Where I voted in Arizona - in liberal Pima County - I filled out a paper ballot. I voted early this year - in person. My photo ID was checked. I got a ballot. Filled it out. It went into an envelope with my signature and phone number in case of any issues, then went into a container.
I went online, submitted my name and birth date. It shows my signature has been verified and my ballot will be counted in batch T5.
When I voted in 2020 on Election day, I filled out my ballot and it was then put into a container with all the other ballots.
When you check in with ID, you are marked off as having voted. If you were mailed a ballot and vote on Election Day in person, you must turn it in. Or vote provisionally to make sure you haven’t voted twice.
NOTE: What is a duplicate ballot?
“Election officials know that every ballot cast is not perfect: Corners get folded, ink gets smudged or people don’t use either a blue or black pen to fill out their ballots. The elections procedures manual prescribes how those ballots, or any ballot that cannot be read by a tabulation machine, are dealt with.
The ballots in question are sent to the Ballot Duplication Board. Each county has its own board, which must consist of equal numbers of registered voters from different political parties. The members of the board review the ballot to determine voter intention. The ballot is then copied so it can be read by a ballot tabulation machine.
If the members of the board cannot agree on voter intention the ballot is sent to what is known as the Snag Board. That board also must be made up of at least two political parties. The members of those boards must also have experience with elections.”
Please notice that in Arizona, examination of ballots with issues must be reviewed by a board with equal representation from BOTH parties.
Pima County is controlled by Democrats but I’ve never had any issue with voting. We have ID, we have voters marked off, someone getting a mailed ballot can’t vote live on Election Day without someone checking to see if they also mailed a ballot in. My neighborhood is very conservative so I suspect most of our poll workers are too.
So, like my area in Florida, we have the illusion that our votes were counted PROPERLY. Meaning, I vote R and it gets registered and recorded as R. We have no idea what happens when our ballots go into that machine. Sadly it is all an illusion.