frequently asked questions

Obviously, the biggest risk that exists for mail in voting that doesn't exist for precinct voting is that the ballot is lost in the mail or delayed beyond the state deadline.  In such case, the voter is completely disenfranchised.  This simply doesn't happen at all with protected precinct voting.

Another risk is that the absentee ballot is misdirected and not cast by the voter but rather by someone else.  This simply doesn't happen with precinct voting with proper id checks.  But  in Georgia there is currently an investigation where somebody requested over 150 absentee ballots from the same fax number.  In the contested Minnesota election in 2008 involving actor Al Franken, the margin of victory was 812 votes while both parties admitted that around 12,000 hand marked paper ballots were ineligible for counting under state law.  With in precinct computer voting, there is no such thing as a ballot deemed ineligible to be counted.