Just a simple question on the early results

I am extremely curious about something concerning this election. This is an honest search for an answer.

We have the right to vote by secret ballot, right? As in, when I go vote, I am directed to a small cubicle they set up so people can vote in complete isolation. My wife has wanted to ask me a question at ties when we were voting, and she wasn't allowed to because we have to each vote in our own little area free from outside influence. Even mail-in ballots have all these different envelopes, including a security envelope to prevent anyone from knowing who someone voted for until it is opened and verified.

So no one knows, and I mean no one, how I voted. No one knows, and I mean no one, how my wife voted. We talk afterward and we believe each other, but there is absolutely no way to know for certain. The ballots are all identical and do not contain my name or any PII (Personally Identifiable Information). They get fed into this machine that tallies the votes, and no one even sees the ballot until it is safely tucked away in a stack with hundreds of others.

The count here is not even accessible until the polls close. The machine doesn't show how many Democrat or Republican votes have been cast, only how many total votes have been cast. The counter increments by one when I feed it my ballot, and all that does is verify that my ballot was accepted. If it's not accepted, it rudely spits it back out at me, the ballot is ripped up in front of me without looking at my markings, and I am given a new ballot to try again.

So how does anyone know how many Democrats or Republicans have voted early?

I get that yes, they know who sent in a ballot... their name (signature) must be on it. Someone could conceivably look up that name in the Registrar's Office and see how they are registered. But what about Independents like me? I never see how many Independents have voted. Also, I didn't think they were supposed to start tallying the ballots until Tuesday in most states? So how do they know who sent their ballots in? And who is searching the Registar's records for party affiliation of all these names? What is it now, 86 million or so early votes? Someone's been working overtime!

Is someone doing polls to find this out? If so, those polls are just as unreliable and skewed as any other poll. Also, again, where are the numbers for Independents?

Nothing about this early voter turnout that is being reported makes sense to me. Isn't the whole point to not know until election day the way the vote itself is going, to prevent affecting those who haven't voted yet?

If anyone knows how they are getting these numbers, I would be very interested to learn from you.

TheRedneck

a reply to: TheRedneck

All very good questions and I've wondered similar myself.

I'm especially suspicious of assuming Dem votes as Biden votes because the numbers also say that Trump is receiving as much as a third of the Black vote. No one needs to change their registration to vote for the other party's guy in a general election.

I also think the left is grossly miscalculating the effects of their cancel culture. They have been more successful than they know -- just not in the way they wanted! They mistake silence as consent. They don't realize or understand just how many good liberals they have alienated who will NOT vote for Biden.

I do have another thought as well, especially after seeing more stories about missing ballots and other voter/election mischief, which is that this is all about voter fraud in the end. Dems might just be too confident thinking they can get enough fraudulent votes to win. The polls reflect this so as no "surprises" after the election (and to encourage people to vote for winning team!) But I would have to think that Team Trump is already all over that, is well aware of the various ways votes can be manufactured, already watching and observing and taking names, gathering evidence... Voter and election fraud has been a problem for a long long time. Desperate people will do desperate things.

a reply to: TheRedneck

Excellent overview of the in-person experience.

Received mail-in ballots are tracked in order to 1) provide on-site poll workers with an accurate "eligible" voter list. In my state, you are able to query a state data base to determine whether or not mail-in ballot was received. If it was, and I show up to vote in-person, the poll worker will (should) refuse my request to vote in person. If I challenge, I can complete a provisional ballot, subject to special review/verification of eligibility before it is counted. (That is why PA called so late in 2016... Philadelphia city-proper had over 4000 provisional ballots completed on election day. Imagine 2020?)

The current reports of party percentages showing up at the polls wildly assume all Ds vote D and all Rs vote R, and Independents and Libertarians and Greenies are but wicked stepchildren, and red-headed at that!

They throw a titanium spanner in the works. I love it.

originally posted by: TheRedneck
If anyone knows how they are getting these numbers, I would be very interested to learn from you.

Take a state like Florida which allows early counting up to 27 to 30 days before the election, these votes have already been tabulated and the total voter's party affiliation, if any, is already known to election supervisors.

Hard to say but maybe it's all just another "poll" or "survey" that doesn't count every single "event" (similar to how unemployment is "estimated" and "calculated")😃


2020 General Election Early Vote Statistics

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: TheRedneck
If anyone knows how they are getting these numbers, I would be very interested to learn from you.

Take a state like Florida which allows early counting up to 27 to 30 days before the election, these votes have already been tabulated and the total voter's party affiliation, if any, is already known to election supervisors.

