Last minute voting quandary

[KungFuPanda]

DH and DS have waited until today to fill in their mail in ballots. They have the same first and last name. Their middle name is different, but neither one of them registered with their middle name. This has never come up before because this is DS’s first election. MY voter stuff has MY middle name, so I’m not sure why neither one of them used theirs. 
 

The question is, does it matter who uses which ballot as long as the ballot matches its envelop?

[Drama Llama]

We didn’t vote that way, but don’t you have to sign it and they check signatures? 

[Sneezyone]

I would have them call on Monday to see which of them, by birthdate, was issued which ballot/envelope. The envelope and/or certification signatures will be compared with their voter records and they could end up both being disqualified if they send in the wrong one. My voter number, for ex., was preprinted on the outer envelope. If they can call and verify their voter number then they can be sure.

Edited November 1, 2020 by Sneezyone

[Pen]

It may be state by state the way it is done so that even if someone here has a definitive answer for one place it may be incorrect where you are. 

Call your election office and ask. They are probably manned today. 

Edited November 1, 2020 by Pen

[KungFuPanda]

Wait. They found it. Voter ID is on the privacy envelop in teeny tiny print. 
 

 

(We are NOT old)

[Pam in CT]

Different states have different systems, so there is no one-size-fits-all answer; but MANY states have some sort of individual bar code or numerical identifier on the ballot itself.

(There has to be some sort of system to ensure one-exactly-one vote per identified registered voter. Different states achieve this differently but ALL states have some system to safeguard this.)

So if that individual signifier is on both the ballot AND the envelop, the ballot will be invalidated if they don't match.  Therefore, concur with @Sneezyone that calling the board of elections or SoS office is the best course.

(It may be resolvable over the phone. But be advised there's a chance both voters will have to appear in person, together, with both sets of ballots & envelops in hand, to get the mail-ins voided and new ballots issued. I know of at least one state, in which I'm phonebanking, where that's the only way that particular issue could be resolved. Electoral officials take the safeguarding of ballots pretty seriously.)

[Sneezyone]

2 minutes ago, Pam in CT said:

Different states have different systems, so there is no one-size-fits-all answer; but MANY states have some sort of individual bar code or numerical identifier on the ballot itself.

(There has to be some sort of system to ensure one-exactly-one vote per identified registered voter. Different states achieve this differently but ALL states have some system to safeguard this.)

So if that individual signifier is on both the ballot AND the envelop, the ballot will be invalidated if they don't match.  Therefore, concur with @Sneezyone that calling the board of elections or SoS office is the best course.

(It may be resolvable over the phone. But be advised there's a chance both voters will have to appear in person, together, with both sets of ballots & envelops in hand, to get the mail-ins voided and new ballots issued. I know of at least one state, in which I'm phonebanking, where that's the only way that particular issue could be resolved. Electoral officials take the safeguarding of ballots pretty seriously.)

This is how it works in VA as well.

[Lanny]

It would be much better if they would take them to a place where Mail In Ballots can be dropped off. They are saying it is too late to mail them via USPS.  Depending on the state regulations where you live, the ballots might be counted if they are post marked by election day and are delivered to the voting authorities within a certain amount of days after that. On the other hand, I believe in some states the ballots must be received on or before election day.

[KungFuPanda]

8 hours ago, Lanny said:

It would be much better if they would take them to a place where Mail In Ballots can be dropped off. They are saying it is too late to mail them via USPS.  Depending on the state regulations where you live, the ballots might be counted if they are post marked by election day and are delivered to the voting authorities within a certain amount of days after that. On the other hand, I believe in some states the ballots must be received on or before election day.

We definitely didn’t put the ballots in the mail. My county had 9 ballot box locations to choose from. You can drop mail-in ballots in those. I went to one place expecting to find a literal box (because I’ve definitely seen them) but they were open for early in-person voting so I attempted to hand my boys’ ballots to them. They don’t touch them. One guy held out a bag with a slot while the other joked about me getting multiple votes. 
 

ETA: They DID manage to find their voter registration number on their envelopes in teeny, tiny, barcode-like print. 

Edited November 2, 2020 by KungFuPanda