How Maricopa Elections is purging poor and elderly voters

[Qutzupalotl]

A letter posted by a friend on Twitter:

80 yrs ago, Pearl Harbor was attacked. My dad dropped out of HS & joined the Navy. He spent the next couple of yrs on a Destroyer Escort fighting the Japanese in the South China Sea.
Dad is part of that Greatest Generation who fought fascism.
Yesterday, he had to deal with this.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

He’s voted by mail from the same address for yrs. Dad’s nearly 100, so this is the safest way for him to vote. My sister & I don’t want him getting COVID.

He showed me this letter & admitted he didn’t have the technical ability to figure out what to do. How many seniors would?

I happened to be visiting so I guided him through the process. There isn’t a non electronic alternative. Many disabled & elderly will be disenfranchised.

Dad fought for freedom 80 yrs ago & now he has to fight the Maricopa County GOP for the right to vote?

[duckworth969]

1. Dem party got to knock on doors and assist folks who need computer assistance

[PortTack]

3. You're right...if that's what it takes

[badhair77]

2. Disgusting.

I know many elderly who don’t know how to complete the steps listed in the letter. Plus I know poor people with no internet access. They travel to the library and wait fir a seat there. Limited accessibility. I’m grateful this voter’s son was available to help him.

[ARPad95]

6. And providing personal ID info via email or on a website using a public computer is not good.

Why isn't there an option to go in-person to the Board of Elections location?

[nakocal]

15. COVID worries means that not everyone wants to go in person.

[SWBTATTReg]

4. Get the Feds involved (Fed. Election Commission). Perhaps they can offer something up.

[DENVERPOPS]

17. As with many other government regulatory agencies

I suspect they were all emasculated during the Trump occupation of the Whitehouse in collusion with the Senate Republicans.

[Samrob]

5. I bet it will hurt more white, elderly disabled than others and that means it will hurt the GOP. nt

[Phoenix61]

11. I was thinking the same thing. nt

[Hermit-The-Prog]

7. I hate the fucking Nazi Republican party.

[ARPad95]

8. I wonder if it has nothing to do with his signature and everything to do with him being 100?

In other words, someone at the Maricopa County BOE pulled this particular mail-in ballot because he's 100 and not because his signature doesn't match up. No question your signature at 100 years old is not going to match up perfectly with your signature from decades ago when you signed your original voter registration card.

Here in my neck of the woods at the poll sites, voters sign their names using a stylus on an electronic poll pad which results in some very wonky handwriting. However, as long as the main letters are a reasonable match, signature verification is approved and the voter gets the ballot to vote.

If this is a case of the BOE personnel using an 100-year-old man's signature as an excuse to mail out this "your ballot won't count unless you jump through these hoops to prove you're still alive," then it's age discrimination in addition to voter disenfranchisement.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

24. Not excusing the

electronic only option, but they don't check just the original signature, they check every signature they have on file for that voter, including from previous ballot affidavits. Even then, not surprising that the there could be issues with the match.

I would have called the number to see if there was any other way to validate rather than electronic, as many elderly would have a problem with that.

[ARPad95]

25. I don't verify signatures of mail-in or affidavit ballots after an election, but I do check-in

voters at the polls and there is only one other signature in the poll pad for the voter that is used for comparison. It happens a lot that signatures are not a good match because voters, especially older ones, are not used to writing with a stylus on a poll pad. Plus they're standing at a table and bending over and the poll pad (which is on a swivel stand) may not be tilted or facing in the most comfortable position for them. If the signature is really off the mark, they get a do-over.

If I were to send in an affidavit or mail-in ballot, I'd make a copy for my records. If my ballot was ever questioned, then I'd have proof of how I filled it out and the way I signed it.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

26. I'm an election officer as well

And we don’t even look at signatures for in-person voting, but we do have to have a valid ID.

What’s available in the poll pad for in-person voting had nothing to do with what’s available for mail-in ballots, as the verification process completely different.

[ARPad95]

28. No ID is required to vote in New York unless the voter did not provide valid ID at time of

registration. The poll pad will indicate that. The voter then has to show one form of ID from a list of valid forms before getting a ballot.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

29. In Virginia

voter has to show an ID or sign an ID confirmation statement that they are who they claim to be. If they don't want to sign the statement, then they can vote a provisional ballot.

They also have to state their name and address at the time they present their ID or sign their confirmation statement, as Virginia allows open challenge.