Reported yesterday that Trump is beating Biden (so far) in MIAMI, of all places.

a reply to: TheRedneck

After I voted, the pole guy looked at my ballot.

a reply to: TheRedneck

I've wondered about transparency. Here's a thought experiment. What if everyone voted for someone different, like yourself for example, and everyone knew for certain. Something tells me the news would go on reporting a Biden or Trump win as scheduled lol. It would be absolute proof of fraud but again we don't know who voted for who, and probably impossible to get 300 million people onboard.

a reply to: Boadicea

We desperately need election reform after this, assuming Trump manages to pull it off (if Biden wins, there will be no stopping election fraud afterward). A few simple things would go a long, long way:

• Pay election overseers very well for their one day's work.
  
• All election overseers must be over the age of 40, have lived in their district for the past 12 years, and been registered as an Independent (no party preference) for the previous six years.
  
• All voting in Federal elections is restricted to a single day. Exceptions to be made by appointment only at the Registrar's Office, and that limited to the week prior to the actual voting day.
  
• One instance of failure as an election overseer, and you are barred for life from ever getting that job again.
  
• Regular police visits to polling stations in plain clothes.
  
• All voting machines should be standardized... they display number of votes only. Programming must use integer values for all vote tallies. No internet connection.
  
• No votes without a paper ballot to back them up.
  
• Voter ID requirements Federally. Free voter IDs also mandated for the poor.
  
• Mail-in votes must be requested.
  
• Overseas military are exempted from the requirement for ballot requests. The military can coordinate this with the Registrar. Ballots are handled by the military until they reach the Registrar's Office.
• A conviction for voter fraud is a mandatory life sentence in a Federal penitentiary. No parole.
  
• Death certificates automatically transmitted to the Registrar's Office and removed from the polls.
  
• Names are removed from the voting rolls upon a Postal Change of Address form outside the present district(s).
  
• Failure to vote for a six-year period results in a certified letter sent to the last known address. If there is no response within 90 days, their name is removed.
  
• Media are prohibited from publishing any statistical statement concerning actual votes being mailed in.

That should stop the problem, at least the bulk of it.

TheRedneck

a reply to: EightAhoy

The current reports of party percentages showing up at the polls wildly assume all Ds vote D and all Rs vote R, and Independents and Libertarians and Greenies are but wicked stepchildren, and red-headed at that!

So they know which ballots sent in are from Republicans or Democrats already? How do they know that? Is it on the envelopes somewhere?

That seems like a problem.

Thanks for the info on PA as well!

TheRedneck

originally posted by: carewemust
Reported yesterday that Trump is beating Biden (so far) in MIAMI, of all places.

No one is being reported as beating anyone since none of the actual votes have been released.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

these votes have already been tabulated and the total voter's party affiliation, if any, is already known to election supervisors.

What about people who split their votes?

If someone votes Republican for Representative and Democrat for President, which are they?

TheRedneck

originally posted by: carewemust
a reply to: TheRedneck

After I voted, the pole guy looked at my ballot.

That is illegal just so you know.

As per the OP I have wondered the same thing but am too lazy to look it up.
My guess would be from early voting.

a reply to: carewemust

After I voted, the pole guy looked at my ballot.

In Alabama, that will get him kicked out of the polling place. Permanently.

Maybe you should let the authorities know?

TheRedneck

a reply to: TheRedneck

It's only tracking your current registered affiliation, not who you voted for.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: carewemust
Reported yesterday that Trump is beating Biden (so far) in MIAMI, of all places.

No one is being reported as beating anyone since none of the actual votes have been released.

Unless Republicans in Miami are voting for BIDEN, Trump is winning there.

Source: www.politico.com...

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

No one is being reported as beating anyone since none of the actual votes have been released.

Fox reported on it. I saw it.

TheRedneck

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

It's only tracking your current registered affiliation, not who you voted for.

OK, I can buy that.

Are there no Independents any more?

TheRedneck

originally posted by: TheRedneck
a reply to: carewemust

After I voted, the pole guy looked at my ballot.

In Alabama, that will get him kicked out of the polling place. Permanently.

Maybe you should let the authorities know?

TheRedneck

After voting, the machine prints out a big sheet with your votes. You carry it to the poll worker. The poll worker takes the sheet, looks at it, then inserts it into a big scanning machine. It scans/sucks in the ballot, then the ballot drops into the attached (sealed) dumpster.

originally posted by: carewemust
Unless Republicans in Miami are voting for BIDEN, Trump is winning there.

Source: www.politico.com...

Your source:

Miami-Dade is home to nearly 634,000 registered Democrats, or 41 percent of the county’s total. Republicans comprise 27 percent and independents 32 percent.

As of Thursday morning, 337,000 Democrats had already cast early and absentee ballots in Miami-Dade, nearly 80,000 more than the 253,000 Republicans. Independent voters, namely those with no party affiliation, have cast an additional 219,000. Polls indicate they’re leaning Biden, which Democrats point to as a potential saving grace if Republicans once again cast more votes overall in the election.