Voting Rights, Mail Ballots, Counting Votes, Voting Fraud, and Disenfranchisemen

[joan1984]

Benson: 6,400 Michigan absentee
ballots rejected for late arrival
Beth LeBlanc
The Detroit News

More than 6,400 of Michigan's 10,600 absentee ballots rejected Aug. 4 were turned away because they arrived after Election Day, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson's office said Friday.

Another 2,225 ballots were discarded because there was no signature on the envelope;
1,111 were rejected because the voter moved; and
846 were not accepted because the voter was dead,
according to data from Benson's office.

Those individuals listed as dead or moved include voters who died or moved out of the jurisdiction after submitting their absentee ballots, Benson's spokeswoman Tracy Wittmer said. The state gets monthly updates from the Social Security Administration regarding new Michigan deaths so officials can identify ballots filed by people who have since died.

The number of deceased voters is actually less than the November 2016 election, when 1,782 absentee ballots were rejected because the voter had died in an election that had 400,000 fewer absentee ballots than the Aug. 4 primary.

Jocelyn Benson, Secretary of State, holds a press conference at Pasteur Elementary School in Detroit to give an update on today's election, Tuesday,  August 4, 2020.

The total of 10,694 ballots rejected Aug. 4 take on special significance in Michigan, where President Donald Trump won by a margin of 10,704 votes in November 2016 — his slimmest margin nationwide.

The development came a day after The Detroit News reported that the U.S. Postal Service has warned Benson that Michigan's mail delivery timelines pose "significant risk" to ballots sent too close to Election Day and that could lead to their disqualification.

Detroit received 820 ballots late that couldn’t be counted, City Clerk Janice Winfrey told The News on Thursday, while Warren’s clerk said Michigan’s third largest city received 84 ballots late through Thursday.

Michigan's largest city also rejected 452 ballots because election officials lacked signatures or the signatures on the envelope did not match state data, according to Benson's data. Another 52 moved and 32 died after sending in their ballots.

Detroit also had a convict who voted, the lone ballot to be rejected statewide for that reason.

The city of Lansing rejected 136 late ballots, Grand Rapids received 158, Macomb Township 118, Southfield 128 and Waterford 123.

Benson released the statistics Friday as she urged the Republican-controlled Legislature to pass legislation ahead of November that would require clerks to call the voter if there are issues with an envelope signature and permit ballots to be counted if they were postmarked before Election Day.

“The data demonstrates that thousands of people who cast otherwise valid votes were not able to participate in last week’s election solely because the Legislature failed to act ahead of the primary,” the Detroit Democrat said in a statement.

“With turnout and absentee ballot numbers expected to double or even triple in November, we could be looking at tens of thousands of Michigan citizens disenfranchised if the legislature again fails to act," she said.

Michigan residents voted absentee in record numbers Aug. 4, sending 1.6 million absentee ballots compared with the prior record of 1.27 million absentee voters in the November presidential election.

[Lois]

Claims of vote by mail fraud unfounded in Michigan

DETROIT – As the state works to get every registered voter an absentee ballot application, concerns and claims have been swirling around the conversation of vote-by-mail. Many of those claims are false.

“There's no evidence that voter fraud happens in incidents of allowing citizens to vote by mail, which they have a right to do in the state of Michigan,” Sec. of State Jocylen Benson said Thursday. We're fortunate in the fact that states have been voting by mail voters in states like Colorado, Washington, Oregon and several others have been voting by mail for decades.”

In recent days as states like California and Michigan have begun to ramp up voting infrastructure for elections in the pandemic, efforts have been made to discredit mail in voting from as high up as the Oval Office.

“There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent. Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed,” President Donald Trump said in a tweet earlier this week. Last week he also criticized Benson’s office for mailing out ballot applications, which began off a weeklong campaign by both the President and prominent supporters suggesting absentee voting could be easily tampered with to steal an election.

