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.

    • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      This and the original Op image are why I refuse to do absentee/mail in voting.

      Theres just so many ways it can be fucked with, and potentially handwaved away. Especially at an institutional level in the less reputable coughconservativecough states.

      Mail in ballot used to be fine, and safe, and secure… but 8 years of fucking domestic political terrorism/usurpation/insurrection/etc have kicked that out the door, down the stairs, into the street and infront of the bus.

      I don’t care what I have to do, what sacrifices I have to make, and what I have to endure.

      I’m voting in person this election, cause its too important not to.

      and everyone else should too.

      Cause in person voting is the only way to minimize the fuckery they can pull.

      • CM400@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        I mean sure, I pretty much agree with you, but…

        There were so many fucking trumpers hanging out at the parking lot of my voting site last time, I don’t want to be (or for my family to) around that shit.

        • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          IT was like that in 2016 for me.

          I shouldered my way through anyway. They are stupid, but they aint complete fucking morons. They know starting shit at an election venue is a good ticket to federal pound-them-in-the-ass prison.

        • medgremlin@midwest.social
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          3 months ago

          A lot of states have places for early in-person voting. You might have to drive a bit of a distance, but it allows for in-person voting in a less chaotic environment.

          • grue@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            You might have to drive a bit of a distance, but it allows for in-person voting in a less chaotic environment.

            And thus we see how voter intimidation at polling places on election day is still effective even with early voting, since it skews towards people with cars/the means to get to the early-voting locations.

      • Serinus@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Another way is to discourage people from early voting and then lose some percentage who end up not voting on election day either.

        You’re not wrong. I’ll be voting in person for this reason. But if you’re not 100% sure you’ll make it on election day, vote early. Preferably do it in person.

        Some votes will likely count more than others.

        • WoahWoah@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Yep. Increase the need for in-person voting, decrease the amount of voting locations, have armed republican “volunteers” patrolling places, and then see how many people are willing to wait hours with armed right-wing militants eyeballing whether your glasses make you a “libtard.”

          I have no statistical evidence to back this up, but my gut feeling is that the aggregate of all the voting fuckery, election board fuckery, voting laws fuckery might end up be worth as much as 3-5% in battleground states. There’s no statistical model that accounts for the illegal/quasi-legal voter suppression and disenfranchisement efforts.

          All polls assume that everyone that can vote and intends to vote will get to vote and that their vote will be counted and that the counted votes will be accurately reported. That’s a serious blind spot in election polling. And since the Republicans have been screaming that elections are fraudulent because of democratic/immigrant fantasies for four full years, when legitimate fraud can and does occur, no Democrat will be able to say it loud enough that it matters.

      • Match!!@pawb.social
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        3 months ago

        nah my state rules and doesn’t have this shit going on. remember to check that your ballot is received and recorded after you vote either way

      • TonyOstrich@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Even during Covid I felt a similar way. My “compromise” has been in person early voting. It’s pretty much always dead when I go in and is very quick. I don’t think I have actually voted on election day in over a decade.