89 Articles About Why Voting By Mail is a Very Bad Idea

Are you wondering why voting by mail or absentee is a bad idea? Are you looking for information about the problems encountered by all absentee voting systems? Well then, welcome to The No Vote By Mail Project’s Website. There’s hundreds of articles now in the archives, so I thought I’d put together a giant list of the best articles I’ve written so far about voting by mail and the problems I’ve found. It might take a few days to put together, but here’s what I have so far:

1.  What’s Wrong With Voting by Mail or Absentee Ballot
2. The Death of the Polling Place
3. Absentee Ballot Fraud Hits Texas, Grannyfarming a longterm problem
4. Milwaukee Police Find Numerous Cases of Absentee Vote Fraud
5. Vladimir Putin Prefers Voting By Mail
6. Don’t Forget to Sign Your Ballot
7. Absentee voting on the rise, who’s pushing this agenda?
8. Vote-By Mail disenfranchises 1/3rd of Kitsap County Primary Voters
9. New Jersey Voters Vote Again?
10. MIT Study says “Abolish on-demand absentee voting”
11. Vote-By Mail and Electronic Poll Books
12. More Vote By Mail Problems in California
13. Oklahoma State Auditor and wife charged with Mail Fraud
14. California’s televised primary debates miss many voters
15. California Primary Slowed By Vote-By Mail, Absentee Ballot Count
16. Another Case of Vote-By Mail Fraud
17. Democrats say,”An easier way to vote fraudulently is by mail”
18. How VBM is Screwing Up California’s Primary
19. Postmasters Lobby for Vote-By Mail
20. Absentee Ballot Fraud Alleged in Putin’s Election
21. Just where or where has my mail ballot gone?
22. Colorado Voter Group Opposes Vote-By Mail Switch
23. 4204 Passing, King County Gets the Blame
24. Absentees and Optical Scans, a Combination that Doesn’t Work
25. Day 6 of vote counting in King County
26. Poll Votes much faster to count then Absentee Ballots
27. Did you already vote by mail? Well it’s too late to change your mind now…
28. More Absentee Ballot Fraud
29. Expanding and Improving Opportunities to Commit Vote By Mail Fraud
30. Vote by Mail Fraud, You Don’t Say
31. Absentee Ballot Problems in Akron, Ohio
32. More research shows vote by mail systems do NOT increase turnout
33. King County Executive, Ron Sims, Contracts to Buy Ballot Tracking Vaporware
34. Hanky Panky In Union Vote-By Mail Scheme
35. The Election is in the Mail… Day 14
36. Some Democrats Reject Forced Vote-By Mail
37. Vote by mail increases turnout?
38. My mail from June 13, 2006
39. Vote Buying (You don’t say)
40. Voter turnout – higher or lower or the same?
41. VBM turns out about 1/3rd of Washington Voter’s
42. King County Adds 27,114 Votes in 3rd Day of Counting
43. 4th Day of Vote Counting brought to you by Vote-by Mail
44. 1 Week Later… Votes still coming in to King County Elections
45. 798 More Ballots Arrive One Week After the Election…
46. US Postal Service Unions Pushing Vote-By Mail
47. King County wraps up seventh day of vote counting
48. Diebold Dazzles (King County) Democrats
49. Colorado Editorial: Ripe for Fraud
50. Montana’s Secret Ballot Increasingly Endangered Species
51. Postmaster General Adresses National Association of Secretaries of State
52. Let’s all vote by mail, just like…Texas
53. Hand Counted Paper Ballots for 2008?
54. Barack Obama Targets Vote Banking through Vote By Mail in California
55. Pierce County Sacrifices Polling Places for Forced Vote By Mail Absentee Voting
56. Granny Farming of Absentee Ballots in NJ
57. More on Kentucky Absentee Ballot Fraud
58. Take the Last Train to Clarksville, and Don’t forget to Vote
59. More Absentee Votes Might Not Count Due to County Errors
60. King County’s Wreckless Plan to Switch To Vote-By Mail
61. Harvard’s Ben Adida on Vote By Mail and the Secret Ballot
62. Saving Money At The Price Of Democracy
63. Vote-By Mail Lobbyist Targets Colorado
64. King County, WA, 13 Days of Vote Counting, Seattle Special Election, 2007
65. Why Mail Ballots Are a Bad Idea
66. New Report on Vote By Mail, VBM Does Not Really Increase Turnout
67. George Galloway Blasts UK’s Postal Voting System
68. Oregon and Other States Mail Service Outsourced?
69. Vote Buying, Bath County, KY
70. New Group to Push VBM Nationally
71. Taiwanese Mull Absentee Voting, and China’s Potential Influence On Voters
72. The “Myth” of Vote Fraud
73. The Death of the Polling Place, Island County, WA
74. “Granny Farming” Allegations in Michigan, Virginia, and California moves towards VBM
75. Vote By Mail a Growing National Attack on Democracy
76. More Postal Vote Fraud in the UK
77. Vote Buying in Kentucky
78. When a Secret Ballot Isn’t Really A Secret Ballot
79. Prosecuting Honest Voters Does Not Restore My Confidence In Forced Mail Voting
80. Vote By Mail, Not Cheaper, No Suprise
81. Absentee Ballot Fraud Allegations and other News, 1/24/2007
82. California Declares Mail Ballot Only Precincts 
83. NJ Absentee Ballot Stuffing
84. Oregon We Have a Problem
85. The Ongoing Drama of Absentee Voting Problems
86. Mayor Uses Absentee Ballots to Rig Election, Dateline Nov. 30th, 2006
87. One Month After the Election… Votes Still Being Counted
88. Vote By Mail-A Great Example of Voting Badly
89. More Electoral Fraud By Mail – Dec. 12, 2006

