I filled out my absentee ballot today for the August 31 Miami-Dade County primary election.
Out of curiosity I read the accompanying "Instructions for Marking your Ballot", provided by the Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections in English, Spanish and Creole. I noticed an egregious error in the mailing instructions in all three languages. I quote:
9. You may return your absentee ballot by mail through the U.S. Postal Service. You will need to affix a 37 [cent] postage stamp if mailed within the United States. Be sure there is sufficient postage if multiple pages or if mailed from outside the U.S.
The almost 6" x 12" official absentee ballot mailing envelope is much larger than a standard 4-1/8" x 9-1/2" business envelope. The clerks at my local post office confirmed my suspicion that extra postage is necessary for delivery. You need $0.49 of postage, not a $0.37 stamp as printed in the official instructions!!!
This error is present in the English, Spanish and Creole versions of the instructions.
UNBELIEVABLE!!! Wait ... this is Florida, so perhaps I should not be expressing surprise or outrage.
Even I am not that jaded yet - I am hopping mad.
This means that all absentee ballots sent in with a regular 37 cent stamp affixed as instructed will be returned to sender because of insufficient postage. I wonder how many people will be able to hand deliver them to the elections office by Aug. 31? If the official envelope is returned as undeliverable, I bet a voter cannot simply remail the ballot in a regular "unofficial" envelope.
Obviously Constance Kaplan and her merry crew at the Miami-Dade Elections Office have no clue of the cost of first-class mail in our country, or how to proofread documents for accuracy. I can now add carelessness and sloppiness to the litany of other descriptors (arrogance and callousness come to mind) that describe the Office's attitude toward the public and our fundamental democratic right to vote.
After posting this I'm sending a "heads up" letter to the editor of the Miami Herald, as well as emails to the Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition and other groups. This latest "oversight" must be publicized!!!
If you are voting by absentee ballot anywhere, please check that you have the proper postage affixed before mailing!
Update [2004-8-19 17:41:8 by murfmom]: 5:30 pm EST
I sent off my letter to the Editor at the Miami Herald, and copied it to Jim DeFede, a Herald opinion writer, Sandy Wayland, Legislative Chair for the Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition, and my fellow board members at Democracy for America: Miami-Dade. Tried to reach the Miami-Dade Elections Office but got voice mail (it was 5:10 pm).
However, my DFAM colleague working for Dave Patlak's congressional campaign did speak to Penny Townsend (Head of Absentee Ballots) after getting my heads up. Ms. Townsend was not pleased, and said that they took the ballot over in person to the post office and were told 37 cents was the postage.
I am now on my way to calling officials in the Miami-Dade Democratic Executive Committee (I am committeewoman for my precinct), the ACLU, and the other campaigns I am supporting (Jimmy Morales and Betty Castor).
More as this pans out!
Update [2004-8-19 20:41:8 by murfmom]: 8:10 pm EST
Penny Townsey (sp?), Head of Absentee Ballots at Miami-Dade Elections, called me back at 6:55 pm tonight (I was surprised). She was pleasant and sounded tired.
Ms. Townsey said the Post Office told her 37 cents was sufficient to mail the oversized absentee ballot, and then admitted this was incorrect based not only on weight but on size. When I asked what about the ballot envelopes being returned to sender for insufficient postage, she said that as far as she knows that has never happened.
She added that the Miami-Dade Elections Office has an agreement with the US Post Office where absentee ballots with insufficient postage are ALWAYS sent along to the Elections Office and NEVER returned to the sender. (!!!) The Elections Office then pays the outstanding postage amount. Well then, I replied, why does the state not just prepay the ballots??
Very interesting. Believe it or not!! Benefit of the doubt or buyer beware???
I told Ms. Townsey that this episode further decreases my confidence in our elections system, and suggests that the professionals in her office are not as rigorous as they should be in protecting the vote (I used the word careless at this point). She reiterated that insufficient postage is not a problem, I said I was not convinced, and ended the conversation with the request that the office please correct and reissue the absentee ballot instructions for the Nov. 2 elections.