Associated Press: NY mail-in voting deluge fuels uncounted ballots, confusion

Associated Press: NY mail-in voting deluge fuels uncounted ballots, confusion

Common Cause New York Executive Director Susan Lerner called it “unacceptable and unfortunate” that so many absentee ballots are being disqualified. “Right now an absentee ballot can be discarded if a cautious voter puts tape on their envelope to make sure the ballot doesn’t fall out,” she said. Her group wants lawmakers to allow voters to request absentee ballots earlier and allow election workers to start counting absentee ballots sooner after Election Day.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York’s quest to keep voters safe from COVID-19 by letting them vote by mail in the June primary has led to big delays in tabulating results, concerns about disenfranchisement — and questions about whether there will be an even bigger mess in the fall.

Election officials say it will take them until early August to finish counting a tidal wave of absentee ballots that overwhelmed a system which typically handles only around 5% of the vote. About 1.8 million New Yorkers requested mail-in ballots for New York’s primary.

Voting ended June 23, but the results of many races, including two closely watched congressional primaries, are still unknown. …

A bigger problem than the delays, though, is that thousands of votes cast in good faith are getting invalidated during the counting process, candidates and good-government activists say.

Some ballots are being knocked out because voters forgot to sign and date them; others because envelopes lacked postmarks that would indicate whether the ballot was dropped in the mail in time to beat the voting deadline. …

Common Cause New York Executive Director Susan Lerner called it “unacceptable and unfortunate” that so many absentee ballots are being disqualified.

“Right now an absentee ballot can be discarded if a cautious voter puts tape on their envelope to make sure the ballot doesn’t fall out,” she said.

Her group wants lawmakers to allow voters to request absentee ballots earlier and allow election workers to start counting absentee ballots sooner after Election Day.