[ARPad95]

31. When they sign their name on the poll pad they're signing a voter oath. This is after they give us

name and address so we can be sure we're accessing the correct voter record. We then have them verify their voter info is correct (name, DOB, address, party registration, etc.) and they sign over the following oath, "I swear or affirm that I reside at the address above and am eligible to vote in this election."

[SickOfTheOnePct]

32. No one signs

Poll pads in Virginia. If anything has to be signed, it’s ink on paper, and form is submitted back to the main elections at the end of the night .

[ARPad95]

33. I see. That must be the difference between no ID required and ID required at the polls.

Thanks for the info!

[SickOfTheOnePct]

34. Always interesting

To see how voting is done indifferent states - thanks to you as well!!

[SickOfTheOnePct]

27. I'm an election officer as well

And we don’t even look at signatures for in-person voting, but we do have to have a valid ID.

What’s available in the poll pad for in-person voting had nothing to do with what’s available for mail-in ballots, as the verification process completely different.

[onecaliberal]

9. Alot of these older people vote for them. They are stupid beyond imagination.

[scarletlib]

10. Tell your friend to contact local media with this story. Also any election protection organizations.

[DENVERPOPS]

18. Local media my ass

send the info to the NYT and WaPo, hit the entire nation. Certainly this same crap is taking place all over the nation.......

[Lonestarblue]

12. Could be his age or could be he lives in a ZIP code with lots of Democratic voters.

I’m sure Republican elections officials in some areas know exactly which ZIP codes produce the most Democratic votes and may take subtle steps like this one to prevent people from voting.

[Quanto Magnus]

13. GQP

doesn't care what you've done to serve this country.....

[jaxexpat]

14. The hateful and presumptuous SOB's who think there's a goddamned APP for everything.

APP's are the cause of more problems for seniors than they ever benefit the remaining age groups. It's about purposefully engineered obsolescence of hardware and how that profit point has infected everything from self-checkout at Walmart to coordinating a simple office visit with your physician. To presume that texting on a cell phone is a universal option is the worst kind of elitism and its common throughout our society. Emailing is only a short step toward improvement and is just plain not available to everybody by a long shot.

Let's just all get on the same page and agree that the "convenience" of technological consumerism is more important that the lives of our neighbors. It's no wonder at all that the elections, simple polling mind you, has been invaded by the willfully cruel to punish and drive mad with frustration those whom TPTB have decided to scrap. Fuck 'em!

[wiggs]

16. Wonder how many got this same letter? Party of recipients match county proportions? Ethnicity of

recipients match county proportions? income levels?

Who evaluates the match? What criteria do they use? Would love to see the level of difference needed to get kicked out.

[Rebl2]

19. I don't get it

Don’t they seem to understand it will hurt elderly republicans as well.

[Elwood P Dowd]

20. They're probably targeting Democratic areas.

Even if some repuke voters are hurt, they don't fucking care as long as there is a net benefit for the MAGA candidates.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

21. People's signatures can change a lot over time.

Depending on just how long ago he signed is registration, it could well be that that one and his current one don't look very much alike.

I went through something like this with my bank a few years back. I'd made two major changes in my signature several years apart, and suddenly my bank was very unhappy with my signature. So I've gone permanently back to the way I signed things in my younger years.

If I happen to be right, creating a new registration for him with his current signature might be a good idea.

[AverageOldGuy]

22. Fight back and fight back NOW!!!

You can bet if your father had tried to vote without his ID, the Republicans would have him all over the news as a case of voter fraud. One big reason we are in the shape we are in is that Democrats and decent people do not fight back . . . we just sit and take it.

You need to RIGHT NOW get your father's case on every radio and TV station in the area as well as in all the newspapers. Can you imagine the impact of video of this old grey-haired veteran holding the letter up to the camera and telling everyone that he does not know what to do -- WITH AN AMERICAN FLAG NEXT TO HIM. His story likely would bring a hundred or so other old vets and elderly folks out of the woodwork.

Go for it!!!

[IronLionZion]

23. Maricopa County would have more elderly Repubs than elderly Dems

Since the Dems there would be younger and more diverse.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maricopa_County,_Arizona

Their board of supervisors is 4 GOP and 1 Dem

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maricopa_County_Board_of_Supervisors

This plan could backfire badly for the GOP in an important swing state.

[Qutzupalotl]

30. Thanks for the info. I hope your prediction comes true. eom