In a recount which ballots should be counted?
By bobmnu
@bobmnu (8157)
United States
November 9, 2010 1:02pm CST
With the number of close elections still undecided and when the difference is only a few votes every vote becomes very important. Should the ballots that are suddenly found in someones trunk or in a store room? In Minnesota two years ago they found some ballots in the trunk of a car and when they were counted the votes went for one candidate overwhelmingly. When the final vote counts were reported by districts several had more votes than voters.
What do you think should be done to see that every legitimate ballot is counted?
1 response
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
10 Nov 10
Of course, what should be done is to have several layers of responsibility when it comes to states/counties/districts so that things like that don't happen. I live in a rural area but when I picked up my daughter from a friend's house at 11:00PM on election eve, the lights were still on in a couple of offices at the courthouse because they were hard at work counting ballots. If the ballots were found, for instance, in the trunk of our county's Supervisor of Elections' trunk, I would consider them to be legitimate since she's the wife of our Sheriff and I know her personally. I would imagine that she would have a good explanation for why they were there and why there was a delay. If a reasonable explanation cannot be obtained for suddenly discovered ballots, then I would question them.
@bobmnu (8157)
• United States
10 Nov 10
In Minnesota two years ago one of the election workers suddenly remembered (two day after the election) that she had two bags of absentee ballots that they forgot to count. When they were counted ther ran almost 80% for one party. This year several ballots were challenged by both the Republican and Democratic poll watcher because:
1. The name was spelled wrong
2. The social Security number was wrong
3. The signatures did not match
4. The address was not the same as on the application.
The election judge said to open and count the ballot the discrepancies were not serious enough. Minnesota Sect. of State said there is no voter fraud in MN. He opposes voter photo ID.
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
10 Nov 10
I don't know about all that, bob. When I go to vote, I show my ID and they find me in the book. I sign my name and get a ballot...a paper one that I fill in the little circles withe a #2 pencil and is sucked into the machine afterwards. If anyone had a problem with my name, SSN or sig they would have no way of knowing which ballot was mine. Personally, I think photo ID should be required every time you vote. Even though I knew everyone there, they still required an ID.
