I agree with you Steve. How can it be run like this?
On Sep 16, 2020, at 3:15 PM, Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hey guys,
If you got an accessible absentee ballot from your clerk's office yesterday --
disregard it!
This bit of brilliance came from our esteemed Secretary of State, who was an
electoral expert when she was at Wayne State, where she probably should have
stayed. This is sheer incompetence; I saw the error as soon as I opened the
ballot.
I wonder how we can run an election when some "programming" error is loosed on
everyone. I don't know how they came up with that 400 number; I know just in
my township -- which is pretty small -- at least four of those got out.
Steve
Class of '72
Error leaves Mike Pence's name off some Mich. ballots By Dave Boucher and Eric
D. Lawrence Detroit Free Press
A "temporary error" in a Michigan database may result in registered voters who
live abroad or serve in the military receiving a presidential ballot that does
not include Vice President Mike Pence's name.
On Tuesday, the Free Press obtained an image showing a portion of a ballot
intended for overseas and military voters that lists Donald Trump as the
Republican presidential nominee, but lists Jeremy Cohen as his running mate.
Jeremy "Spike" Cohen is the Libertarian Party's vice presidential nominee. On
the ballot, the Libertarian Party does not have a listed candidate. Pence's
name is not included on the portion of the ballot obtained by the Free Press.
The Michigan Secretary of State's Office confirmed late Tuesday that local
clerks downloaded at least 400 ballots with the error. "There was a temporary
error in the (Qualified Voter File) data that caused some ballots downloaded
(Tuesday) to display incorrect ballot information when clerks downloaded the
(Qualified Voter File) ballot sent to military and overseas voters.
Approximately 400 ballots were downloaded by clerks during this period; we
don't know how many were sent," said Tracy Wimmer, a spokeswoman for Michigan
Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. Wimmer said local clerks are supposed to
download ballots for overseas and absentee voters from the Qualified Voter
File, the list of registered voters retained by the state. Clerks can then
email those ballots to the voter, Wimmer said. "It was an accidental programmer
error, and was fixed within 90 minutes of being identified," Wimmer The
Michigan Bureau of Elections contacted clerks who downloaded ballots during the
time there was an error in the file, Wimmer said. The state told these clerks
that they needed to reissue correct ballots if they had issued any that did not
include Pence's name, telling voters to ignore the ballot with the error. "If a
voter does happen to return the incorrect ballot instead of the correct ballot,
it will still count. The clerk will be instructed to duplicate a vote for Trump
onto a ballot for Trump/Pence," Wimmer said. "Since these ballots generated out
of (Qualified Voter File) are all duplicated regardless, the procedure would
not differ from what would be done with a vote for Trump on the correct ballot.
Earlier in the day, Benson's office announced it would start sending absentee
ballots to overseas and military voters on Saturday. Absentee ballots must be
received by 8p.m. on Nov. 3, when polls close, in order to be valid. Susan
Nash, Livonia's city clerk, said her office did not download any of the ballots
but she learned of the issue regardless. She said that anyone who received an
incorrect ballot could face confusion. Imagine being overseas, either as a
civilian or military person, and receiving one of the problem ballots via email
but then getting a second email a short time later with a new ballot. The
person could print out the wrong one. "That could easily happen, and there's no
way of knowing until Election Day because that does not get opened until
Election Day," Nash said of the ballot that would be returned to the local
clerk. In addition to any complications such a situation might cause, Nash
pointed to another issue. "I think it's embarrassing. As a clerk, you'd be
embarrassed that you sent out the wrong ballot," she said, noting the many
things confronting clerks this year. "It's just one more thing for clerks to
take care of. There are approximately 7.7 million registered voters in
Michigan, and more than 3 million are expected to cast absentee ballots this
fall. Even though the error may have only affected 400 ballots, the fact that
Benson is a Democrat and an issue in her office resulted in Pence's name not
appearing on some ballots is likely to draw criticism. Trump has blasted
mail-in voting, asserting without basis it will lead to fraud and a corrupt
election. He targeted Benson specifically this spring after she sent every
registered voter an application for an absentee ballot. The president wrongly
accused her of mailing ballots to all registered voters. Trump defeated
Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by 10,704 votes in the 2016 election. Polls
indicate he currently trails Biden in the state. Election Day is Nov. 3, but
voters may request an absentee ballot now.