In states like CO, WA, OR and Utah which have moved to almost entirely vote by mail, absentee fraud has been extremely rare. In Michigan, there have only been 5 convictions for absentee ballot fraud since 2007, according to the Conservative leaning Heritage Foundation. As a percentage of the votes cast in the last 10 years. That’s comes out to 20-millionths of a percent.

When it comes to claims that ballots could be stolen from mailboxes, signed fraudulently or get lost in the mail, Benson said her office is working on that too blending old fashioned paper and snail mail with high tech tracking and software.

She said county clerk offices will be equipped with signature verification software. Each absentee ballot as a series of signatures on both the ballot and envelope which are required to match the signature of a voter’s registration to be counted. Benson added the verification system could also protect against those who vote for deceased loved ones who may try to sign a ballot or request one.

There have also been warnings about stolen mail or votes getting lost while being mailed in to be counted. Benson said her office is already working with the US Postal Service to be able to track votes that have been sent or to possibly create centrally located, ballot specific drop off boxes for those uncomfortable with mailing their votes.

“None of this is rocket science,” Benson said. “This isn't recreating the wheel we're simply looking to states who have done this who have solved these problems already from the security issues to the ballot tracking issues.”

Concerns that absentee voting will help one party over another aren't founded either, although have been a common refrain in the fight over expanding the absentee vote. A new study form Stanford, out last month, showed increased voting by mail didn't give either party an advantage but did increase voter turnout. Those findings were at least partially seen in Michigan’s early May elections which had record setting turnout.

Concerns over counting the vote are also very real and founded. An increase in absentee votes will drastically alter how ballots are normally counted, likely taking more time and manpower. Benson asked for patience from voters.

“It may be a few days before we know the results of Michigan’s elections, but to us that’s important. That patience is going to be important, so that we can ensure the results are accurate,” Benson said.

https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/michigan/2020/05/28/claims-of-vote-by-mail-fraud-unfounded-in-michigan/

[joan1984]

 So pleased to see your post about how competent Michigan is, has been, with Absentee/Mail-In Voting. The volume of DEAD voters is a concern, last year, and again in the most recent Primary election there.

 We all trust your judgement, Lois, and will be pleased when a completed vote on November 3, 2020 gives the expected trustworthy count the State Voters trust will happen.

  I suppose the high count of rejected, ineligible, dead and otherwise invalid votes in the recent Primary is good news, showing the State is on top of the vote counting process, and November 3, 2020 election will be handled well.

  That trust will be a matter of verification, and every invalid ballot which is received by Mail should be sufficient evidence to track and prosecute any who are found to break Michigan law, and/or Federal law, this election cycle.

[MissBarbara]

Benson: 6,400 Michigan absentee
ballots rejected for late arrival
Beth LeBlanc
The Detroit News

More than 6,400 of Michigan's 10,600 absentee ballots rejected Aug. 4 were turned away because they arrived after Election Day, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson's office said Friday.

Another 2,225 ballots were discarded because there was no signature on the envelope;
1,111 were rejected because the voter moved; and
846 were not accepted because the voter was dead,
according to data from Benson's office.

While math has never been my strong suit, there were a total of 2,271,110 votes cast in the Michigan presidential primary. Even assuming every single one of those 846 votes from "dead people" were fraudulent, that means that 0.04% of the votes cast were fraudulent.

http://www.calculator.net/percent-calculator.html

Every person can have his or her own opinion on whether 0.04% is a problematic percentage, but the plain fact is that those fraudulent votes were detected, rejected, and not counted.

In other words, the system worked -- and this should stand as a model of how mail-in voting will work in the November presidential election.

[Shiela_M]

While math has never been my strong suit, there were a total of 2,271,110 votes cast in the Michigan presidential primary. Even assuming every single one of those 846 votes from "dead people" were fraudulent, that means that 0.04% of the votes cast were fraudulent.

http://www.calculator.net/percent-calculator.html

Every person can have his or her own opinion on whether 0.04% is a problematic percentage, but the plain fact is that those fraudulent votes were detected, rejected, and not counted.

