Mail-in voting delays the count, opens up elections to suspicion and conspiracies, and undermines those elected to serve. But it’s become another government entitlement.
by Ken Reid
FALLS CHURCH – I’m sitting in a conference room in Falls Church City Hall, joined by another election officer (she the Democrat; me the Republican), opening up hundreds of envelopes containing mail-in ballots.
Our job is to look at the declaration form on the inner envelope containing the ballot, and if the voter required assistance to fill out the ballot or to show identification, we have to make sure the form is in there. If not, the city elections board will call the voter to get the ballot “cured” – a process the city was doing all along before state law required it.
About half the ballots were mailed, the other half dropped in drop boxes at City Hall. The one in the parking lot seems secure, locked down; the one in the lobby, well, it can be easily opened in the back, but I am assured security cameras are rolling—as they are on us handling these ballots.
Once we confirm the declaration, and at times having to check the voter rolls, we open the ballot and drop it in one of those big US Mail bins. We then count the ballots to be sure they equal the envelopes, and this is recorded in ink on a paper sheet. Each outer envelope and declaration gets numbered, too – but not the ballot itself.
While there is a political party observer watching, the key thing is what happens AFTER we leave.
