A recurring issue with absentee ballots is the possibility that they might not get counted. While the party of voter suppression hates to admit it, the reality is that there are more ballots rejected for technical reasons than fraudulent ballots. However, despite all of the news stories, the rate of rejection is actually low. It is safe to vote by absentee ballot as long as you are aware of the things that could cause your local election authority to reject your ballot and take appropriate steps to avoid those mistakes.
The leading cause for absentee ballots being rejected is that they arrive after the deadline. If you do not know the deadlines in your state, that was covered in yesterday’s post on when votes might be counted. With current concerns about the post office, you need to mail in your absentee ballot now. If you have not already mailed it in, check with your local election authority about hand delivery. (Most states allow it, but some have restrictions).
The second major cause is noncompliance with the rules for completing an absentee ballot. And here is where the technical reasons for rejection play a major role.
Many, but not every state sends you two envelopes with the absentee ballot. The exterior or mailing envelope is typically the one that you need to fill out. The interior envelope (typically called a secrecy envelope) has nothing to fill out. It is simply a means of keeping the election judges from knowing how you voted when they determine whether to accept your ballot. After your ballot has been accepted, your secrecy envelope is placed with other secrecy envelopes so that no ballot can be associated with a particular voter keeping your vote secret. In some states, the failure to place your ballot in a secrecy envelope is grounds for disqualifying your ballot. So if you receive a secrecy envelope, please use it.
One thing that almost every state requires is that you sign your exterior envelope in the proper location. This signature is one of the mechanisms for validating your absentee ballot. So make sure that you sign in the right location.
Next, some states require a reason to vote absentee. If your state is one of those, the exterior envelope will have a list of valid reasons to vote absentee. If you want your vote to count, you must mark one of these boxes.
Some states require either a notary or a witness on your signature. Before signing your envelope, you should double check if a witness or notary is required and take appropriate steps to comply with that requirement.
Finally, some states require you to complete other information on the exterior envelope. At the very lest, this will include your name. It is important to use the same name as appears on your voter registration card. If your name has changed, please check with your local election authority. Depending on your state, you may also need to list your address and/or your voter ID number. (If you are in one of those states, your voter ID number should appear on your voter registration card.)
Simply put, all of these requirements are ultimately a dumb reason for your vote being tossed. So examine that exterior envelope carefully to make sure that you have filled out everything that is required.
Finally, the last major reason for rejecting ballots is a signature mismatch. Unfortunately, there is little that you can do about this. Signatures change over time, and most election judges are not trained handwriting experts who can distinguish routine changes in a signature from a forged signature.
If you are fortunate, your state allows you to track your absentee ballot to determine if it has been received and accepted and further allows you to come in to the election authority to cure your ballot if it is rejected. Others, however, do not.
If you are in a state that does not give you the opportunity to track your ballot and cure any defects, you may want to consider an alternative method of voting. Furthermore, if you have not voted yet, you are at risk of your mail-in ballot arriving late. That risk is greatest if you in one of the states that do not allow ballots to arrive after November 3.
So if you are planning to vote by mail, please vote now and double-check to make sure that you are doing it correctly. Otherwise, please find a time to vote early if you are in a state that has early voting. If not, please make a plan to vote safely on November 3. As we will be discussing over the next week, there is a lot at stake in this election and Democrats need every seat that we can get if we want to fix the problems created over the past four years.
