No, no! I said, no postmark, no countee... LOL
I think in this case very strict adherence to the law is the only recourse. There is too much room for fraud, and if the ballots aren't postmarked, you can't tell when and where they were mailed. If someone still had his ballot and heard how close the election was, he might run and mail it, but it shouldn't count. Only ballots that strictly adhere to the rules should count, and I would hold both sides to the same strict rules.
As for the absentee ballots, unless I misunderstood, which is of course possible, the place where the county employees were helping were on the application for the absentee ballot, not on the absentee ballot themselves. If the employees were changing or adding things to the actual absentee ballots then of course the ballots shouldn't count. No ballot that is received in a defective state should count. However I see a big difference if it was the application for the ballot. The reason that I see a difference is that if the person seeking the absentee ballot had not received an absentee ballot by return mail, then that person could have taken action to correct their application. They could have submitted a new application, found their defective application and corrected the defects, or simply voted in the main election. Look for example at that guy who wanted an absentee ballot who requested it but it never came. He then requested a second and third one before eventually getting one.
Carl |
