By THE ANCHORAGE DAILY PLANET
Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer says the August primary election, despite complications caused by the coronavirus pandemic, will be close to business-as-usual – but with a few modifications.
We especially agree with his stated concerns about unsecured ballots if the primary election or later general election were switched to a mail-in affair.
August primary ballots will include primary races for seats in the Alaska House of Representatives, several Alaska Senate districts, the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, but no ballot questions.
Meyer says Alaskans can vote from home if they wish via absentee ballots and that system allows the Division of Elections to know which of two ballots should be sent to a voter.
An all-mail election in Alaska’s closed and party-run primary system would necessitate sending out hundreds of thousands of ballots, with most voters receiving two ballots, Meyer says.
“So, we figure there’s about 550,000 total voters and about 70% of them would be eligible for either ballot,” Meyer told the Juneau Empire. “Of course, we don’t know which ballot Alaskans want. That’s potentially 450,000 Alaskans that we would have to send two ballots to, which is about 900,000 ballots.”
A typical primary election has only about 30% of registered voters casting ballots, he says.
“So that’s 600,000 unsecured ballots that are either sitting in a post office, sitting on the kitchen table or in a garbage can,” the newspaper quoted him as saying. “That’s very concerning to us to have that many unsecured ballots.”
Us, too.
The opportunity and temptation for voting mischief would be too much for some to bear and that sort of thing would do lasting damage to the public trust. Do not bother telling us it would not happen. You could ask Anchorage Republicrat Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, whose primary win a few years ago was supported, it turns out, by dead people.
Meyer was right in using caution. When it comes to voting and protecting our voting system, caution is a plus.
Nice try on corrupting our election, liberals. Glad the Lt. Governor saw through your bs.
Lieutenant Governor Meyer.
Simply put, Early Voting and Vote by Mail, other than Absentee Voting, should not be an option in Alaska’s Elections. Only two ways to Vote in Alaska, Anchorage included:
1. Vote in person with a my.Alaska.gov Voter Identification Card or a Legal ID on Election Day.
2. Vote by Absentee Ballot in person or by Mail.
This would assist in updating Voter Registration Roles, in preventing Voter Harvesting and fraudulent voting.
Caution would be NO early voting or Anchorage’s Vote by Mail.
John
If widespread voting by mail were instituted it would probably increase participation in the election process. I would expect that those persons who don’t otherwise participate in the process would have a heaven-sent opportunity to sell their mail-vote vote for a snort of coke or a bottle of rum.
Get rid of Giessel in the Republican Primary. Where do I donate?
Good riddance to Republican gone rogue….I voted for her but never again. She forgot that she works for the people.
The only current day documented mass voter fraud was perpetrated by right wing political operatives.
Voter suppression is the motive for denying vote by mail.
States across the country successfully run vote by mail operations or allow absentee voting by mail, all legitimately run, all run without any evidence of mass voter fraud being allowed.
(note that the one case of right wing fraud was detected and prosecuted.)
And speaking of voter fraud, Devin Nunes can’t keep from blurting out the quiet part.
Nunes quote:
“We are forced to have to ballot harvest, because it’s the only way to win. As long as we have a robust ballot harvesting operation come November, and I hate saying that, because it’s illegal in 49 states,
Vote by mail is the proper policy, especially now.
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