Color Me Curious

I’m not a conspiracist. I don’t subscribe to conspiracy theories and generally turn my nose up when confronted with tales of how “they” (the government, Big Brother or whoever) are trying to get information from me, about me or against me. Don’t be mistaken, though; I try to listen to every bit of data regarding scams that try to scare people into giving up personal information. That information is truly important and needs to be adhered to in order to avoid being manipulated and possibly swindled.

But it was with interest that I learned of a weird detail in the ballot return envelopes for this upcoming election. The election questions whether or not Gov. Gavin Newsom should be recalled and, if the voter votes “yes,” who should replace him. The question I have surrounds two holes on the return envelope that holds the completed ballot.

If you’ve received your ballot, take out the return envelope and you’ll see what I’m talking about. On the back side, below where it reads “Voter: Sign here. Do not print,” there are holes punched on either side of the signature line. Depending on how the completed ballot is inserted into the return envelope, it is possible to spy how the voter responded to the question of whether or not the governor should be recalled.

I’m not overly concerned about “bad guys” peeking at ballots. I am concerned, though, that these holes provide the idea of how bad guys could peek at the ballots and then pull those that don’t align with their goals regarding the recall. In other words, it provides suspicion that the results of the recall election are bogus and should be disregarded.

It seems to me that there is enough suspicion surrounding our elections. Whether ballot boxes are compromised or ballots stolen (for whatever reason), people are not as confident as they once were regarding voting and the protocols used to ensure a fair election. Thankfully in this election it is easy enough to thwart this possible compromise: simply make sure that the ballot is inserted in such a way that the “yes” or “no” can’t be read – even by the bad guy peekers.