Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just a shout out not to sleep on these.

Once opened, I’m looking at 3 envelopes and 3 pages from and back of instruction and still haven’t seen the ballot yet, that’s in another sealed envelope. And no where else did I see or hear but apparently your ballot requires the signature of a WITNESS.

We’ve decided to go to take the mail in ballot with us to a polling location and vote early in person.

It’s 4 envelopes total, each with instructions on them. And 3 sheets of instructions pages, 2 with instructions on front and back. And now everyone knows you don’t need to complete the witness signature. That’s just the facts. So don’t put it off. Get your ballot in the mail or take it early to a polling place where you can either drop it on the drop box or vote in person. Just vote. Early.

What’s your plan to vote?

Anonymous wrote:Just a shout out not to sleep on these.

Once opened, I’m looking at 3 envelopes and 3 pages from and back of instruction and still haven’t seen the ballot yet, that’s in another sealed envelope. And no where else did I see or hear but apparently your ballot requires the signature of a WITNESS.

We’ve decided to go to take the mail in ballot with us to a polling location and vote early in person.

It’s 4 envelopes total, each with instructions on them. And 3 sheets of instructions pages, 2 with instructions on front and back. And now everyone knows you don’t need to complete the witness signature. That’s just the facts. So don’t put it off. Get your ballot in the mail or take it early to a polling place where you can either drop it on the drop box or vote in person. Just vote. Early.

If you believe you may not safely have a witness present while completing the absentee ballot for the November 3, 2020 Election, you are not required to have a witness present.
Accordingly, you may disregard the witness signature requirement if you believe you may not safely have a witness present while completing your ballot.

You can confirm this information in the OFFICIAL virginia elections website
https://www.elections.virginia.gov/casting-a-ballot/absentee-voting/

There's still covid out there, and for the households with individuals in the higher risk category, it is worth to sit down, deal with the two envelopes and the four pages of instructions.


(received my ballot, read instructions, sent it back and it has been received, you can track your ballot with "ballot scout" https://ballotscout.org/partners/5a8f1161-23a0-4fa0-8ec9-3e090e97e9b3/va-search, and at least in VA you can additionally confirm in the official elections website (link above).

Could it have been done better? YES fo course. We could blame bureaucracy, but COME ON, if we want to complain and place blame lets start by complaining about the people who did not use ANY of the voting options available in 2016, and got us into this mess!!

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like Virginia has really messed things up. Bigly.

Best thing to do is to vote in person. As most people should across the country.

Mail in ballots are the votes most frequently rejected.

Take your mail in ballot with you and vote early!
Imagine if the counting was mostly done by Nov 3!

Sounds like Virginia has really messed things up. Bigly.

Best thing to do is to vote in person. As most people should across the country.

Mail in ballots are the votes most frequently rejected.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The change to NOT requiring a witness signature was part of a consent agreement in a lawsuit. The agreement was approved on Aug. 20.

Obviously, these ballots are printed before that date.

So, it was an issue of timing. You aren't required to have a witness, but it isn't going to invalidate your ballot if you have a witness signature.

https://www.wsls.com/news/2020/08/22/court-oks-virginia-ags-agreement-to-promote-absentee-voting/

With 4 pages of instruction plus instructions on 4 envelopes, they should have added a sticker or label that read: WITNESS SIGNATURE NO LONGER REQUIRED

This is what I don’t get. All those instruction pages and on envelopes. And it’s wrong! Throw a fluorescent sticker on the envelope with the update.

There is another thread here on the local politics forum about the Virginia ballot and the fact that it has a line requiring a witness signature. That signature is NOT required but was printed on the ballots before the change, dropping the witness requirement, was made. Please, PLEASE get word out to everyone you can that there is NOT a witness requirement (nor does it invalidate a ballot if you DO have a witness sign).

