early voting – R&R – Reachout and Rebuild

Rigged Elections?

David Posnett — Tue, 22 Sep 2020 14:17:35 +0000

Submitted by John Tepper Marlin, originally from

Heidi Fiske: heidifiske@hfiske.com, 212-721-0140

Trump and his enablers complain about “rigged elections.”They should know. They’re doing their best to rig them.
Since it looks as if we have the votes to keep the House and elect Biden, and may well regain control of the Senate, to make sure those votes count our most urgent job now is to counter these R shenanigans.
How do we do that? Overview

Above all, vote! early! in person, where available. Everything you need to know about deadlines and how to vote can be found on this superb site from NBC News, which is updated daily for all 50 states: Best site for PLAN YOUR VOTE

Urge every young person you know to be a poll worker to replace the now COVID-cautious seniors who traditionallyly have served. The more polls are open, the easier it is to vote. And where R Secretaries of State are in control, if they have to close polls because there aren’t enough workers, they will close the ones in D-leaning districts. Everything you need to know about poll-working can be found on this other superb site from Power the Polls, by zip code — which is important, because qualifications are extremely local, sometimes down to the precinct level: Best site for WORK THE POLLS

work in, find workers for, or contact voters in these states in particular, which are swing states and/or have endangered incumbent R senators. ( **= state with a particularly vulnerable incumbent R senator): AZ (**), CO (**), FL, GA (**), IA (**), ID, KS, KY, ME (**), MI, MT (**), NC (**), PA , SC, TX, WI

sign this moveon petition to put pressure on those vulnerable R senators not to confirm a Supreme Court nominee now: https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/do-not-fill-ruth-bader-ginsburg-s-supreme-court-seat-until-after-the-2021-inauguration
DetailPlan your vote. Vote early, ideally in personHere’s the site again: Best site for PLAN YOUR VOTE
Early voting is essential this year. Post office delivery is being purposely slowed by such things as removing 600 mail sorting machines, just as more people than ever will be voting by mail to avoid COVID. Rs will try to stop the count early after November 3rd, because they know that historically more late absentee ballots come from Ds, so the earlier a vote can be counted, the better. And the more D votes are counted on or by Election Day, the harder it is for Rs to challenge our victories.
Thus, here are the best ways to vote, in order, the best first:

Early in-person, where available: Many states allow you to vote in person before Election Day. This means putting your ballot through a voting machine, exactly as you would on November 3rd. Early in-person voting has started in Virginia and will start in Illinois this week. Do this if you possibly can because it:
1. reduces lines on Election Day, allowing more people to vote
2. doesn’t use the kneecapped and in some places possibly corrupted USPS
3. allows you to vote among relatively few people, avoiding COVID
4. means your ballot definitely will be counted on or by Election Day and thus
5. will reduce R challenges of the totals.
in-person, on Election Day: As you may face daunting lines, here are three other options — but please, do any of them early so your vote will be counted early.
Early, absentee, dropped off at a designated B of E site, where available: The otherwise excellent NBC website calls this, confusingly, “early in-person absentee.” This is an oxymoron. It is an “absentee” vote full stop, no matter how early or where it is delivered, if the voter doesn’t put it through a voting machine. But dropping it at a designated B of E site is as good as it gets, absentee-wise. Goes to the endpoint. No shenanigans will stop it. Allows you to check that you’ve done everything your state requires to make it valid.
Early, absentee, in a drop box, where available: Better than mailing. because the ballot goes through fewer hands, speeding its delivery, and it avoids the USPS
Early, absentee, by mail: In states that count ballots before Election Day, voting early ups the chances that you’ll be part of the November 3rd tally. And doing this early reduces the chance that a slowed USPS fails to get it there by your state’s deadlne.

If you can’t do any of this, be sure to vote anyway!
Become a poll worker and recruit poll workersHere’s the site again: Best site for WORK THE POLLS

rules about who can work at polls can be specific to units as small as a precinct. Sometimes the localness restrictions will be eased if they can’t find enough workers, expanding from precinct to county or even to state.
SO: apply even if you aren’t sure you qualify
states may require poll workers in certain functions to be matched by one of another party,
SO: recruit your R, Libertarian or Green Party friends too
Most encouarge students or other young people to work, sometimes as young as 16
SO: urge every student you know to apply, especially in those 16 states. Young people are particularly valuable because
- they have less to fear from COVID
- they bring new eyes, energy and ideas to our antiquated election systems
most states badly need workers.
SO: if you know a retiring poll worker urge them to find their replacement.

If you have questions, please feel free to contact me. If this was forwarded to you, please send your email if you’d like to get them in the future. And if you want to be taken off this list, say so and you will be. Thank you.
My great thanks to Craig K, Evan K, Deb S, Chris B and my sister Susan M for their insights and help with this.

