I was well aware that former City of Sioux Falls Deputy Chief of Staff (who left the administration suddenly with little to no explanation) was behind this baffling legislation;
T.J. Nelson, a lobbyist for Opportunity Solutions Project, a conservative advocacy group that has pushed for restrictions to absentee voting in state legislatures, also issued warnings while working with legislators and county auditors to make it “easier to vote but harder to cheat,” a mantra used by supporters of early-voting reforms.
“Other states have a lot of issues with people just going out and pre-filling these absentee request forms, doing the work for the voter except signing their name, and then dumping ballots,” Nelson testified. “We need to make sure someone isn’t taking a hundred ballots and stuffing them into a ballot box.”
If a ballot is signed by the voter in a sealed envelope how is this fraud? Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny can drop your sealed ballot in a drop box at 2 AM if they wanted to, it doesn’t change the status of your vote OR your valid signature. As pointed out in the article, a USPS box is NO different then a drop box since you can still mail in a ballot. Oh, there is a difference, a postal box is less secure.
I believe the absentee voting rhetoric actually cost councilor Stehly her re-election to city council (she lost by less then 100 votes). There was so much fear out there that I think many old school conservatives and Republicans who supported Stehly simply didn’t trust the system and either didn’t vote absentee or voted at all.
When you have a state with 50% of it’s registered voters identifying as Republican why would you want to limit their voting opportunities? Drop boxes are invented to assist ALL voters no matter your political stripe so when you limit access to Indies and Democrats you are essentially limiting Republicans also.
I sometimes wonder how these supposed right-wing activists get around with all the holes in their feet.
It’s plain and simple, they want to discourage voting.
But I do differ with a lot of my friends on the left. I’m not a big fan of early voting. I think we should return to the days of “absentee ballots”, when generally only the hospitalized, the infirm, and out-of-town business people utilized the system.
Every election, both the primary and the general, should be national and or state holidays. City and school board elections should be held during either the primary or general elections.
Federal legislation should be passed to cross reference possible fraud by those who are registered in more than one state (RV voters (?)) and vote in one or more states. I believe this problem is the only true significant voter fraud that we might have in our country.
Plus, reducing early voting and making election days a holiday will allow all of us for the most part to vote together knowing the same about the candidates, and ballot initiatives and referendums, which is how a true democracy should operate.
The current frenzy of early voting is seen as a plus for voters, but it’s actually more of a plus for the political parties. If they are organized, and it destroys the genuine community of statement which an election is suppose to produce.
( and Woodstock adds: “Say VSG, are you sure you’re a liberal?”….. (… “He doesn’t like marijuana legalization either”…. (?)… ))
I would agree that absentee balloting could be limited but you would have to do it in coordination with your proposals. Instead of a holiday other countries have done voting on Saturdays and Sundays;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Election_day
One of the reasons I vote at the admin building in advance is that my precinct changes so much I am not sure where it is from election to election.
If you suspect illegal voting then submit a request for tge SOS to investigate. However i made my sales pitch and explained how we can audit and investigate and you Dems had a hissy fit.
this is all because trump lost. and now the trumpers that lost in the last election are claiming the same thing, but because fellow republicans stuffed the ballot box. i’m sure the trumper running for school board is already coming up ways his election was stolen after he gets beat.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/when-to-use-then-and-than
Yes, this precinct changing needs to stop and precincts should be smaller in size and permanent in nature.
What I’m proposing should also have an emergency clause that would allow for early voting and a broader absentee voting system if there’s an eminent national emergency, or a prolonged but manageable one like the recent pandemic, however.
Maybe this isn’t a good analogy, but it makes sense to me. I’ve noticed that since the local news is now three hours long, that I don’t watch it as much because I take its existence for granted and then forget to watch it. I believe by stretching out the time frame to vote the same reality does or will come into play with our elections and thus our democracy overtime. Tradition, finality, and purpose matter, but I’m afraid those virtues are lost when the election process begins to take a backseat to peoples’ daily lives. In order to educate people about their civic duty you must impress upon them the importance of some democratic institutions like elections, but by making elections as something that just lingers, then it becomes – I’m afraid overtime – an after thought or a bother and not a duty or responsibility that is fulfilled.
The process is broke and can’t be fixed. Nobody knows how many votes from all directions are out there. Everyone should buy an RV and vote from their out of state address. Who wins, who loses. Does it matter. Win and you start another election campaign without serving in the position you won. Lose, and you keep it contested until the next election. This game cannot be won. How about a game of Chess?
Stehly is in a better place. Losing can be a blessing. Finding where you’re appreciated and effective feels better than isolated because you’re not a member of the corrupt faction. Recognition can be yourself without press and out of context quotes.
Trump seems losing as cult leader. Nonetheless, he should be monitored. Presidential security can also be detention guards. What’s wrong with you if you can’t see he led a terrorist force to overthrow democracy on January 6th?
“Say, do you guys remember the good old days, when the elitists in Harry-bourgeois Nord (Taupeville) got to have drop boxes, but the peoples north of 57th not so much?”
#73Percent #85Percent
There’s nothing I hate more than a harry bourgeois, right Hari?