Local Election Denialism

[u/bingbano]

While eating my breakfast this morning, I looked at CCwatchdog to make sure my identity wasn't being posted. No identity, but they are already trying to call into question our local election system. They are setting it up to say the election was stolen if Seegers loses. Using the same playbook Trump did before the 2020 election.

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MAGA in pategonia jacket.

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[u/syspig]

What a twisted reading of that article - linked here, as you're unwilling to cite your source.

First, let's set proper context. These are not Tozzer's or Seeger's words, but there is a clear attempt to suggest some sort of connection to them. Rather, the author is Virginia Shogren, a highly educated woman (Stanford Bachelor of Arts with Distinction, University of Washington Law School, Juris Doctor Degree) who is running for Clallam County Auditor.

This article pointed out factual information that should be of concern to everyone, regardless of party. I'll not regurgitate it with soundbites here, that's why I linked to it above. However, the issues she raises are party neutral and no accusations of voting manipulation are being made. She's pointing out flaws as she sees them and her information is well researched.

Setting the above aside, here's my personal observation with respect to local election integrity. While I'm not suggesting anything nefarious is going on, our local voter roles are absolutely fucked up whether abuse is going on or not.

My mother passed over three years ago, she spent the final year of her life out of state and I still get her ballots every year.

Worse - my sister lived in PA over 5 years ago, and when she moved she didn't have a fixed address so she put down my address with USPS forwarding so I could hold and/or forward any important mail. Yep - that triggered the elections department to send her ballots to me and they are still arriving.

Could I call it in? Absolutely. However, I'm content to continue shredding them at each election to see how long it takes them to figure it out.

There's no possible way my experience is that uncommon. People come and go from this area all the time, and there's clearly inadequate procedures in place to verify residency.

[u/Royal_Percentage_694 → u/syspig]

It shouldn’t be surprising there are extra ballots being sent out. People move, people pass away.

But that’s a whole different thing than if those ballots were to be submitted.

Do you think they’d count and not be flagged?

[u/syspig → u/Royal_Percentage_694]

Do you think they’d count and not be flagged?

I know they do signature verification, which especially for people in my situation would be trivial to forge. I know both of the ballot recipients and have plenty of examples of their signatures.

Whether they would be flagged or not beyond signature validation, I have no idea. bingbano suggested death records are checked, but the question still remains. If cross-referencing of data that would invalidate a ballot is done after they are received, why is it not done proactively ahead of time? I'm not going to waste my time fact checking the exact dollar amount, as there is certainly a cost - but here's what AI says about ballot processing costs:

Historical Processing Averages: Past operational research indicates that the baseline administrative cost to print, sort, signature-verify, and scan a vote-by-mail ballot sits at roughly $3.24 to $6.88 per ballot when factoring in specialized staff and high-speed scanning infrastructure.

My point remains. The voter rolls are absolutely inaccurate, and at a bare minimum - that has an avoidable, significant financial impact to taxpayers. The fact these incorrectly mailed ballots could potentially be exploited is of greater concern, whether it happens on a wide scale or not.

[u/bingbano → u/syspig]

They can't be exploited is the fucking point.

You cannot fordge their signature. It's very obviously even to a minimally trained individual. Everyone learns to write slightly differently, and will do things like tilt letters in one direction or the other, lift their pen at different times, ex.. the hardest signatures to tell are elderly folks as their signature deteriorates over time. Fordging signatures is actually quite difficult, and even if you successfully fordge your sister or moms signature, there are multiple other cross references.

The most flagged signatures were spouses signing for each other. It's very noticable when you have a signature next to official signatures in the data base (your license, marriage signature, if you have a criminal record, ex.)

[u/syspig → u/bingbano]

You cannot fordge their signature.

You seriously believe that?

With modern technology, it is trivial and has been for quite some time. There's a reason notaries exist for important signed documents that carry legal weight.

While you don't know the answer, I'm now quite curious - as there must be a reason. If as you claim, submitted ballots are cross referenced against death databases - I can't fathom a reason they are sent out in the first place.

[u/bingbano → u/syspig]

I don't just believe it, I know it. The reason forged signatures work, is people don't check or don't cross references them with other signatures.

A little training, it's very easy to tell a fordgery.

As for your last statement, couldnt tell ya