Early Voting

David Posnett — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 15:22:36 +0000

I can’t wait. Voting in NY State and Suffolk county starts on October 24th, a little over 1 month from now!

In contrast to absentee ballots and voting by mail, there seems less risk of your vote not being counted if you choose Early Voting. Your vote is counted when the vote is cast, not weeks later when the mail-in ballots are finally opened, well after Nov. 3rd. You can avoid potential problems. For instance a mail-in ballot could be flagged and not counted because of a technicality, like a signature deemed invalid.

One month or more, between now and October 24th, is an eternity in terms of predicting the Covid-19 situation. Could there be a mini-outbreak? Perhaps even an outbreak related to a polling station? Just in case, you might want to request an absentee ballot. You don’t have to use it if you decide to vote in person by Early Voting.

Note: I am not suggesting that you vote twice!

In June when 6 of us voted early for the primary election in East Hampton, the experience was seamless. There were no lines. We were all done in less than 5 minutes. The poll workers were friendly and helpful, and everyone was masked and mostly 6 feet distanced. All windows and doors to the polling station were open to allow a breeze to circulate. It felt like outdoors. In June there were few voters who chose to vote early. Perhaps this method of casting your vote is still new and unfamiliar to voters. This really needs to change.

Pick your date and time now (!) and make sure you know where the polling station is. It may not be your familiar polling station if you are voting early.

Here is some relevant information from the Suffolk County Board of Elections:

Early Voting – Take Advantage!

David Posnett — Sat, 19 Oct 2019 17:24:56 +0000

From the East Hampton Star

October 13, 2019

Dear David:

For the first time in history, New Yorkers have a choice on when to vote. There are now nine days of early voting, from Oct. 26 through Nov. 3. They can also vote on Election Day, Nov. 5.

Early voting for East Hampton Town is in only one place:

Windmill Village at 219 Accabonac Road, community room 2.

It is handicapped accessible and parking is available. The voting hours vary so please check the times for the day on which you vote:

Oct. 26, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Oct. 27, 10 to 3 p.m.

Oct. 28, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Oct. 29, noon to 8 p.m.

Oct. 30, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Oct. 31, 8 to 4 p.m.

Nov. 1, 2 to 8 p.m.

Nov. 2, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Nov. 3, 10 to 3 p.m.

Now, East Hampton voters have 10 days to choose from to exercise their constitutional right to vote.All of this information is available online at suffolkcountyny.gov.

JERRY MULLIGAN

I should add the following excellent editorial also from the Star, in regard to the significance of early voting in East Hampton:

Early Voting A Good Step Ahead

By Star Staff

October 17, 2019

New York likes to think it is first in almost everything, but in adopting an early voting procedure, it ranks 38th among the states. Better late than never, as the cliché goes; however, early voting will be allowed this year for the first time.

This is an important step in improving the voter experience, but unfortunately it is not likely to boost the state’s dismal turnout. In Suffolk County, early voting will be held in a single location in each of the 10 towns for a week beginning on Oct. 26, with the polls open until 8 p.m. on Oct. 29 and Nov. 1. In East Hampton, the sole voting site is the Windmill Village Apartments on Accabonac Road. Southampton early vote polling will be in the gym at Stony Brook Southampton University.

A single place over seven days for all the town’s voters might seem stingy, but it is a start. Consider as well that staffing each polling place presents a challenge for the Suffolk County Board of Elections, which traditionally has focused on a massive, single-day mobilization and absentee ballot processing.

Logistical challenges aside, early voting is not expected to boost turnout nor shift expected election outcomes. Organizations that have looked into the relationship between so-called convenience voting and voters’ behavior have for the most part found that the option changed where and when people cast their ballots but had little effect on whether they vote or not. One clear benefit is shortening lines on Election Day, though that has never been much of an issue in most East End districts, given the generally paltry turnout.

What early voting can do is give local political parties more time to get their committed voters to the polls, rewarding candidates and committees with strong ground games. For a town with many seasonal and second-home owners like East Hampton, early voting will give weekenders a new way to be counted. Absentee ballots, until now the only option besides showing up on Election Day, can sometimes be problematic if there are even subtle discrepancies in the way signatures and addresses appear or if the ballots arrive too late to be counted. Early voting is a good way to make sure each voter matters.

But there is more to be done. New York ranks an embarrassing eighth from the bottom in voter turnout, even in presidential years. The next step in improving public participation in elections is same-day registration, that is, allowing people to vote the day they become eligible. Already, 21 states plus the District of Columbia allow this in some form or another, and in many places it has boosted turnout significantly.

In New York State, registration for the Nov. 5 election closed yesterday, about the time most people even begin thinking about politics. What is interesting is that same-day registration does not generally benefit any particular political party over another, but turnout can rise by 3 to 7 percent.

Thank you, New York, for early voting. Now, how about same-day registration?