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From YouTube: Timing is Everything: Absentee Ballot Processing
Description
Join us on Zoom to discuss key considerations for absentee, or mail, voting: the timeline for ballot processing. More attention than ever is focused on voting by mail. This meeting will address technical aspects of the process, and what states that expect to see an increase in absentee voting this year can do now to efficiently manage the flow of ballots in November (and maybe—just maybe—avoid delaying the release of election results). We will begin with when ballots are mailed out and review each step up until every ballot has been counted. Come with questions for our panelists and the NCSL elections team.
A
Thanks
everyone
for
being
with
us
today,
I
recognize
some
of
the
names
I'm
seeing
here
and
then
there's
some
others
that
I
don't
you
did
have
choices
on
what
you
could
do
with
this
hour
and
I'm
totally
delighted
that
you
chose
to
spend
the
hour
with
us
and
I'm
hoping
at
the
end
of
it.
You
will
be
glad
that
you
made
that
choice
too.
A
In
fact,
the
only
thing
that
I
wish
could
be
different
about
this
webinar
or
zoom
meeting
is
that
I
wish
we
could
have
done
it
a
month
or
two
earlier
we've
been
like
all
of
the
rest
of
you
who
are
in
the
elections
world.
We
have
been
working
as
hard
as
we
can
to
try
to
be
things,
keep
changing,
and
this
is
about
a
timely
topic.
It's
about
timing
is
everything
and
just
not
that
much
time
left
before
we
get
to
actual
election
day.
A
So
I
do
want
to
say
that
we
are
here
to
talk
about
constantly.
This
is
my
cat.
Oh
okay,
everybody
say
hello
to
kitty.
That's
koshka
now
go
away
all
right.
He
probably
won't
go
away
so
we're
here
to
talk
about
the
processing
of
absentee
and
male
ballots
and
by
saying
that
it's
not
to
talk
about
the
good
or
the
bad
of
doing
absentee
ballots
that
we're
happy
to
address
any
questions
you
might
have,
and
it's
also
not
about
in-person
voting.
A
If
you
have
some
questions
about
in-person
voting,
I
want
you
to
know
that
election
officials
throughout
the
nation
have
been
working
really
really
hard
on
making
sure
that
election
stations
are
clean,
secure,
well
staffed
for
november.
So
there's
a
lot
of
attention
going
to
that
and
ncsl's
newsletter.
The
canvas
did
address,
pulling
places
in
august
and
uphold
workers
in
july.
So
if
you
need
some
ideas
on
the
in-person
side
of
things,
we're
happy
to
take
any
questions
you
might
have,
or
you
can
certainly
go
look
at
those.
A
And
then,
in
the
primaries
it
was
a
whole
different
world
with
far
more
people
voting
on
an
absentee
or
male
ballot
than
they
had
before,
and
it's
hard
to
scale
up
from
just
five
to
ten
percent
of
people
using
a
certain
process
to
all
of
a
sudden,
50
60
70
percent
of
people,
and
so
we
saw
in
the
primaries
that
there
were
some
glitches.
We
saw
places
where
voters
didn't
receive
their
ballot
and
enough
time
to
be
able
to
cast
it
and
return
it.
A
A
So
those
are
some
reasons
to
be
thoughtful
about
what
happens
in
november,
and
that's
what
we
can
learn
about
here
today
that
the
primaries
can
be
both
an
example
of
some
success
stories
on
scaling
up
and
some
things
that
we
want
to
learn
from
now
we
are
the
national
conference
of
state
legislatures.
That
means
we
care
about
the
policy
side
of
it.
There
is
this
whole
administrative
side.
A
For
today
we
might
mix
up
the
administrative
versus
policy
side,
but
I
will
have
my
ears
tuned
for
anything
that
legislators
could
do
even
still
this
year
or
what
they
would
want
to
potentially
undertake
to
look
at
next
year
when
the
next
sessions
come
up.
So
a
little
bit
of
a
policy
focus
and
before
I
introduce
our
all-star
cast,
I
do
want
to
introduce
my
all-star
colleague,
brian
hinkle
right.
Would
you
pop
on
here
and
tell
us
a
little
of
the
housekeeping
part?
Please.
C
Sure,
thanks
for
joining
us
everyone,
my
name
is
brian
hinkle,
I'm
a
research
analyst
with
the
national
conference
of
state
legislators
and
I
work
for
wendy
who's,
a
great
boss.
Just
a
few
housekeeping
notes.
You
will
have
been
muted
upon
joining
the
meeting
and
if
you
want
to
speak
later,
you'll
just
have
to
unmute
yourself,
we'll
have
q
a
portion
later
and
you
can
drop
any
questions
that
you
have
in
the
chat.
C
If
you
do
wish
to
speak
later,
you
can
do
so,
but
any
questions
drop
in
the
chat,
so
we
can
keep
track
and
make
sure
we
get
to
you
and
then
just
so.
Everyone
knows
the
meeting
is
being
recorded
and
that
the
recording
will
usually
be
available
later
this
week
for
anyone
who's
interested,
and
that's
all
for
me
thanks
again
for
being
here.
A
And
I'll
just
add
that
brian
has
been
answering
questions
left
and
right
from
people
on
absentee
and
mail
voting.
His
email
is
brian.hinkel
ncsl.org.
