Posted on 07/31/2020 1:49:36 PM PDT by lightman
The Pennsylvania Department of State announced today that it will provide postage-paid envelopes for mail-in and absentee ballots for the general election in November.
“Our goal is to make voting as accessible, safe, and easy for eligible voters as possible,” said Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar in a news release. “Mail-in or absentee voting with prepaid postage means Pennsylvanians can vote from the comfort of their own home, without having to make a trip to the post office to buy a stamp, during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Eligible voters can apply for mail-in or absentee ballots online or in person at county election offices and by paper forms.
According to the Department of State, “Once the county determines the voter is eligible, the Department’s funding will allow the counties to send a postage-paid ballot-return envelope with the ballot to the voter for their easy return.”
The state is working with counties to determine the easiest way to implement the pre-paid postage.
The general election will be on Nov. 3, 2020. For people who want to vote in person, polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Last fall, Gov. Wolf signed a law that makes it possible to vote by mail without having to provide an excuse. According to the Department of State, almost 1.5 million Pa. residents voted by mail-in or absentee ballot in the primary.
For more information, go to http://www.votespa.com.
According to the article:
(1) Eligible voters can apply for mail-in or absentee ballots online or in person at county election offices and by paper forms.
(2) According to the PA Department of State, “Once the county determines the voter is eligible, the Department’s funding will allow the counties to send a postage-paid ballot-return envelope with the ballot to the voter for their easy return.”
If PA counties verify eligibility as they do today with absentee ballots, "mail-in" voting will require the same oversight and eligibility confirmation as "absentee-ballots", which have been used for many years.
The big question is whether the PA counties will be able to handle/process "mail-in" VOLUME and will they have adequate oversight (anti-fraud) measures in place for that volume.
My township commisioner (the last elected Republican left) lost by 2 votes. They wouldn’t count the dozens of absentee votes that magically came in too late and were mostly for him.
anyone know if Trump/GOP can challenge this in court?
In 2016 only “traditional” absentee ballots were permitted for voters who had medical issues or whose work schedules took them out of the polling district during voting hours.
In 2019 “no excuse” vote by mail was enacted and was used for the first time during this year’s Primary which was moved to June 2.
Personally I’m not worried about being around other people in order to vote in person.
However, last November’s election had absolutely NO voter privacy and anyone and everyone could watch you marking your ballot:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3791865/posts
I’d much rather mark my ballot in the absolute privacy of my home...with Trump signs all along my road frontage.
In other words, I am NOT a closet Trump supporter. But there are many timid ones out there who might fear to darken the circle by his name in an atmosphere like that described in my November post!
This means illegal aliens and H1B holders will be mailing in their votes.
Pennsylvania has an honor system for registering to vote. All you have to do is check the box on the form that says you are eligible. No one checks to see if you are indeed a citizen. It is left up to the individuals conscience.
We know what this means. PA is lost forever. It will NEVER again vote for a Republican President or Senator.
By having ballots with prepaid postage, the return mail will not have a postmark that displays the date.
That will permit votes received AFTER the deadline to be counted. If vote results are very close when the polls close on 11/3, boxes of mail-in votes will show up.
3 voters in my household.
We could mail in all of the applications for absentee in a single envelope (one stamp).
Each ballot required a separate envelope and stamp (three stamps).
At $0.55/stamp that’s $2.20 per election; primary & general $4.40/year.
Yeah, less than two gallons of gas but its the principle.
Racist! Xenophobe!
And when your local post office worker who knows you are a Trump supporter simply “loses” your votes, well, that’s just too bad now, isn’t it?
“Our goal is to make voting as accessible, safe, and easy for eligible voters as possible,” said Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar in a news release. “Mail-in or absentee voting with prepaid postage means Pennsylvanians can vote from the comfort of their own home, without having to make a trip to the post office to buy a stamp, during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Ridiculous. Why should you have to take the 4 seconds out of your life to cast your own vote??
The communist Dems that control Delaware (where I live) put the option on your mail-in ballot to appoint someone indefinitely to receive AND cast your mail-in ballot.
That way you can just appoint your local DNC chapter to receive your ballot and vote for you until the end of time. And since the DNC is an organization, and not a person, it will never die, so you can have your vote cast for you years after your death!!
Of course, makes no difference in DE because the sheep vote Dem every time.
LOL!!
I guess if this is the GAME they will play, it’s a good thing I am registered already to vote in 6 States, and Mexico...and in the Mexican election. We all need to vote as many times as we can, and bribe the postal workers, to the highest bidder, to drop off the ballots at the local pub.
I’m voting in person - but I guess it wouldn’t hurt to mail in a ballot or two as well, just to make sure.
The state providing a pre-paid envelope is fine.
But calling it a poll tax, is a stretch.
Now you pay for everybody’s postage
1) Voter is registered in the precinct where he is voting and has proven eligibility to vote in that precinct.
2) Signs his ballot with signature on record in that voting district.
3) Voter votes only once.
4) Ballot is received by election day at the precinct that voter is registered in.
5) Voter can verify that his ballot was counted.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.