Chapter 10 — Most Common Problems
E. Surrendering a Vote by Mail Ballot In Order to Vote In Person
1. How Surrendered Vote by Mail Ballots Are Handled
A vote by mail ballot can be surrender at the polling place on election day or during early voting so that a voter can vote in person.
The election judge will check the records to see if the voter has already voted.
1a. Voter Claims To Have Never Received A Vote by Mail Ballot
If the voter does not have their vote by mail ballot and they claim they never received a vote by mail ballot, the voter can sign an affidavit stating that the vote by mail ballot was never received.
1b. Voter Informed by the Election Authority That the Completed Vote by Mail Ballot Was Never Received
If the election authority informed the voter that the ballot was never received, and once the election judge confirms this, the voter can sign an affidavit and then proceed to vote.
1c. Voter Informed by the Election Authority That the Returned Vote by Mail Ballot Was Rejected
If the vote by mail ballot was returned and rejected, once the election judge confirms the vote by mail ballot was rejected, the voter can have vote a new ballot without signing an affidavit.
1d. The Voter Claims the Vote by Mail Ballot Was Lost Or Destroyed
If the voter acknowledges that the vote by mail ballot was received but lost or destroyed, the voter must vote by Provisional Ballot
1e. The Record Shows That The Voter Has Already Voted
If the election judges shows that the vote by mail ballot was accepted, but the voter insists that they did not vote by mail, then the voter must vote by Provisional Ballot
2. Locating the Surrendered Vote by Mail Ballot
Voters will surrender their vote by mail ballots still in the security envelope.
Election judges have written "SURRENDERED" on the security envelope and considered their job complete. It's not.
What the Poll Watcher Is Looking For
The election judge has to locate the vote by mail ballot while the voter is in front of the election judge and before a new ballot is issued to the voter.
The voter is instructed to surrender the ballot and cannot be issued a new ballot until the vote by mail ballot is surrendered and canceled.
For all we know, the security envelope holds blank paper and the voter will vote two ballots.
Or, someone else can obtain the ballot and use it for nefarious purposes.
The poll watcher is to make sure that the vote by mail ballot is located, placed in the election judge's hand, and canceled.
Excuses
The poll watcher may hear reasons, such as individual identifiers on each ballot, as to why it is not necessary to locate the ballot and make sure that it canceled.
Neither the poll watcher nor the election judge have control over those safeguards. Those safeguards are secondary and beyond the purview of the poll watcher.
The State, in its statutes, instituted this particular safeguard. Until and unless the state repeals this safeguard, the poll watcher will follow the State's statutes.
3. Cancelling the Surrendered Vote by Mail Ballot
What the Poll Watcher Is Looking For
Each surrendered vote by mail ballot is to be marked "SPOILED" before a new ballot can be given to the voter.
If the election judge prefers to mark the ballot as "CANCELLED" or even "SURRENDERED", the poll watcher should have no objection as long as the surrendered ballot is made unusable.
The poll watcher is to make sure that the election judge (or even the voter) marks the ballot in heavy black ink (the poll watcher may want to carry a black marker for this purpose) diagonally across both the front and back of the ballot.
The poll watcher is to make sure that the vote by mail ballot is marked and is unusable before another ballot can be issued to the voter.
The election judge may have instructions to mark "SURRENDERED" on the certification/security envelope. Marking the certification/security envelope is a procedure borrowed from examining the vote by mail procedure.
The poll watcher does not care how the vote by mail security envelope is marked. If the election judge wants to write the Cliff Notes version of War And Peace on the security envelope, the poll watcher should have no opinion. The only concern is that marking the certification/security envelope is not a substitution for marking the vote by mail ballot.