FTR, there is not any voter "supression" in PA

[DeminPennswoods]

Last edited Fri Oct 30, 2020, 07:06 PM - Edit history (1)

The past few days, I've listened to Deadline:WH and been appalled at the misinformation put out by Wallace and her guests about voting in Pennsylvania.

The fact is, voting is easier than ever in the state thanks to legislation passed by the R-controlled state legislature last year and signed by Gov Wolf.

We now have no excuse absentee ballot voting, meaning anyone can request and vote by absentee ballot. Prior to this year, a voter had to prove he/she was either physically disabled and unable to vote in person or would be out of town on election day.

While there is no early voting at a polling place, we can now go to an election office or satellite office, apply for, receive, fill out and return an absentee ballot in one trip. (That is what caused the long line in Phila that Wallace freaked out about.)

Some places have drop boxes where voters can drop off their absentee ballots. IIRC, you can even take your completed ballot to your poll and drop it off there on election day.

Registering to vote has been part of driver's license renewal and photo ID process for those who don't drive since the "Motor Voter" law was enacted, but now we can register as well as check registration and polling place on line.

We have a paper trail for every vote.

There are not, afaik, fewer polling places anywhere.

To get all this, all Gov Wolf had to give up was "straight party voting". While more convenient, a small price to pay for these great reforms.

[enough]

1. Thanks. This has been our experience voting in PA this year. Everything has happened

quickly, efficiently and without a glitch. Our daughter, moving to PA from another state, was able to register and vote on the same day at our County Voter Services. We’ve been able to track the progress of our ballots, before receiving them and after returning them, very easily.

[DeminPennswoods]

3. MSNBC is heavily invested in

promoting our fair commonwealth as the be-all/end-all of the election. They are blowing everything way out of proportion. They showed a long line of people waiting outside Phila City Hall to either drop off ballots (you have to do it in person and only your own ballot) or to apply/get/fill/return an absentee ballot. Wallace made it out to be "voter suppression" when it was just a crush of people trying to return ballots. Jason Johnson said the same nonsense about PA again today. Enough already!

[Hoyt]

2. Exactly. Like PA, my rube states make it surprisingly easy to vote. On-line registration, no-excuse

absentee voting, on-line verification of acceptance of mail in ballots, 4 weeks of early voting, drop boxes, etc.

People yell about "purging" the voter rolls, but every election no more than a handful of voters show up and get turned down because they weren't registered. And, those few get to file a provisional ballot. In 2018, a few voters said they were were improperly purged, only to find out they had moved and were supposed to vote in another district.

Now, I do believe there is jerrymandering, POC being treated rudely in some areas, etc. That needs to be addressed.

[DeminPennswoods]

4. You have to "purge" voter rolls using some criteria

or they would be unwieldy, thousands and thousands of names.

When I worked the polls, we sometimes had voters show up who weren't on our roll. As you say, they were usually at the wrong poll or they got married/divorced had a different last name. We found them their correct polling location and sent them on their way. If for some reason, they came back to us, we let them vote via provisional ballot.

[Hoyt]

5. In my rube state, you have to go over 8 years without voting and fail to respond to a

written request, in some areas they send two requests. You can check your registration on-line. I just don't think that is unreasonable. In fact, I've been purged several times when I moved from one county to another and reregistered there.

[CozyMystery]

6. There is a problem in Butler County!

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/30/politics/pennsylvania-butler-county-ballots/index.html

Thousands call Pennsylvania county about requested ballots that never arrived

Postal officials say they are unaware of any issues, but the director, Aaron Sheasley, said the county has received in excess of 10,000 phone calls seeking information about ballots that were requested but not received, and that some callers have called multiple times.

"Somewhere between the post office and the Pittsburgh sorting facility something happened," Sheasley told CNN. "We don't know what."

And American Postal Workers Union Pittsburgh chapter president Chuck Bugar said there's "no record or indication" that the missing ballots in Butler County ever made it to the Postal Service.

"There's no pile of ballots that have been taken from the Butler County election committee that are sitting around," Bugar told CNN. "There's no record or indication that they entered the mail stream. There's paperwork that goes along with it."

[DeminPennswoods]

7. I doubt the GOP is trying to supress its own votes

Butler county is heavily R and conservative. Look up Darryl Metcalfe if you want an example of how they think and what they believe.

Anyway, the problem was an error in the state computer system (SURE) that caused anyone checking status online to see the ballot had been mailed when it had not been. Link: https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/10/14/butler-county-mail-in-ballot-delays-computer-glitch/

[CozyMystery]

8. In 2016, 2/3 voted for tRump

I have hopes that this year the Democrats do a whole lot better. So where did the missing in the mail ballots go? I didn't get mine.

[DeminPennswoods]

9. They just went out this week

according to the Butler elections board.

[CozyMystery]

10. Mine was mailed 9/9/20 and never received. nt