Update – Wed. Sep. 25, 2:39pm:
So it turns out that each state has its own election rules, and there are several places that you cannot do what is suggested in the video below and the post. I encourage everyone to find out BEFORE the election what you should do if you find out someone has stolen your identity. Also, if you’ve had family members move out of state, pass on, or change voter status, make sure your local pollsters know that. It behooves us to ensure this stuff before each election, so that only the people who should vote, do vote.
I also urge people who live in states that only allow mail-in ballots to change that. There should always be the ability for a citizen of the United States of America to step into a polling station and cast their ballot in person. Always.
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Original post, unedited:
I’ve never had it happen to me, but I know a couple of people local to me were told at their polling place that they had already voted. This is, essentially, a form of identity theft. There are things you can do. What you should absolutely NOT do is harass the volunteers at the voting station. It’s not their fault and they are just following their rules. I was trolling on TikTok while I’ve been sick, and ran into this video, which I suggest you watch. The sound can be funky on it, not sure why. Works on my phone but not my computer.
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTFjSh3rx/
There’s a lot of other stuff on the video, such as advice on checking to make sure dead relatives aren’t on the rolls, and making sure that someone who’s changed their name (due to marriage or whatever) doesn’t have someone steal their pre-change identity.
So apparently there are people out there, professional looking people, telling the populace to fill in their voting oval, and then to draw a line to their candidate. Please know, that will INVALIDATE your vote. Do not do that! Just fill in your oval.
If you make a mistake, do not scribble on it. Go request another ballot. Yes, it’s a hassle. No, it’s not stupid. Yes, it’s worth it.
If someone makes any kind of mark on your ballot, request another one. You do not take a ballot that has been marked on by another person, because it can invalidate your ballot.
For those who don’t do TikTok, here’s the step by step written explanations on what to do. Please note, I am not a lawyer, and I literally got this off TikTok. It “passes the sniff test,” as Chris often says.
- Request your mail-in ballot. When it arrives, DO NOT OPEN IT. Keep it sealed. Keep all versions of it, so if you get more than one, keep them all, and do not open them.
- On election day, go into your polling place. If they say you’ve already voted, don’t complain. It’s not the fault of the volunteer(s). Do NOT say fraud.
- Ask the worker, “Can you repeat that to me?” They will say again that you’ve already voted. They will offer you a provisional ballot.
- Ask for the supervisor for one more check. Ask them to double check, and insist very politely that you did not vote yet, and ask them to make certain. The supervisor’s going to say the same thing. As the video says, they’re only as good as the data they have.
- Take the provisional ballot and step aside.
- Call your sheriff’s department. Depending on the polling place, this may mean you have to step outside, which may mean you want to ask people to video you (this is from me, not the video), so you have proof of everything you’ve done. Generally, you should be allowed to make a call from a quiet spot out of the way.
- DO NOT CALL THE POLICE. You want to call the Sheriff, and you want to do so on a non-emergency line. Don’t call 911, this is not an emergency.
- They’ll ask you if it’s an emergency; say no. Say, “I need to report identity theft, but it’s unique. I’m standing here in a retail space. I watched it happen, and I’m still here. I need to have a deputy show up.” Do NOT say you’re at a polling place; you must say you are at a “retail location” or “retail space.” Don’t talk about ballots or voting.
- They will send a deputy. Tell the deputy exactly what’s happened. You may need to hand your provisional ballot to the pollsters, which is fine, let them know you’ll be right back. The deputy will listen to you, then will go talk to the pollsters and get the same story.
- Once the volunteers have told their side of the story, and NO EARLIER, pull out your mail-in ballot. Say, “This is my mail-in ballot. You can see it’s not open. I have not voted my mail-in ballot. Someone has stolen my identity. This will get a report on the books, right there and then. That report is outside the control of the pollsters.
- DO NOT SURRENDER THAT BALLOT. It is your property, and you’re not required to do so. If someone tries to take it away, say, “This is my evidence; I’m keeping it. Please file the report.”
