this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2024
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EDIT: See @AnimePhantasm comment below! My friend called the election board and they confirmed what @AnimePhantasm and @fmstrat commented! This was Virginia reusing last year’s envelopes.

OP I am an absentee voter in Blacksburg just next door. Shine a light on the blacked out part. I am 99% sure this is legit, they just crossed out the witness requirement. I can see the word witness under the sharpie in your picture. Virgina doesnt have to do that witness thing anymore. We did at the last general election, so I am guessing they just reused the same envelopes. You should call and ask your elections office before alerting the news. They are hardworking folks whose jobs are already 100 times harder then they used to be. Stirring up reports of election fraud where it isn't happening makes us just as bad as them.

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[–] PoopingCough 200 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (24 children)

A lot of the virginia ballots were mailed out with the return envelopes already sealed up. I called the election office and they said to cut them open and just seal them back with tape 🤣

Edit: to all the folks concerned about my vote, thank you for your concern. I'm not too worried about it for several reasons. You can check online to see when your ballot is received and accepted, so I'll be doing that. If it isn't accepted in the next week or so I'll definitely be making some calls. Worse comes to worse, I can always go to my polling place on the day and get a provisional ballot in case something happens to my mail-in. I live in a pretty blue area so I have some trust in the local offices here; they've given no reason for me to be suspicious. Nonetheless I'll still be double checking.

[–] themeatbridge 122 points 2 months ago (15 children)

This can happen if the envelopes get damp, but they should send you a replacement. Otherwise, someone could swap out your ballot and then just tape it closed.

[–] PoopingCough 72 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

Which is exactly why I called my local election office, and I even mentioned it might have been because of the rain we were having, but I was told no, it wasnt the damp that caused it because they had confirmed with the factory that sent the ballots out that some had been sent out like that. They then told me to tape it and when I was hesitant because I had the same thought as you they told me they had checked several times with the registrar that taping them up was what to do. They said it was a known issue so it would be accepted.

[–] [email protected] 57 points 2 months ago (1 children)

holy shit they are going to steal your election

[–] A_Random_Idiot 26 points 2 months ago (4 children)

This and the original Op image are why I refuse to do absentee/mail in voting.

Theres just so many ways it can be fucked with, and potentially handwaved away. Especially at an institutional level in the less reputable coughconservativecough states.

Mail in ballot used to be fine, and safe, and secure... but 8 years of fucking domestic political terrorism/usurpation/insurrection/etc have kicked that out the door, down the stairs, into the street and infront of the bus.

I don't care what I have to do, what sacrifices I have to make, and what I have to endure.

I'm voting in person this election, cause its too important not to.

and everyone else should too.

Cause in person voting is the only way to minimize the fuckery they can pull.

[–] Serinus 26 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Another way is to discourage people from early voting and then lose some percentage who end up not voting on election day either.

You're not wrong. I'll be voting in person for this reason. But if you're not 100% sure you'll make it on election day, vote early. Preferably do it in person.

Some votes will likely count more than others.

[–] WoahWoah 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Yep. Increase the need for in-person voting, decrease the amount of voting locations, have armed republican "volunteers" patrolling places, and then see how many people are willing to wait hours with armed right-wing militants eyeballing whether your glasses make you a "libtard."

I have no statistical evidence to back this up, but my gut feeling is that the aggregate of all the voting fuckery, election board fuckery, voting laws fuckery might end up be worth as much as 3-5% in battleground states. There's no statistical model that accounts for the illegal/quasi-legal voter suppression and disenfranchisement efforts.

All polls assume that everyone that can vote and intends to vote will get to vote and that their vote will be counted and that the counted votes will be accurately reported. That's a serious blind spot in election polling. And since the Republicans have been screaming that elections are fraudulent because of democratic/immigrant fantasies for four full years, when legitimate fraud can and does occur, no Democrat will be able to say it loud enough that it matters.

[–] CM400 16 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I mean sure, I pretty much agree with you, but…

There were so many fucking trumpers hanging out at the parking lot of my voting site last time, I don’t want to be (or for my family to) around that shit.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

A lot of states have places for early in-person voting. You might have to drive a bit of a distance, but it allows for in-person voting in a less chaotic environment.

[–] grue 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

You might have to drive a bit of a distance, but it allows for in-person voting in a less chaotic environment.

And thus we see how voter intimidation at polling places on election day is still effective even with early voting, since it skews towards people with cars/the means to get to the early-voting locations.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

I agree with you completely, but I wanted to make people aware that the option exists in case they are able to make use of it. A solution that helps some people but not others is better than a complete lack of a solution.

[–] A_Random_Idiot 4 points 2 months ago

IT was like that in 2016 for me.

I shouldered my way through anyway. They are stupid, but they aint complete fucking morons. They know starting shit at an election venue is a good ticket to federal pound-them-in-the-ass prison.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

nah my state rules and doesn't have this shit going on. remember to check that your ballot is received and recorded after you vote either way

[–] TonyOstrich 4 points 2 months ago

Even during Covid I felt a similar way. My "compromise" has been in person early voting. It's pretty much always dead when I go in and is very quick. I don't think I have actually voted on election day in over a decade.

[–] Chip_Rat 16 points 2 months ago (1 children)

...what...

How can an election office accept envelopes that have been tampered with? Call them back and record the answer, then call local news, blast them on every social media you have, put a crazy persons handwritten sign in your window about it, whatever it takes. The person who said they would accept envelopes that had been cut and taped just admitted they will accept votes that may have been tampered with....

[–] WoahWoah 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

If the election results aren't to their liking, these will be easy votes to start kicking out. And then the votes that are doubled through provisional voting, i.e., voting in person as well as mail-in in order to be sure your vote was counted.

It won't matter if they're counted correctly in the end. The point will be to immediately kill off democratic votes, create as much chaos as possible, declare victory, and when the dust settles, the republican, right-wing national network of fast-response staff, politicians, lawyers, and friendly judges that they've been preparing for four years while democrats did basically nothing will have effectively taken the election by force. SCOTUS already made a decision that will allow them to effectively decide this election. So the right-wing ideologues already have local, regional, state, and national plans that extend all the way to the highest court in the land.

And the Democrats have "but that's not fair."

[–] ObsidianZed 12 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

it would be accepted.

Bullshit.

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