Voting By Mail Is Secure

If this looks like a Twitter thread, it’s because it is. But it’s important enough to keep around, so here you go.

Ignore the Attorney General behind the curtain. Voting by mail does not create an opportunity for foreign entities to print ballots and stuff the ballot box. Drawn from how it works here in Washington state, here’s why not. 1/10

Every ballot issued is sent to a registered voter already in the system. Each ballot comes with three components: the ballot itself, a privacy sleeve, and the remittal envelope, with a barcode on it. 2/10

As a voter, I fill in my ballot, slide it into the privacy sleeve, then slide that into the remittal envelope, sign that, and drop it either into a mailbox or a designated ballot collection box. 3/10

When they receive my ballot, they verify not only the signature, but also the barcode, to ensure it matches the ballot they sent me. If both match, they put the ballot (still inside the privacy sleeve) into their system for tabulation. 4/10

Important side note: the person who’s verifying (and thus aware of) my identity does not see how I voted. That’s what the privacy sleeve is for. 5/10

So, as for those hypothetical foreign-printed ballots. Three possibilities there. First: they have a made-up barcode that does not match any actual sent ballots. Disposition: straight to the recycle bin. 6/10

Second possibility: they steal the ballot out of the mailbox, fill it in, and submit it. Thing is, the signature is unlikely to match if the victim isn’t personally known, and the ballot is likely to be reported missing in any case. 7/10

So the bad guys could maybe sneak in a handful of votes this way if they were dedicated enough, but there’s no way to scale this sort of attack without raising alarms. Ballots are sent weeks in advance, so there would be time to sort this out. 8/10

So, third possibility: they print up a bunch of duplicate ballots, so nobody reports as missing. Well, guess what. Duplicate barcodes are going to get noticed. The voter reg contains the contact information, so the real voter will get to clarify. 9/10

So, in conclusion, Bill Barr isn’t stupid, but he assumes you are. Prove him wrong, and embrace vote by mail. 10/10