This document is a Citizen’s Ballot Initiative Template for the processing, handling, and storage of mail-in ballots, at the precinct level, in ___________ county, for the purposes of: 1)preventing fraud, and 2)permanent storage of the validated documentation of the election results, for the public to inspect.
Note: This ballot initiative template is in a format designed to be shown as a promotion to the public, during canvassing of the voters of __________________ county. The final version of this template will be done in a traditional format, for entry as a ballot measure for a county election.
Preface:
The citizens of _____________ county demand that our elections be conducted in a transparent manner that is satisfactory to all. We are not satisfied with the claim by election professionals that “once the ballot and its envelope are separated, there is no way to check on the validity of the election results, because the sanctity of the secret ballot must be protected.”
Our demand is being made not because the citizens of our county suspect past fraud, but rather because in light of nationwide events of the past years, we wish to feel totally secure in our election process.
Furthermore, we feel that should this experiment be successful, it would provide an example for citizens elsewhere who also feel a need for election security.
In the event that this proposed initiative wins at the ballot box and becomes a statute, but there exists a ruling by federal, state, or other authority that prevents its implementation, then it will remain on the books as a ‘resolution’, until such time as the ruling preventing its implementation is repealed.
Proposed Fraud-Prevention Methodology for counting of mail-in ballots:
1)The inspection and counting will be open to poll watchers and to the public.
2)Separation. The ballots, still in their envelopes, will be separated into groups of 50; next, their envelopes will be removed; then, the ballots and envelopes from each group of 50 will be put into two separate, uniquely-numbered boxes… one box for ballots, the other for envelopes. From this point on, each pair of boxes… one containing ballots, the other containing envelopes… will remain paired for perpetuity, including when the boxes go to storage.
So… just as in the old system… no ballot can be matched with any particular envelope… thereby protecting our legacy of the legally-mandated secret ballot. However, it will be known that any fraud that is detected has originated from among a particular group of 50. Although the offender is unknown, it will be exponentially easier to correct the problem, than it would be if the fraudster were totally anonymous among the entire voting population.
3)Inspection. The inspection process of the first batch of 50 ballots and its corresponding batch of 50 envelopes, will begin. It will be done by multiple poll workers, and viewed by the public.
Note: the above-mentioned inspection occurs before the vote-counting process. They are two separate processes.
Any pair of 2 boxes in which suspect ballot(s) or envelope(s) is(are) discovered, will have the suspect document(s) attached to the outside of the box. After the remainder of the contents of the 2 boxes have been inspected, all current action on this pair of boxes will stop, until the offending document(s) can be inspected by election professionals.
4)Repairing of discovered fraud. If one or more of the suspect document(s) is(are) found to be, in fact, fraudulent, then all of the 50 voters associated with the 2 boxes must re-vote. In this manner, the fraudulent vote has been isolated even without having a method to identify the perpetrator(s) of the fraud… thus maintaining our legacy of the secret ballot.
In this manner, election integrity and the secret ballot are both protected. Under the old system, discovery of a fraudulent envelope(s) was useless, because we can’t make everyone in the county re-vote. Now, we only have to require a relatively small number of people to revote, in order to clean up the mess.
Discovery of a fraudulent ballot would be useful also, but not as critical since the ballot could just be removed and not added to the vote count. Since the integrity of the election has been restored by the removal of the offending ballot, a re-vote would be optional; the only purpose would be to attempt to discover the street address used by the perpetrator.
5)Storage. After inspection and counting, all boxes will be security-taped and placed in a secure storage facility for perpetuity. Public viewing will be available. Whenever security tape is removed from a box for viewing, afterward a new security tape will be put on the box, and both old and new security tape numbers will be written on the box and recorded in a master file.
6)Any voter who wishes may contact election authorities with the serial number of his/her ballot, to ensure it was counted and not misplaced.
7)For the sake of simplicity, some details have been omitted from this Methodology section; for example, before a re-vote, voters could be contacted and asked if they had voted, in an attempt to discover the street address(es) that were the source of the problem. Another example: the separation of ballots/envelopes could be done by machine, in the event there are complaints about the process being done by poll workers; or, creative separation methods could be devised whereby workers never see the front of the envelope that contains the address, during the separation process.
Conclusion: Two methods for implementation of the initiative.
Should this ballot initiative be passed into law by the voters of ____________ county, here is how it will be entered into the books:
1)As a law, if there is no ruling in existence by a state, federal, or other authority, that prevents its implementation.
2)If such a ruling exists or is made, then the law will enter the books as a resolution, until such time as the ruling is repealed; at that time the resolution will revert to a law, and will be implemented.