AZ: Tucson: My New Voter Reg Card Del...

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Author Message   tj rasa Voting Rights Forum Participant Username: Trappedintucson Post Number: 2 Registered: 7-2012 Best of Black Box? N/A Votes: 0 (A keeper?) Posted on Monday, July 16, 2012 - 12:59 pm:        I am concerned about my new voter registration card received with the perforated seal opened as if it had been read. There was no damage whatsoever to the paper to indicate it might have occurred in transit. This is the first time this has happened to me either in AZ or in any other state in which I've lived. I called the Pima Voting Office the day it was received (about 2 1/2 weeks ago) and expressed my concerns. I was told some pretty unbelievable things: 1.) The seal opens easily in the mail. [This is not true. It takes a bit to open the seal.] 2.) If anyone took my information they wouldn't be able to use it since ID is required. When I said I used early ballots due to no transportation, I was told not to worry, that if there was ANY indication that the signature was not mine they would call me. [I practically had to bite my tongue.] 3.) That I could do a 'walk-in' vote instead but would be given a provisional ballot rather than a regular ballot. I said I didn't want a provisional ballot. She said then I'd have to do the mail-in and trust them. I told her I found it particularly creepy with the sort of fiery election coming up. Also, which I did not mention, I'd been doing a bit of whistle-blowing online in the months prior to receiving the opened registration card mailer. I told someone who told me I should post this info here as a matter of record. If anyone else has had this happen to them this year I hope they'll post about it. Thanks very much.   Bev Harris Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 11689 Registered: 12-2004 Best of Black Box?  Votes: 1 (A keeper?) Posted on Monday, July 16, 2012 - 1:14 pm:        Hi TJ, and welcome to Black Box Voting. When you say you use early voting, does this mean you are on a "permanent absentee list" so that they mail you an absentee ballot without doing a request for it each time? I am guessing this is the case, because they are saying if you walk in to vote you have to use a provisional. I am interested in what information is on the card. For example: bar codes (how many and what do they look like); signatures; other codes; other personal information. Am I correct in assuming it is a self mailer -- so that the seal is accessible without opening up an envelope? We sent quite a lot of self-mailers out with a seal once, and we did notice on the return items that several were slit open. It could be the sorting equipment I suppose, though I don't quite see how that would neatly slit open the perforated seal. How big was the seal? You are correct that their assurance that they will call you if the signature doesn't match is not reassuring. I think Pima County uses Runbeck as a private outsourced ballot processing plant. That would be interesting to find out. It's hard to discern whether this is a benign, isolated problem or a pattern indicating a risk to election integrity, but your concerns and your follow up call to the elections office are a good idea.

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The public must be able to see and authenticate these four essential steps for an election to be public, democratic, and valid: (1) Who can vote (voter list); (2) Who did vote (3) The original count; (4) Chain of custody.