Advertisement

Absentee Voting News for April 4th, 2008

Party switchers getting wrong absentee ballots
Allentown Morning Call – 15 hours ago
Marilyn Larson, 65, of Newtown said she’s glad her husband checked his ballot as soon at it arrived in the mail. The couple switched to the Democratic Party last month to vote in the primary. When her husband, Jerry, 66, opened his ballot, …
Snafu sends wrong absentee ballots phillyBurbs.com
all 5 news articles »

Vote by Mail Legislation Eliminates Burdens on the Right to Vote
ACLU (press release) – Apr 2, 2008
Sponsored by Representative Susan Davis (D-CA), HR 281 would ensure that all Americans have an equal opportunity to vote by mail in federal elections for any reason. Currently, 29 states allow universal absentee voting, which permits any voter to …

 

House Panel Passes Rep. Susan Davis’s No-Excuse Absentee Ballot …
VoteTrustUSA – Apr 2, 2008
The Universal Right to Vote by Mail Act (HR 281) was reported to the full House on a voice vote. “This straightforward bill would simply give any eligible voter the option of voting by absentee ballot,” said Davis, a member of the committee.

 

No surge of new voters here
Shelbyville News – 10 hours ago
And just because someone has voted for a particular party in one election, that does not mean they have to continue to vote for that party, Williams said. Williams said he has received more absentee ballots in the mail this political season from …

Absentee Ballot Voting News for March 31st, 2008

Texas Prosecutes Little Old Ladies for Voter Fraud
AlterNet – 12 hours ago
State’s Attorney General has prosecuted Democrats who help seniors vote by mail while ignoring documented Republican ballot box stuffing.

James Bryant MacTavish: Late absentee ballot for primary inexcusable
The Capital Times – 5 hours ago
In the six days before the election, I was required to find another American to witness my vote and spend 15 percent of my salary to send my ballot express mail. I did not have 15 percent of my salary as the ballot arrived shortly before my payday.

Details about Indiana’s presidential primary
Munster Times – 14 hours ago
Absentee ballots will be mailed beginning March 27 to voters whose applications have been approved; April 28 is the deadline for applications to vote absentee by mail to be received by county election boards. A: Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York …

Vote-By Mail Not Accurate Enough to Conduct Florida Primary

Much has been said about the possible “do-over” in Florida and Michigan’s primary. And recently the idea of going to an all mail-in primary has been suggested as a way to re-do Florida.