In other words, the system worked -- and this should stand as a model of how mail-in voting will work in the November presidential election.

[joan1984]

 Your observation is one I agree with, as does Lois, from her post, and my reply to her post covers that.

  I am concerned about the number of folks who died between the time the living Primary Voter put her ballot into the Mailbox, and the August 4, 2020 Primary Election date... the notation an even greater number of 'voter deaths' preceded the Vote Counting in 2019 is notable as well.

  Number just startled at first. Stuff happens, and is being picked up. Good.

  Even the lone Felon in Detroit was culled from the submitted ballots. Follow up by authorities is logically a future action for such anomaly ballots, of course.

  Seems all known issues are being addressed in the State of Michigan, and our November Election in 80 'some days will go off well, in the same good hands who have experience with Mail In Ballot counting, and security.

  I received my Application for Absentee Voting yesterday, in Washington, DC, which seeks confirmation of my status, intention to vote, and location, in order to send me a Absentee/Mail-In Ballot, with or without adjustment, upon receipt of the Application.

  Washington, DC seems as organized as the State of Michigan... good to see.

  Good to see we all have confidence in Absentee/Mail-In Voting...

[_priapism]

Good to see we all have confidence in Absentee/Mail-In Voting...

[Lois]

We all know this sudden concern about voting by mail being corrupt and fradulent is because Trump believes he will loose the election.  These concerns have no basis in fact.

Meanwhile Trump and his cronies are doing whatever they can to discourage voting by mail and make sure votes cast in this way do not count.  His appointed Postmaster General has seen to a "reorganization" of the USPS, including the removal of some 671 sorters, that have already led to substantial mail slow-downs.

This is an attack on our right to vote, and hurts those who depend on voting by mail, including the elderly and overseas military personnel.  And all because Trump was told more Democrats vote by mail than Republicans.

An attack upon our right to vote is an attack upon the very foundation of our Nation.

[MissBarbara]

 Your observation is one I agree with, as does Lois, from her post, and my reply to her post covers that.

I'm very happy to hear that we agree that voter fraud has not been a factor in U.S. presidential elections over the past 50 years, and that the recent experiences in Michigan show that voter fraud should not be a factor in the upcoming presidential election.

 I am concerned about the number of folks who died between the time the living Primary Voter put her ballot into the Mailbox, and the August 4, 2020 Primary Election date... the notation an even greater number of 'voter deaths' preceded the Vote Counting in 2019 is notable as well.

That assertion is somewhat puzzling, since you support a president who is going out of his way to block measures to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus, and his actions and inactions will very likely cause more voters to die between the time they fill out their mail-in ballots and the time the ballots are counted.

 I received my Application for Absentee Voting yesterday, in Washington, DC, which seeks confirmation of my status, intention to vote, and location, in order to send me a Absentee/Mail-In Ballot, with or without adjustment, upon receipt of the Application.

In my state, they made the process much easier, and much more sustainable. Instead of wasting money and resources sending out print applications, they have made absentee ballot application much more easily attainable through a variety of sources, including a web site where you can apply for a ballot in a process that takes about 3 minutes.

  Good to see we all have confidence in Absentee/Mail-In Voting...

I'll admit that I'm not perceptive enough to tell whether or not that statement is sarcastic or genuine.

Either way, it's not a question of "confidence," it's a realization that given the fact of the COVID-19 pandemic and it's effects, this system is the most workable system available at this time to allow every single voter who wishes to vote to cast his or her vote.

And Lois is spot on. Mail-in voting is a "problem" in the eyes of exactly one person: Our current president, and those who support him. He realizes, somewhere in that reptilian brain of his, that his chances for re-election in November are dwindling, and that suppressing the votes, one way or another, for his opponent in the election might help assure his re-election.

