promoting permanent mail in voting exploits folks like handicapped and elderly and others who still can have votes manipulated. The IdentityQ process and identity/system process is both intrusive but also lacks integrity and is a tool to target folks.
The whold “prove who you are” system and tracking system is not good either. Lots of money and those praising it all are deceived. Look deeper. “Technology”, apps and tools is not the answer. Manipulation of data regardless of who the players are still occurs at the higher level, centralized data level and even manually. Theatrics mean a lot at the county level its is clear.
Understanding truly how things work is important at our county dept levels and they don’t. They are robots.
As Biden said “its all about who counts the votes”.
Centralizing data or handing it to state/governmenet entiteis to “identify” you is not a good answer for those that value freedom and not technocratic manipulation of process and systems.
Although we like to have the county mirror tools and process (like IdenityQ) which has major issues with integrity and probably the root of many data breaches in the last few years as they implement, centralizing data is not the answer and clearly the Election officials don’t understand how things work.
Dont trust the data, process, systems or machines and surveillance capitalism is what Illinois is doing in the name of “helping” or doing data harvesting at the state level and sharing it to track and identify folks.
Election Commission did not do its do diligence clearly. Its like trusting the FBI and NSA. Good little robots.
Everyone wants to be a surveillance king or queen. Calling it freedom and safety. Not good for the county at all or its taxpayers. They money being made off of video cameras and surveillance videos and “identifying” folks is pathetic but sounds official and “secure”. It truly exploits people in the state of Illinois and voters and taxpayers.
The same players and tech folks and state level “leaders” implemnet all the same crap for gain and to sound liek they are protecting citizens or elections. Deception galore. Follow the money.