EDIT: See @AnimePhantasm comment below! My friend called the election board and they confirmed what @AnimePhantasm and @fmstrat commented! This was Virginia reusing last year’s envelopes.

OP I am an absentee voter in Blacksburg just next door. Shine a light on the blacked out part. I am 99% sure this is legit, they just crossed out the witness requirement. I can see the word witness under the sharpie in your picture. Virgina doesnt have to do that witness thing anymore. We did at the last general election, so I am guessing they just reused the same envelopes. You should call and ask your elections office before alerting the news. They are hardworking folks whose jobs are already 100 times harder then they used to be. Stirring up reports of election fraud where it isn’t happening makes us just as bad as them.

  • ObsidianZed@lemmy.world
    0·
    1 month ago

    This brought up a concern of mine that I had last year. I tried looking but couldn’t find it. Is there a way to verify that my vote was counted and specifically counted for whom I voted?

    Edit: To clarify, my state does have voter history but only what elections I vote in, not how I voted.

    Worst case scenario, someone intercepts my ballot and/or changes my vote. Website says “yep, you voted.” Great, but I want to know it was counted correctly.

    Ultimately our whole voting system needs an overhaul, but I doubt that’ll happen anytime soon.

    • otterpop@lemmy.world
      1·
      1 month ago

      I don’t believe there is, and if there was, it could be used for some really nefarious purposes!

      • HappyTimeHarry@lemm.eeEnglish
        1·
        1 month ago

        in my state (OR) you can sign up for an email that says when your ballot was counted but not who you voted for.

        • leds@feddit.dk
          1·
          1 month ago

          Yeah there is a good reason for that to be secret: it prevents buying votes because you can’t prove who you votes for, if someone offers you money to vote a certain way you can always take the money and vote the other way, no way to prove how you voted.

          • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
            12·
            12 days ago

            And they have the right to conceal their vote, as they should, but why should I not have the right to reveal mine even to myself, Necromancer?

            • boydster@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              11·
              11 days ago

              That’s not how this started, moving the goalposts is pretty cheap. I was literally linking to an issue happening in this vary election that illustrates why secret ballots are so important. A position which, if you recall, you began by stating was invalid because you misunderstand (or, now more clearly, willfully misrepresent) how democracy in the US works, and your proposed “solution” only helps illustrate the easy ways vote buying and manipulation would be introduced without secret ballots. I’ll block you, for obvious reasons. Good luck

              There is already a record of who voted for what, all of your fears could be taking place as things are now. Making it accessible to the person, even with hoops to jump through, would only be an improvement.

              Edit: additional context for added relevance

    • just2look@lemm.ee
      1·
      1 month ago

      I don’t know if all states have it, but Virginia does have vote history on their voter registration page. It doesn’t show what your vote was, but does show that it was received and counted.