Mail-in balloting is not accurate enough to clearly distinguish a winner when the candidates are this close.  It has problems with signature rejection, lost mail, late arriving mail, and outright vote fraud.  Between Clinton and Obama the system just is not good enough to legitamately choose a winner.  The error-rate from people just forgetting to sign their ballots is quite likely greater than the percentage difference between these two candidates.

Of course, Miami voters should clearly remember the 1997 Mayoral race as well, a race eventually thrown out because of massive amount of absentee voting fraud…

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9800E4D61E39F931A25752C1A961958260

http://www.ejfi.org/Voting/Voting-88.htm

Oh, well as long as it’s cheaper.

Absentee Ballot Fraud Hits Texas, Grannyfarming a longterm problem

Yet another case of vote-by mail fraud hits Texas. Click2Houston.com is reporting that an investigation has been opened into allegations of absentee voting fraud, and door-to-door granny farming, the practice of targeting older voters with absentee ballot fraud.

http://www.click2houston.com/news/15492166/detail.html

Precinct Judge Edna Russell told Local 2 Investigates that some senior citizen voters had to be turned away because absentee ballots had already been mailed in using their names.

“Somebody had already voted for me,” said Georgia Ireland.

She and the other victims reported that people were going door-to-door, offering help to seniors with filing voter registration forms.

Some victims signed the paperwork, while others did not, but the scammers then used the information to mail absentee ballots in their names, meaning their votes were stolen from them.

“I thought that was horrible,” Ireland said. “I really wanted to know how they could do that (because) I never signed nothing. Not a thing.”

Witnesses inside the voting location at Mount Olive Baptist Church said some of the victims cried and others yelled, “This is how they’re going to steal the election from (Presidential candidate Barrack) Obama.”

The precinct judge said some of the victims have had their votes stolen in the past, which indicates that once the scammers have someone’s personal information, they could become victims again and again in the future.

Many Vote-By Mail proponents continually say that absentee ballot fraud is an imaginary problem, made up by those of us who oppose the push towards vote-by mail. The reality is really the reverse, I oppose voting by mail because of the many problems I’ve documented since I started tracking the issue almost two years ago now.

Milwaukee Police Find Numerous Cases of Absentee Vote Fraud

The Milwaukee Police Department just issued a report on their probe into the 2004 election and found numerous cases of vote fraud. Many of these cases were a direct result of absentee voting. From campaign workers voting illegally from other states, to unopened ballot envelopes recorded as counted, and opened envelopes recorded as uncounted, the report details a  system in great disarray.

http://graphics.jsonline.com/

What is most troubling is that each ineligible ballot accepted in effect cancels a legal vote cast by a Wisconsin state resident.

Well that’s one way of saying it. The whole report is a pretty good breakdown of what’s wrong with voting in Milwaukee, but also details quite a few specifics to absentee voting, a good read, and a great report. Congrats to the Milwaukee Police department for putting this together. If only our elected officials could do this good of analysis.

While in Oklahoma early voting has started, and they have a really great way of preventing absentee voting fraud in that state…. they make you swear you won’t commit fraud, really…. I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried:

http://www.mcalesternews.com/local/local_story_059110438.html

“In-person absentee ballot voters fill out a form when they get to the office,” Thornton said. “They are required to swear that they have not voted a regular mail absentee ballot and they will not vote at their polling place on election day.”

Whew, now that’s security.

Don’t Forget to Sign Your Ballot

A new article out of Florida points out several new flaws in absentee voting, among them, not signing your ballot:

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/

Addie Reddick of West Palm Beach was one of 200 Palm Beach County voters who didn’t sign.

“I’ve been voting this way for quite some time,” said Reddick, 92. “And I thought I had everything right.”

Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Arthur Anderson said the 200 unsigned ballots were the “most unfortunate.”

He called it the “simplest thing to do.”

So in the upcoming 2008 election the errors produced by Vote-By Mail schemes could easily be greater than the margin of victory in the 2000 Florida victory for Geoerge Bush. Of course in a poll place voting system the number of people who forget to sign their envelopes is exactly, wait for it…. ZERO! Because every voter signs in before being given a ballot.

Florida voters in 2008 meet your new Butterfly Ballot debacle, Vote-By Mail! It’s even better than Ralph Nader.