This is a truly bad error that is likely to result in people thinking they can't vote because they can't or are afraid to get a witness. Elderly people or those who are medically vulnerable and don't have a live-in family member might think they don't want to risk going to find a witness. Please spread the word about this problem so everyone knows: You and you alone can sign the VA ballot and despite the line on the inner envelope (highlighted in yellow, good GRIEF) -- you do not need a witness signature!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-poli...a-9ceb-061d646d9c67_story.html
From the Post article:
"Some Virginia voters who received absentee ballots by mail this week were left scratching their heads at the included instructions, which told them they didn’t need witness signatures this year to make their ballots count — but, if they wanted their ballots to count, they needed witness signatures.

Virginia voters do not have to have a witness signature on their absentee ballots this fall.

State and local elections officials acknowledged the problem but pointed to late changes to Virginia law eliminating the commonwealth’s long-standing witness-signature requirement for absentee voting this year as a reason for the confusion."

Anonymous wrote:The change to NOT requiring a witness signature was part of a consent agreement in a lawsuit. The agreement was approved on Aug. 20.

Obviously, these ballots are printed before that date.

So, it was an issue of timing. You aren't required to have a witness, but it isn't going to invalidate your ballot if you have a witness signature.

https://www.wsls.com/news/2020/08/22/court-oks-virginia-ags-agreement-to-promote-absentee-voting/

With 4 pages of instruction plus instructions on 4 envelopes, they should have added a sticker or label that read: WITNESS SIGNATURE NO LONGER REQUIRED

The change to NOT requiring a witness signature was part of a consent agreement in a lawsuit. The agreement was approved on Aug. 20.

Obviously, these ballots are printed before that date.

So, it was an issue of timing. You aren't required to have a witness, but it isn't going to invalidate your ballot if you have a witness signature.

https://www.wsls.com/news/2020/08/22/court-oks-virginia-ags-agreement-to-promote-absentee-voting/

Not what this issue is:

"Metropolitan DC Local Politics
Discussion of political issues local to Washington, DC and the surrounding areas of Maryland and Virginia."

Anonymous wrote:This sounds so confusing that I wonder if it was deliberate. I'm concerned because if people who consulted the state or county websites were confused, and then came here, it will be really confusing and problematic for voters without easy access to the internet. I'm afraid that there will be people who may decide not to vote because they can't get their ballots witnessed, or have some other difficulty -- that is exactly what mail-in ballots SHOULD be designed to prevent.

Yes, a big concern.

This sounds so confusing that I wonder if it was deliberate. I'm concerned because if people who consulted the state or county websites were confused, and then came here, it will be really confusing and problematic for voters without easy access to the internet. I'm afraid that there will be people who may decide not to vote because they can't get their ballots witnessed, or have some other difficulty -- that is exactly what mail-in ballots SHOULD be designed to prevent.

I hate that this was moved to a forum that I literally have never been to before. This is not a METRO is but much bigger.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Received mail-in ballots. We intend to return ballots in person to FFx Govt. Ctr. rather than by return mail.

Can one person from my household return all 3 of our ballots (mine, spouse, and DD)? Or do all three of us need to go to drop it off?

Yes, one person can return all three. It's just a drop box with a poll worker sitting next to it. They don't verify anything when you drop it off.

NO NO NO. You can take ONLY YOUR ballot to the Govt. Ctr. It's on the form.

Witness signature is not required but in my family we signed with a witness just in case the orange idiot tries to contest this.

I swear there are dumpster trumpsters on this post intentionally trying to confuse things. The process was not that complicated.

You just raised 2 legitimate concerns, causes for confusion and 2 different answers were provided here in this thread. Don’t bury your head and act like this is a Trump overreaction problem. Virginia has blame here.

Let’s help who we can, inform others and fill out and turn in these ballots properly.

Anonymous wrote:I’m going sane with the thought of 4 more years of this imbecile. I’m also annoyed beyond measure that this has been made so complicated. Virginia is INVITING confusion and HANDING Trumpsters excuses to blah blah blah. If hanging chads could cause controversy and decide an election, just wait.

INSANE. (Told you).