Keep in mind that after the 2016 presidential election, Trump made many accusations of voter fraud, and called for investigations. The investigations, of course, turned up nothing. The irony, of course, is that his outrage was over an election that he won. I can only imagine what he will have to say on November 4th if he looses.

[Jed_]

We all know this sudden concern about voting by mail being corrupt and fradulent is because Trump believes he will loose the election.  These concerns have no basis in fact.

I disagree Lois.  Trump’s concerns about losing do seem to be based in fact.
 

[Lois]

Ah yes, that part is true. 

[joan1984]

Canvassers demand answers after 72%
of Detroit's absentee ballot counts were off
Craig Mauger
The Detroit News

Recorded ballot counts in 72% of Detroit's absentee voting precincts didn't match the number of ballots cast, spurring officials in Michigan's largest county to ask the state to investigate ahead of a pivotal presidential election.

Without an explanation from Detroit election workers for the mismatches, the Wayne County Board of Canvassers requested this week for Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson's office to examine the "training and processes" used in Detroit's Aug. 4 primary, which one official described as a "perfect storm" of challenges. The board is charged with certifying election results.

In 46% of all Detroit's precincts — absentee and Election Day — vote counts were out of balance, according to information presented Tuesday to the Wayne County Board of Canvassers. Specifically, the number of ballots tracked in precinct poll books did not match the number of ballots counted.

The situation could amplify the spotlight on absentee ballots in Michigan ahead of an election for which record levels of mail-in voting are expected and President Donald Trump is already raising concerns about how votes will be handled.

The Wayne County Board of Canvassers approved this resolution asking the Michigan Secretary of State's office to investigate "the training and processes" used by Detroit for the 2020 primary election.

The election results for the primary weren't incorrect, said Jonathan Kinloch, a Democrat and one of the canvassing board's four members. But, he said, something had gone wrong in the process of tracking ballots precinct by precinct.

Having balanced precincts is particularly important in Michigan because precincts whose poll books don’t match with ballots can’t be recounted, according to state law. Instead, the original election results would stand.

"It was a perfect storm," Kinloch said.

The "storm" involved a record number of absentee ballots being cast in Michigan's primary and seasoned election workers not feeling it was safe to help with administering the election because of COVID-19, he added.

The Wayne County board is asking Benson, a Detroit resident, to investigate "the training and processes used by the City of Detroit" in the primary election. The board also requested that the first-term Democrat appoint a state monitor to oversee the counting of absentee ballots in the general election.

The Board of State Canvassers is set to meet at 2 p.m. Friday to certify election results from around Michigan. November will bring Michigan's first statewide general election with no-reason absentee voting after voter approval of a 2018 constitutional amendment.

On Thursday, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said he was reaching out to Benson and Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey, who administers elections in the city, "to make sure this gets fixed immediately."

"We cannot have a recurrence of these problems in November," Duggan said.

Detroit had problems with precinct count mismatches in the November 2016 election. Election officials couldn’t reconcile vote totals for 59% of precincts in the city during a countywide canvass of vote results with most of the issues involving too many votes.

Those votes couldn't be recounted when Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein demanded a statewide recount following Donald Trump's initial 13,000-vote victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton. A recount was started but stopped and nullified by the courts when Stein was ruled ineligible for a recount request because she had no chance at victory.

The results eventually were certified as a 10,704-vote victory for Trump, the first Republican presidential nominee to win Michigan in 28 years. It was the Republican businessman's smallest margin of victory in the nation.

This information on ballot tracking in Detroit's precincts was presented at the Wayne County Board of Canvassers meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020.

The problems with the Detroit's numbers in the Aug. 4 primary included ballots being put in the wrong tracking containers, said Monica Palmer, one of the Republican members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers.

"It was so inaccurate that we can't even attempt to make it right," said Palmer, chairwoman of the board.

Winfrey said the vast majority of the absentee voting precincts in the city were less than three ballots off, plus or minus. Being off by three or fewer is allowed, Winfrey said — but it's unclear what policy she was referring to.

