In Florida 2000 and 2018, tens of thousands of votes were simply trashed because arbitrary counting and recounting deadlines weren't met. Upheld by the Supreme and other courts, such deadlines have had decisive impacts on races for the presidency, governorships, US Senate seats, and more.
EP activists embedded at the precincts must work to make sure all deadlines are appropriate, reasonable, and completely public.
14. The Ballot Acceptance Choke Point
2020's most critical and least discussed pressure point may be the moment of decision on whether to accept or reject mailed-in ballots.
Procedures will vary widely between states, counties, and precincts. In all or nearly all cases, a poll worker will examine the incoming ballots one-by-one.
They will accept or reject based on a wide range of inconsistent criteria, ranging from signature verification to the tiniest omission of the least significant details. Such would include the omission of middle names or initials, a misstated address, the lack of a date, putting information above or below an arbitrary line, missing a box, etc.
In many precincts "independent observers" are allowed to sit next to poll workers and lobby (or strong-arm) for the acceptance or rejection of individual ballots. In 2016, many of these critical decisions were turned by right-wing enforcers seated at the sorting table.
In 2020, grassroots election protectionists must be embedded at the critical juncture of this decision-making process. In a massive VBM deployment, literally millions of ballots will arrive with small glitches, errors, inconsistencies that are entirely irrelevant to the validity of the voter's intent. Here EP activists must be personally present to make sure nonpartisan balance is at the core of the acceptance/rejection process.
In many places, the law allows election boards to telephone voters and let them return to correct obvious inadvertent errors. EP activists everywhere must guarantee that this happens as often as appropriate.
They must also work to avoid unnecessary, contrived delays that could clog the system and push vote-counting beyond critical deadlines.
15. Voter ID, signature verification, witness & notarization requirements
In reality, decisions made on who can and can't vote turn in many states on details meant to eliminate voters by race, class, age, likely party leanings, etc. These include arbitrary photo ID requirements that in some states are being imposed even on mail-in ballots.
Texas accepts a gun or hunting license, but not a student ID. Some states require that a mailed-in ballot include a document signed by one or two witnesses, plus notarization. The COVID and other restrictions can make it impossible for elders and others to do that. Some nursing home employees are banned from serving as witnesses.
Registering the homeless, and thousands of the Indigenous who have only post office boxes, represents a huge challenge with no easy answer beyond hard EP work at the real grassroots.
Ultimately, there's no easy or consistent way around these often arbitrary and always confusing barriers to voting except at the nitty-gritty precinct level, with on-the-spot activists standing their ground.
16. Internet Registration & Voting, Vote by Phone, the Digital Divide
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