More than 1,000 Virginia voters receive two absentee ballots after Democrats push to expand mail-in voting in state

Mail-in balloting

More than 1,000 Virginia voters receive two absentee ballots after Democrats push to expand mail-in voting in state

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RICHMOND, VA –  Some Virginia voters who requested absentee ballots received a little more than they asked for, finding two ballots in the mail for every one ordered. 

For months, Republicans have been warning that the Democratic Party is pushing for mail-in balloting as a way to ensure that voter fraud occurs because they are scared they cannot win with Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. 

And for months, Democrats have repeatedly claimed that the mail-in voting process is safe and say it’s necessary to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Yet, every week or so, there is another report of some type of voter fraud. 

While no votes had been cast in Virginia, the opportunity that many could vote twice through mail-in balloting is a real concern and multiple ballots being sent to voters does nothing to dispel those fears.

More than 1,000 voters received an extra ballot in the mail, according to Republican officials in Virginia.  Fox News reported that the issue occurred after the Democratic party pushed to expand absentee voting in the state.

Absentee ballots no longer require a reason and any registered Virginia voter is allowed to request one.

State GOP Chairman Rich Anderson, said:

“We knew the Democrats’ many last-minute changes to our election law would make our elections less secure, but no one could imagine voters receiving two ballots.”

Election officials claim the issue had nothing to do with the Democrats, but rather equipment malfunctions.  They said that some of the label printing machines had jammed, causing some mailing labels to be duplicated.

Gary Scott, the Fairfax County Registrar told NBC 4:

“Before the supervisors caught it, the people applying the labels applied them to the entire sheet of labels rather than just pulling out the ones that should have been processed.”

Scott claims that anyone who sends in a second ballot will be caught out because of their system of checks and balances.  Scott said:

“Because every ballot that’s returned, we make an entry into their voter record that they have returned a ballot.  So, if something else shows up, the ballot has already been returned.  We can’t count that ballot.”

Scott advised any voter who received a second ballot to destroy the extra one. 

In all, there were 1,400 duplicate ballots sent to voters across the state.  Fairfax County saw the most reported ones at roughly 1,000.  Another 300 were sent to the City of Richmond and 100 to Henrico County.

Republicans’ concerns may well be legitimate that widespread mail-in voting will increase voter fraud. 

Now, many people will claim that the election offices throughout the country have been able to catch a significant amount of voter fraud.  While this is true, consider the cases of voter fraud that have not been caught or won’t be caught in time for accurate counts.  After all, only an idiot would believe that every potential illegal ballot was caught.

Instead of recognizing that the Republican Party, and President Trump, has a point, democratic leaders choose to ignore the facts and instead paint the president and his supporters as liars.

Instead of taking action to ensure that the general election is fair and impartial, Democrats accuse the Republicans of trying to suppress votes.

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Law Enforcement Today reported in August on mail-in voting issues in Michigan:

LANSING, MI – Nah, nothing to worry about with mail-in voting, right?

For months, Democratic leaders have been pushing for voting by mail and ballot harvesting. 

LET has reported several times in the past couple of months on problems throughout the country, which certainly shows that both mail-in voting and ballot harvesting are ripe with potential for fraud and other issues. 

A recent report out of Michigan shows there are concerns regarding voting by mail.

Recently, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office released information regarding the Aug. 4 rejection of several thousand absentee ballots.  Out of the 10,600 absentee ballots that were rejected, 6,400 were refused because they had arrived after election day.

Another 2,225 ballots were not counted because there were no signatures present on the envelope.  Another 1,111 were discounted because the voter had moved after the vote was cast.  And, amazingly, 846 were refused because the voter was deceased.

Benson’s office claims the 846 deceased voters had died after their vote was cast.  They were able to stop the votes from coming through because they get monthly updates from the Social Security Administration. The office stated there was no mail fraud regarding votes from the deceased and the system worked.

The Detroit News reports that the number of mail-in votes by deceased people is lower this year, so far, than during the Nov. 2016 election. According to the newspaper, 1,782 votes were received by election officials in 2016 from people who had died after their vote had been cast.

Problems with the design and timelines of mail-in voting in the state of Michigan are not new. 

United States Postal Service General Counsel Thomas Marshall informed Benson previously that the delivery timelines provided posed a “significant risk” to ballots being sent too close to election day. As noted previously, votes received after election day are null and void.

In a letter to Benson, Marshall said:

“This mismatch [in delivery schedule] creates a risk that ballots requested near the deadline under state law will not be returned by mail in time to be counted under your laws as we understand them.” 

Marshall advised that the postal service already prioritizes the sending of ballots through the mail. Even so, he calls on voters to mail in their ballots at least 15 days ahead of election day to ensure they make it to the election office in time.   

Currently, Michigan election law allows voters to apply for a mail-in ballot up to election day, leaving no time for the vote to make its way back to the election office.  It also allows for ballots to be mailed to voters up to 4 days before the election.  The time frame that Marshall advised is impossible to ensure. 

In his letter, Marshall said:

“If a requested ballot is transmitted to the voter by mail at or near that 4-day deadline, there is a significant risk that the ballot will not reach the voter before Election Day, and accordingly that the voter will not be able to use the ballot to cast his or her vote.” 

Benson’s office said the information was released in the hope that state leaders will work to pass legislation to speed up the process.

Benson said:

“The data demonstrates that thousands of people who cast otherwise valid votes were not able to participate in last week’s election solely because the Legislature failed to act ahead of the primary.

“With turnout and absentee ballot numbers expected to double or even triple in November, we could be looking at tens of thousands of Michigan citizens disenfranchised if the legislature again fails to act.”   

Currently, 2.4 million Michigan voters have signed up for absentee ballots in the upcoming presidential election.  Benson advised that her office will be sending mailers out to the remaining 4.4 million registered voters to encourage them to participate with this voting method.

In a state that was narrowly won by President Trump in 2016, every vote counts.

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About The Author

I am a proud husband to a wife who works in education and the father to two wonderful children. My first focus is on my family and spending time with them, my second is on my career. I am a current law enforcement lieutenant and have been an officer for over twenty years. Chris Elliot is a pen name for safety reasons.

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