(05-29-2020, 12:24 PM)TJBender Wrote:

(05-29-2020, 09:14 AM)MalabarJag Wrote: The few that were caught

And the incidents are increasing with time as more people vote by absentee ballot.

Do you not understand that there's a huge difference between some people requesting and receiving an absentee ballot vs. everyone getting a ballot in the mail. If you intend to steal votes you have to know where the mail-in ballots can be found. If everyone gets one then that question is already answered. There are enough incidents in the past when only a subset of votes could be stolen to show that this is a real possibility. Whether or not the number was small or just the tip of the iceberg in the past has no bearing on what could/would happen if everyone votes by mail.

So here's how you do it:

1. Two months before the election, send every registered voter a PIN. Send the PIN again at 45 days. Without this PIN, online balloting cannot be completed and a mail-in ballot won't be accepted.
   
2. The ballot contains a second identification number, tied to that PIN. The PIN and ballot are never stored together, but if the PIN doesn't match the ballot ID, the vote won't be counted. Personal identification is not contained on either form.
   

...that's it. Dual-factor authentication saves the day again.

Sounds good to me. 

I've voted using absentee ballots many times while in the military and have little concern my ballot was received and counted, although I have no way to verify that. Given that absentee and mail-in ballots were used in relatively small numbers, the temptation and opportunity for fraud was small. However, used on a large scale, what is the probability that fraud will increase substantially? Greatly, in my opinion. There needs to be a system which uses robust security methods to deter it or there will most certainly be reports of fraud and a raft of contested close races centered on the question of voter fraud. 

If they're going to do it, they need to do it right or it will forever be questioned and doubted.

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