Similar things happen in every election, she added, and they're the result of a labor-intensive process and people making mistakes after working 20 hours in a day.

Detroit's voting problems in 2016 led to a Michigan Bureau of Elections audit of 136 of the city's most irregular precincts, which found an "an abundance of human errors" but no evidence of "pervasive voter fraud." There were 216 questionable votes that resulted in a net overvote of 40 ballots — or 40 more ballots cast than voters.

Winfrey said four years ago the audit would vindicate the clerk's office of wrongdoing. But at the time, Duggan slammed the ballot mismatches. "Everybody in the city knows it was terrible," the mayor said then, "and the good news was Michigan didn’t decide the national election because it would have shown a real spotlight."

The audit findings prompted Republican then-Secretary of State Ruth Johnson to have state election officials assist Winfrey's office in changing poll worker training and recruitment efforts.

On Thursday, Winfrey continued to call on the Legislature to allow local clerks to begin processing absentee ballots before Election Day to help deal with a surge of absentee voting. In 2018, Michigan approved a constitutional amendment to allow for no-reason absentee voting, and state officials are encouraging absentee voting this year during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Winfrey also said Thursday that people shouldn't "expect perfection or anything close" to it after elections staffers have worked more than 20 hours.

Michigan's new no-reason absentee voting option is expected to increase the use of absentee voting.

The Wayne County Board of Canvassers, which includes two Democrats and two Republicans, voted unanimously Tuesday to certify the county's election results after hearing about problems that election officials had with checking the vote totals in specific precincts.

The totals for about 46% of Detroit's precincts — the combined Election Day and absentee voting precincts — were out of balance by at least one ballot, according to information presented at the meeting.

In a resolution, the Wayne County board voted unanimously to request that Benson "appoint a monitor to supervise the training and administration" of Detroit's absentee voter count boards in the general election.

Of 503 absentee voting precincts in the city, there were 131 that were off by plus or minus one ballot without an explanation, according to information presented at the meeting. There were 85 off by two ballots without an explanation, 48 that were off by three, 26 off by four and 73 off by five ballots.

When it came to 503 Election Day voting precincts, 104 tallies were out of balance by at least one ballot, with the majority of them, 74, being off by plus or minus one, according to information presented at the Tuesday meeting.

The Secretary of State's Office is aware of the county board's request, said Tracy Wimmer, Benson's spokeswoman.

"The Bureau of Elections will work with the City of Detroit to identify any errors that may have occurred in the processing of absent voter ballots and to implement any needed improvements to training procedures in advance of November," Wimmer added.

The Michigan Republican Party blasted the apparent problems with tracking vote totals in Wayne County.

"The people of Michigan deserve to know that their elections are being conducted fairly and competently, but today's news shows that Wayne County and the City of Detroit can't conduct an election to even the most basic of standards," said Laura Cox, the party's chairwoman.

Kinloch and Palmer said the situation showed the need for more elections workers to help process absentee ballots this fall.

A record 1.6 million people in Michigan voted by mail for the Aug. 4 primary. That number is expected to be even higher in the Nov. 3 general election.

cmauger@detroitnews.com

[watcher1]

I am sure Trump will be mentioning that and the violence in the cities run by Democratic mayors when the GOP convention starts tonight. I think he will be in attack mode.

[joan1984]

Violence is every City is an issue worth attention, and Looting/Rioting as a expected, tolerated reaction by residents, for any reason, must be stopped, despised as criminal activity, subject to arrest and serious incarceration of ALL those who participate, as well as any who advocate, help, organize, abet and/or conspire to such anarchy.

I am sure Trump will be mentioning that and the violence in the cities run by Democratic mayors when the GOP convention starts tonight. I think he will be in attack mode.

[_priapism]

Violence is every City is an issue worth attention, and Looting/Rioting as a expected, tolerated reaction by residents, for any reason, must be stopped, despised as criminal activity, subject to arrest and serious incarceration of ALL those who participate, as well as any who advocate, help, organize, abet and/or conspire to such anarchy.

