Damnit! I just signed my husband's envelope for our mail in ballot *UPDATE #17*

[meadowlark5]

Last edited Mon Oct 29, 2012, 10:30 AM - Edit history (2)

We get mail in ballots and we put the ballot in an envelope with each of our names on our own envelope. I was folding ballots and placing them in the secure sleeve, grabbed a yellow envelope to sign not even thinking and signed on the signature line, only to see it was my husband's envelope

Has anyone ever had anything happen to the envelope of their mail-in ballot? I'm going to call tomorrow and I do know the elections office is still distributing requested mail in ballots until Tuesday. I'm just worried that this is going to screw everything up. I don't think we can now just walk in and vote because we have to opt out of the mail in ballot and I don't know how long that will take.

GAA! And we're in a swing state too with every vote counting. Why am I so stupid?

[LisaL]

1. Call your board of elections and ask them what to do.

Maybe they will allow you and your husband to bring your ballots in.

[underthematrix]

2. Call the local election board but it seems as

though your husband will have to vote person. He takes his absentee ballot and envelope to any early voting place and surrenders it and they will let him vote. If he goes on election day he will have to go to his precinct.

[LisaL]

3. Please don't give this sort of advise.

It's not going to be accurate in every state.

[meadowlark5]

4. If they could reprint the envelopes but I don't know if they will

I guess if we could quickly opt out of the mail in ballot and just vote, that would be fine. But then I worry that the information won't be processed correctly and it will look like someone was trying to vote in person (fraud) since mail in ballots were sent.

Goddamnit I am so mad I myself!

[LisaL]

5. You need to find out what specific rules in your state are.

By calling your board of elections.

[meadowlark5]

8. I just looked on the states website under FAQs

And one question was, "what if I make a mistake, damage or lose my ballot?"

It says you can request a new ballot for the county clerk. I just hope it's not considered a provisional ballot. It better not be

[LisaL]

10. Call them up tomorrow.

I called a board of elections recently and they were very helpful-but you need to be persistent.
They might allow your husband to come in, in person, to deliver his ballot.
You still have your envelope, right? So you can send your ballot, at least.
But don't do anything until you talk to the board of elections.

[2Design]

6. take the ballot with you - they will want to see it and tear it up

they just want to make sure you are not voting twice

[LisaL]

11. It is not true in every state.

Some states might allow that sort of thing. And some don't.

[peace13]

7. Accidents happen.

I would walk in to the BOE with your husband and both ballots and envelopes. I am sure that they can work this out. I would not take no for an answer. Worst possible case he can vote at the BOE and be done with it. I always vote on paper and I always walk my ballot into the BOE Office. I figure that if they are going to steal my vote they can at least look me in the eye. Coming from Ohio we have a long line of election weirdities! Good luck. My guess is that this is not the first time this has happened.

[meadowlark5]

9. We don't sign our ballots, it's the envelope the ballot is placed in to mail back or drop off

So our individual ballots are fine, it's just my signature is on his return ballot envelope.

[LisaL]

12. They check the signature before they will count it.

So that is a problem.

[Firebirds01]

13. Signature

I registered to vote when I was 18 (duh) and used a regular script signature. It has now evolved to a squiggly sort of signature. I went to vote early and put my new signature of the ballot envelope instead of the old one. they caught it right away and allowed me to fix it.

I dont see it as a problem that cant be resolved. Call the county BoE.

[meadowlark5]

15. First thing tomorrow I will be calling

I know I can request a mail in ballot for pick up from the BOE all they way up until Friday of this coming week. So hopefully they can or will just reprint our mail in ballot envelopes since they would allow me to still request one if I wanted to vote that way.

[Sedona]

14. You MUST contact your local board of elections

If it were me I'd take unpaid time off work for this first thing tomorrow morning if I had to. Walk into BOE with your husband and ballots and envelopes. Don't accept a provisional ballot! Your husband's ballot is not "spoiled", just the envelope is.

I'm willing to bet your not the first person this has happened to.

Wishing you luck. Please come back to this thread and let us know how it goes.

[meadowlark5]

16. I will not accept a provisional ballot

There is nothing wrong, we have identification and everything we need to prove who we are. So there would be no reason for them to even suggest it and I will not accept it.

[meadowlark5]

17. I called the elections office about my mistake

and all we have to do is cross out my signature and have my husband sign it. I asked several times, "this won't invalidate it?" "this won't throw it into some provisional state?" etc and she said no and no. She said they've had it happen before.

I have to wait till my husband gets home tonight to sign the envelope then I will take them to the courthouse tomorrow and drop them off

[snooper2]

18. Where are updates #1 - #16?

[meadowlark5]

19. I tried to make it easier to see my update by putting the post number in which my update appears

I'm new here so maybe my training from other message boards don't make sense here. Sorry.