I did a little reading up on the Arizona senate election situation, and it appears that the hold up here has everything to do with the fact that they had a veritable shit ton of mailed in (aka, absentee) ballots to count. If memory serves me correctly, Maricopa County (which is where Phoenix is located) had roughly 600,000 uncounted mail in ballots as of Tuesday night. That number is now down to 375,000, but the counting is not expected to be complete until the end of next week.
What slows this down is that their procedure for verifying mailed in ballots as legit apparently comes down to comparing the signature on the mailed in ballot with the signature on the subject voter's voter registration form. So every time they open up an envelope with a mailed in ballot in it, they have to track down that signature and do a comparison.
Moreover, there are a certain number of instances where the signature on the registration form does not match the signature on the mailed in ballot. IN those cases, the practice of the various Arizona counties varies. In Maricopa and Pima counties, they set those ballots aside and have a voting official attempt to "cure" the discrepancy. Say a voter has developed Parkinson's Disease or Bell's Palsy, and his or her signature is not the same as it was when he or she signed a voter registration form. In such a case, a phone call to the voter would likely explain (i.e., "cure") the discrepancy. Maricopa and Pima counties allow such "cures" to be effected within a short period after Election Day (I believe it is a maximum of five days). Other counties do not allow for any post-Election Day "cure."
This has resulted in Registrars of those other counties seeking a court ruling either requiring Maricopa and Pima counties' mismatching mailed in ballots to be disregarded, or allowing these other counties a similar opportunity to "cure" their mismatched mailed in ballots. The total number of such ballots in Maricopa County is reportedly 5,600. I don't think it will make a difference, but you never know.
Here's my question: Given the delay that these mailed in ballots (and their signature matching and "cure" provisions) inevitably cause, what would you do to solve this problem if you had the authority to implement a solution? I don't think you can eliminate mail in voting, but the mail in voting system was implemented (at least in Arizona) when the number of people who voted by mail was a tiny fraction of what it is today.
Do you allow the tabulation of mailed in votes to commence prior to Election Day? (They may well do that already.) If so, do you set a deadline for mailed in ballots that is, say, ten days prior to Election Day, with the idea of getting mailed in ballots counted sooner? Do you have a better way of confirming the legitimacy of a given ballot than comparing signatures on the ballot and voter registration forms, which is time consuming? Do you allow for a post election "cure" of mismatching signatures?
What slows this down is that their procedure for verifying mailed in ballots as legit apparently comes down to comparing the signature on the mailed in ballot with the signature on the subject voter's voter registration form. So every time they open up an envelope with a mailed in ballot in it, they have to track down that signature and do a comparison.
Moreover, there are a certain number of instances where the signature on the registration form does not match the signature on the mailed in ballot. IN those cases, the practice of the various Arizona counties varies. In Maricopa and Pima counties, they set those ballots aside and have a voting official attempt to "cure" the discrepancy. Say a voter has developed Parkinson's Disease or Bell's Palsy, and his or her signature is not the same as it was when he or she signed a voter registration form. In such a case, a phone call to the voter would likely explain (i.e., "cure") the discrepancy. Maricopa and Pima counties allow such "cures" to be effected within a short period after Election Day (I believe it is a maximum of five days). Other counties do not allow for any post-Election Day "cure."
This has resulted in Registrars of those other counties seeking a court ruling either requiring Maricopa and Pima counties' mismatching mailed in ballots to be disregarded, or allowing these other counties a similar opportunity to "cure" their mismatched mailed in ballots. The total number of such ballots in Maricopa County is reportedly 5,600. I don't think it will make a difference, but you never know.
Here's my question: Given the delay that these mailed in ballots (and their signature matching and "cure" provisions) inevitably cause, what would you do to solve this problem if you had the authority to implement a solution? I don't think you can eliminate mail in voting, but the mail in voting system was implemented (at least in Arizona) when the number of people who voted by mail was a tiny fraction of what it is today.
Do you allow the tabulation of mailed in votes to commence prior to Election Day? (They may well do that already.) If so, do you set a deadline for mailed in ballots that is, say, ten days prior to Election Day, with the idea of getting mailed in ballots counted sooner? Do you have a better way of confirming the legitimacy of a given ballot than comparing signatures on the ballot and voter registration forms, which is time consuming? Do you allow for a post election "cure" of mismatching signatures?