I am sure Trump will be mentioning that and the violence in the cities run by Democratic mayors when the GOP convention starts tonight. I think he will be in attack mode.

Speaking of looting...

[Lois]

LOL!  Not to mention Trump is trying to convince everyone that if Biden wins we'll have crime and violent protests.  We've got that now.  In fact, I suspect the violent protests will stop as soon a Biden is elected.

[Sweetums]

Election workers said she couldn’t vote with an anti-Trump t-shirt, so she took it off on the spot:

https://boingboing.net/2020/09/16/election-workers-said-she-coul.html

Would’ve liked to have seen those brave and patriotic ta-tas.

[msslave]

https://www.startribune.com/us-judge-blocks-postal-service-changes-that-slowed-mail/572444092/
A federal judge has issued a nationwide injunction against changes made by Trump stooge, Louis DeJoy, now Postmaster General.

In his ruling, the judge said evidence showed the changes were political and designed to disrupt mail service. Trump has been warning of voter fraud by mail in ballots even though not one ballot has been counted.

I hope this will get the post office back on track, but I fear it's too late. Plus Trump will find his own judge to reverse this decision

[joan1984]

  The legislature in Pennsylvania is who gets to set Pennsylvania Voting Law, and they must reconvene, now, and undo what the PA Supremes, in their collective 5-2 wisdom, have done today.

  No Judge gets to change election law. Only the State Legislature may make Election Law, or change Election Law, and the Pennsylvania State Legislators will, hopefully, meet in "special" or whatever they must call it "session" and determine when their State Election begins, and ENDS.

  The PA Supreme Court decisions may not ALL be Unconstitutional, and that body does not have authority whatsoever when it comes to when a ballot may be counted, outside of EXISTING Pennsylvania Election Law.

  Current Pennsylvania Election Law says ballots must be received no later than Election Day, which in this case will be Tuesday, November 3, 2020, and will be counted that day... ballots which may not arrive ON Tuesday, November 3, 2020, are deemed not eligible, not valid, and are not to be counted... Arrival, versus Postmarked, is the question and only the Legislators get to set, or change State Election Law.

  Life gets more interesting by the day...

[joan1984]

‘Unlock Michigan’ Nears Signature Goal
to Repeal Gov. Whitmer’s Emergency
Powers, End Ongoing Lockdown

Unlock Michigan has nearly reached its goal of 500,000 signatures in an attempt to repeal the governor’s powers that are maintaining the ongoing coronavirus lockdown.

The group has to submit 340,000 valid signatures to trigger a legislative vote on repealing the 1945 law. The group set a goal significantly above that mark and is poised to achieve it.

“We’re ready to wrap up after this coming weekend,” Unlock Michigan spokesman Fred Wszolek told Breitbart News.

“We’re over 450,000 signatures, and it’s time to go all out to wrap it up this week,” he said.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) has been using the 1945 law to repeatedly extend a “state of emergency,” which gives her virtually unilateral decision-making power on everything from masks to schools to which businesses can be open.

Wszolek recently told The Kyle Olson Show that 60,000 activists are collecting signatures to repeal the law and thus, effectively require the governor to work with the legislature to determine the way forward.

“They don’t wait for instructions from headquarters; they’re out there just doing this on their own,” he said.

“It’s fantastic. It’s the most exciting grassroots thing I’ve seen in a while,” Wszolek said.

He said the activists are “really frustrated” because Whitmer “just seems to be calling audibles.”

Wszolek said a 1976 law, which allows a governor to act in an event of a natural disaster, would remain. An emergency could last, at most, 28 days.
 
Once the signatures are validated by the state Board of Elections, the legislature has 40 session days to pass it. If it does not, it will go on the 2022 ballot, and likely appear alongside Whitmer, who would be running for reelection at that time.

More information can be found at UnlockMichigan.com.