- You have now empowered a sheriff to investigate. The sheriff has the power to seize a ballot box, apparently. This begins an investigation that is independent, and that can’t easily be shut down by either Left or Right.
I won’t say I don’t care who you vote for. I do care. But I care more that everyone who has the right to vote, goes out and votes. So please, go vote.
Comments
15 responses to “Identity Theft at the Polling Station”
Wow, that is a rather complicated process, and I am not entirely sure the poll staff are incorrect saying you already voted when you requested an absentee ballot. This, I am sure, depends on your State or Locality, laws vary. The first thought I had was requesting the absentee ballot means you “signed on the dotted line.” At least that is they way it goes everywhere I have lived. Sign in, get your ballot, go vote. The signing in means you “voted.”
Also, before you go through all this, I would want to do some investigation. Voter records are public in most states, IIRC. Search for your name, any names you used previously, similar names, and names of family members. If they show up suspiciously, then the above might be a good way to go.
Finally, if this starts happening across the nation, perhaps some of that election security we all need might get put in place.
It is complex, and part of why I wanted to post it was to get feedback. I will update the post as I get info! Perhaps what people need to do is start investigating this kind of thing BEFORE they go to the polls? I’m not sure how, though. Regardless, getting the sheriff involved is likely a good idea. Just don’t be a dick while doing it, so everyone understands you’re just dealing with the stolen identity.
I think the first step is to make sure your name does not appear more than once in the voter registration. Also ensure it does not appear in any state you have moved out of.
No one can request a ballot in your name if your name is not registered.
(Check variants of your name as well.)
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But, thinking about the process you describe… What bothers me is it assumes your election is rigged, that fraud is happening, and that the system is aware of it. Requesting, but not voting an absentee ballot, walking in knowing you have the absentee ballot in your possession, and bypassing the local police all stink of “I got you!” ism.
Before doing any of this, check the election laws in your State!
In NY, if you request a mail-in ballot, you will be prohibited from voting in-person (or should be). While election law is Statewide, administration of voting is at the County level.
See, I didn’t know that. I’m going to guess each state is different. Would be good to get a guide.
That’s a great video … for places in which it will work. Some places it won’t.
Oregon, for example. Not only do they have the “motor-voter” laws (under which, when someone applies for a driver’s license or state non-driver ID card at the DMV — which handles both — they automatically get registered to vote), the State is 100% absentee/mail-in voting. There are no polling places, no lists of voters in the hands of real volunteers. The closest thing they have is elections drop-boxes, which are just Post Office drop-boxes with a big “MAIL-IN BALLOTS ONLY” sticker where the USPS logo would normally be, and these drop-boxes are usually unmanned and unmonitored.
The only “certification” for any given ballot is a comparison between the signature they have on file via the voter registration form and the one on the mail-in ballot envelope. (How the county checks the individual signatures on tens of thousands of ballot envelopes in an evening is left unsaid and unquestioned.) If they match “enough”, the vote is counted. If not, they send you, via USPS, a postcard to come into the elections office and verify your identity — and maybe update your voter registration because your signature has changed, which happens over time with most people — and then your vote gets “counted” … but is effectively worthless because by then the election has been called.
The video presents some great ideas to get election integrity out of the claws of the parties and “volunteers” and into the hands of someone who might actually be able to ensure compliance, but I have no idea how to go about adapting those ideas to a State with 100% absentee/mail-in voting.
I can’t believe that there are places in the country where you cannot show up to vote. That should be illegal. 🙁 I know mail-in is good for many people (military, students, people who work out of town or country on the regular, the elderly, etc), but for those who want, it should ALWAYS be an option to walk in and do it the old fashioned way. Wow.
Something to note, I guess there are places **right now** where there are folks with “mailman uniforms” standing beside the mail in ballot boxes, and saying “hey, don’t put that in there, stick it in the bag ’cause I just collected.” That should NEVER be done.
I would love to have a state by state guide for how to deal with stolen identity (and “hey, my parents voted but they both died several months ago” type situations).
