I was thinking of writing a diary on how Democratic candidates should be out in force asking their constituents to vote via the absentee ballot method - thus producing a paper trail. I decided to do some research, to find out first whether or not this was already happening.
Lookie what I found:
In Cayuhoga County, Cleveland, October 9th:
Review Finds Mistakes on 5,100 ballots. And some of these aren't just punctuation. The article states that on 1,500 of these ballots had the
wrong party affiliations beside the candidates' names.
Odd, too, that there were other ballots with other mistakes. Why print so many versions? Is it a test-run to see which 'mistakes' are most effective?
The state of Ohio has recently made it easier for people to obtain absentee ballots, but have responded by publishing the names and addresses of those who make a request online. The resultant invasion of privacy is a punishing irritant. Source
In Colorado, the Tribune is warning people that voting by absentee ballot is MORE likely to result in miscounting, and seems to be discouraging people from even requesting them. Maybe they are simply already making excuses? Note: It isn't working. Colorado is reporting an increase in requests for absentee ballots.
Paper ballots are obviously not the cure-all they are sometimes billed as. The cynic in me doesn't like this, but the optimist tell me that it's still better to vote - however cautiously.