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Notes -
I think there’s an issue with having assistance in any form that isn’t witnessed by a judge, or in signing with an X in front of two witnesses when we’re talking about mail in ballots. The issue being that no one outside of the assistant is able to observe the process and make sure that the disabled person is competent enough to understand the things they’re voting on, isn’t being coerced or tricked into voting the way they’re voting, or even that they were involved in the process at all.
All of those things would be obvious if the person has to show up and sign in and follow the simple directions of the verification process. You can also potentially overhear things that would make you question whether the person is 3x oriented (knows where they are, knows the time and the date). If granny rocks up and you hear her say this is a nice bingo hall, you can question it. If she thinks it’s 1955, again, you can question it. If the “helpers” are very obviously saying things like “you want to vote for Biden,” or similarly suggesting voting for or against issues, again, the judges would absolutely be able to notice and question it.
Mail in voting makes all of those things much more difficult to detect. I could absolutely vote in some dementia patient’s name and mark an X then have myself and my partner sign it as witnesses. I could go to the home and find the patient who thinks it’s 1955 and the nursing home is a cruise ship and have them vote.
I can go and tell my gran to vote in the way I want her to either for a reward or to avoid a punishment or even just suggesting something bad happening if she doesn’t. I saw something similar when I used to work at a nursing home ten years ago. The social worker who was evaluating whether patients were fit to return home had a way of sneaking in her politics into her evaluations. She’d add “whether you like him or not” to the question of who’s the president when republicans were in charge and not democrats. It left a very obvious impression that being fit to return home might well depend on supporting the democrats. If these patients were filling out ballots while waiting to see if they were going home would be pressured to vote for democrats. Especially if she’s helping them fill out the ballot. Family members could imply that they won’t see their grandchildren if Trump wins. Or promise them ice cream if they vote Biden.
Mail in ballots make all of that impossible to detect because the only thing you have is a document signed after the fact. If it’s signed with an X and witnesses, there’s no way to know whether or not the person is even aware that they voted or anything else.
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