RE: “mailman uniforms” — As an informed voter, I know that USPS does not pick up the ballots from the elections drop-boxes; county elections employees do. It’s just that the physical boxes themselves are re-purposed USPS boxes.
But does everyone know that? There’s no way to tell. And so I can easily see someone “harvesting” votes by posing as a “mailman” at a collection site. In certain counties (say, rural counties with strong Republican majorities), they wouldn’t have to modify or even look at ballots; they’d just have to seize or invalidate enough of them to give Democrats a state-wide majority. Yeah, they’ll invalidate a few Democrat ballots, too, but they’ll cancel many more Republican ones. I believe the term is, “acceptable collateral losses”.
RE: “parents” — That brings to mind an old joke: “My dad and grand-dad both voted Republican until the day they died … and Democrat ever since.”
Washington State is the same as Oregon.
100% mail in ballots.
And, if anyone runs across the ‘stick it in the bag’ scam, make SURE you get at least a picture of the individual, and preferably a VIDEO of the actions that you listed.
So, I was “volunteered” as a poll worker for a few elections (my name got pulled from a hat, similar to jury duty).
The training and instruction I got was, if someone has requested a mail in ballot, we were to instruct them to vote using the mail in ballot. If they stated they never received one, then we were told to do a provisional ballot. There was a registry that had everyone’s name that was to vote at that location, and there would be notes at the end of the list (mail in ballot, etc).
I don’t know what investigation would be performed, it didn’t happen to anyone for the 4 elections I was required to work (got a national election, city elections, and primary election in those 4 elections I worked).
Please note, this was in Nebraska, so other states might have other requirements.
I can see that all the states have wildly different election processes. The info is good, but perhaps not applicable everywhere.
At this point, I’m for day-of election voting only; mail-in ballots only in special circumstances. Such ballots must be received by the closing of polls, otherwise they will not be counted, period.
To be eligible to vote you need to have registered (including confirmation of citizenship) at least a month before voting day. On the day, you need to show a government issued id, and you get your finger dipped in ink.
Paper only; no electronic ballots. Voting location and counting is highly scalable, so there’s no real time penalty as the population grows.
Oh, and make the voting day a national holiday, so most of the excuses for why people “need” mail in ballots go away.
I haven’t decided what I think is fair. Mail in ballots seem very insecure to me. If we can’t mail money, why the hell can we mail ballots? Doesn’t seem right. I *definitely* love the “finger dipped in ink” thing. It allows people to be proud and show off in a way that’s more difficult to replicate than a sticker. And one can easily take a sticker OFF… not so much with the ink they use for that kind of vote mark.
Definitely have proof of eligibility to vote a month in advance. And absolutely we should have a national holiday for voting. That ends all the excuses.
For a long time, I’ve thought that Heinlein had it right. In Starship Troopers, he talks about franchise being earned through public service. Those who serve their country in the military (though not necessarily in a military manner; there are all sorts of positions for anyone who requests them) earn their franchise, ie their right to vote. As the characters point out, this doesn’t guarantee that all voters are intelligent or moral, but it helps. Those who don’t serve the country aren’t punished in any way; they simply can’t vote. They can still own businesses, are citizens in other ways, etc.
Military service works for Israel. They’re a much smaller country than we are, but we could take what they’ve done and modify it to work for American values and politics. I definitely think it’s something to consider. It would, of course, require ratifying the Constitution. That’s never an easy thing (on purpose).
I am with you 100% on that front.
Election day ONLY.
If you need an absentee ballot, fine, you request one, it is sent to your location, you vote it, and if it is not received by midnight on Election day, it is not counted. (Yes, I know someone somewhere will lose their vote. Sorry, it happens.)
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Mail in voting is just a way to cheat. Even if cheating is not widespread, mail in voting is significantly less secure than in person.
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And, I do not want more people voting. I want more informed people voting. I know there is no test you can provide to prove you are informed, but if you take the time to show up at a polling place, that is an indicator. Sitting on the couch, and marking your ballot for the person with the most signs in your neighborhood is uninformed.
Great post! Please repost it again as we near election day.