Voting by mail is a better way
COMMENTARY: Voting by mail is a better way
Jeffrey J. Land is chairman of the Cherry Hill Republican Organization.
12:05 a.m. EDT September 22, 2016
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The headlines are starting to appear early this year. Two states’ voter databases have been hacked by unknown hackers, presumably from Russia. Another tells us of a device that can be brought into a polling place on Election Day that can cause the machine to read out results that are different than the votes cast.
We were told in 2001 that we needed modern electronic voting machines in order to avoid what happened in Florida in the 2000 presidential election. Those modern electronic voting machines have now been around for about 15 years.
These big machines still have old-style thermal printers. They are delivered days ahead of the election to the polling station, days before the board workers arrive to unlock them and set up for casting ballots. And then when the election is over, it takes a few more days to round them up and get them into guarded storage.
There are plenty of opportunities for a committed hacker to get up and close personal with our old and formerly trusted voting machines. The president is even considering assigning the Department of Homeland Security to oversee the integrity of this year’s federal election. It is obviously a serious concern.
Fortunately, New Jersey has vote-by-mail systems, which use good old-fashioned paper ballots that can easily be recounted by hand if necessary. At the moment, this is a less used alternative way to vote, but especially here in Camden County, more and more people are switching to it and for good reason.
There is a paper record of the vote you cast. No one can hack your paper ballot. The signature sample you have on record is compared with the outside envelope so no one can send in your ballot without the signatures matching. The people doing this are one official from each party so there can be no question of one party controlling this process. And if someone sends in a phony ballot, and you have sent in yours, you will be called to identify which one is yours before it is counted. You will also get a postcard telling you your vote has been counted.
The ballots have special security measures in them to prevent someone from making up extra ballots and sending them in. At the polls, anyone can walk in and say they are you and vote without having to show an ID. The federal courts have recently been striking down efforts to present IDs at the polls. The paper ballots that you get in the mail and fill out at your own kitchen table are a much safer way to go.
Another nice feature of voting by mail is you get your ballot in September, before all of the annoying television commercials have demonized every person on the ballot. You can do like I do, and cast your ballot right away and send it in. Or you can keep it around and send it in as October wears on. Just be sure it gets to the board of elections office in Blackwood before the polls close on Election Day.
Another nice feature is the county will even pay the postage for you to send in your application and the postage to return your ballot back to be counted. On the application, you can sign up to receive your ballot this way in the future, so you don’t ever miss out on an important election.
You can get a ballot application by visiting our website at www.cherryhillgop.org, or the Camden County website at www.camdencounty.com/vbm.
Perhaps sooner rather than later this will become the way everyone votes. It would save taxpayers from having to pay to have old-fashioned polling places operated. Board worker stipends for each polling place total $800 an election district, and Cherry Hill has 48 polling districts. Do the math. There are also the costs of maintaining and programming the machines.
This would have been a much better way to have conducted the 2014 special U.S. Senate elections. More people would have voted and it would have saved the taxpayers money.
So with all of the concerns about the safety of voting, why not do the safe bet and vote by mail? My ballot is due to arrive after they are mailed on Sept. 24. I can’t wait to vote and get it over with.
Jeffrey J. Land is chairman of the Cherry Hill Republican Organization.
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