I'm
of
course
happy
to
answer
questions
too,
but
but
mostly
they're,
getting
directed
to
brian
on
this
topic.
All
right
now
we've
got
our
all-star
staff
of
faculty,
we're
going
to
start
with
judd
choate,
who
comes
to
us
directly
from
the
broncos
training
center.
Apparently,
when
I
first
got
into
the
elections
world,
which
was
ten
years
ago,
the
first
thing
I
did
was
I
I
vote
in
colorado.
A
So
I
called
him
up-
and
I
said
hello,
I'm
new
to
this-
I
don't
know
anything.
He
invited
me
and
he's
been
teaching
me
about
elections
ever
since,
so
he's
an
excellent
teacher
and
friend,
and
then
we
have
jennifer
murrell
and
she's
a
former
election
official,
so
she's
done
it
right
there
at
the
local
level
and
now
she's
the
nation's
expert
on
how
you
validate
the
results
of
an
election.
B
Yeah,
hey
thanks,
wendy
appreciate
it
thanks
brian
wendy
references,
the
fact
that
I
I
just
got
out
of
a
session
with
the
denver
broncos
we
had
125
players
and
coaches
that
we
did
a
sort
of
a
voter
reg
and
how
do
elections
work
in
colorado,
kind
of
presentation,
really
pretty
cool
the
sports
teams
for
taking
their
civic
roles
very
seriously
now,
and
I've
got
something
scheduled
with
the
nuggets
here,
a
couple
weeks-
hopefully
they're
still
in
the
playoffs.
But
I
have
my
fears.
B
And
by
the
way,
I
would
just
note
for
the
record
that,
while
I
am
the
lucky
person
with
the
mic,
leslie
reynolds,
who
is
the
executive
director
of
nass,
is
here
joining
us
and
peggy
reeves.
A
long
time
director
in
connecticut
is
with
us
mitchell
brown,
dr
brown,
from
auburn
university.
So
we've
got
an
all-star
cast
in
the
audience.
B
So
if
I
somehow
drop
the
mic,
hopefully
one
of
those
experts
will
pick
it
up
for
us.
Let
me
talk
to
you
a
little
bit
about
the
way
colorado
does
vote
by
mail
and
specifically
about
verification.
Since
that's
our
topic
for
today,
I'm
just
going
to
touch
on
some
high
points,
but
do
think
of
some
questions,
because
I
think
we're
going
to
have
a
round
table
at
the
end,
which
will
allow
you
an
opportunity
to
ask
anything
that
we
didn't
cover.
B
B
B
We,
of
course,
have
you
acaba
voters.
Those
are
our
military
and
overseas
voters.
We
mailed
to
them
at
the
45-day
deadline
so
much
earlier,
but
for
the
vast
majority
of
our
electorate
were
mailing
at
25
days,
so
voters
will
receive
their
ballots
and
can
either
drop
them
off
at
a
dropbox.
We
have
350
plus
here
in
colorado.
B
B
So
I
I
prefer
that
sort
of
method
over
some
of
our
other
states
that
are
also
built
by
male
states.
How
do
we
process
these
ballots?
Well,
the
first
thing
we
have
to
do
is
we
scan
them
into
the
system,
so
meaning
we
sort
of
bank
them
in,
so
that
we
know
that
you
voted
the
importance
here.
Is
that
if
you
were
to
receive
a
ballot
in
the
mail
you
vote
that
ballot
and
then
you
try
to
come
in
in
person
and
vote
again?
Well,
the
only
way
that
we
know
not
to
issue
you.
B
So
that's
one
of
the
motivations
about
trying
to
scan
those
in
as
soon
as
possible,
either
way
the
first
one
that
gets
scanned
in
is
the
one
that
counts
and
the
other
any
other
ballots
will
be
void.
And
if
you
attempt
to
vote
twice
we're
going
to
turn
that
over
to
you
to
the
district
attorney
for
he
or
he
or
she
to
prosecute
a
bipartisan
team
reviews
that
ballot
and
verifies
to
to
determine
whether
the
signature
on
the
back
of
the
envelope
matches
the
signature.
That's
on
file.
B
For
that
motor,
if
a
if
the
person
who
does
at
first
review
decides
that
the
signature
does
not
match,
it
is
required
to
go
to
a
bipartisan
team,
a
democrat
and
a
republican
which
then
review
that
signature
to
determine
whether
either
one
of
them
can
count
that
ballot.
If
either
one
of
them
says
yeah.
I
think
that's
close
enough,
then
that
ballot
counts,
but
if
both
of
them
say
no,
which
is
typically
the
way
this
works.
Then
that
is
not
a
ballot
that
we
can
verify
and
they
then
go
into
the
cure.
B
B
B
If
you
do
not
do
that,
that
ballot
remains
uncured
and
will
not
be
counted
in
that
election,
there
are
curable
mistakes
and
there
are
uncurable
mistakes.
The
curable
mistakes
are
the
mistakes
where
your
signature
doesn't
match,
you
failed
to
sign
at
all,
or
you
were
id
deficient,
meaning
that
when
you
registered
to
vote
you
did
not
provide
an
id,
and
that
means
that
you
have
to
provide
an
id
when
you
vote,
because
your
signature
isn't
enough.
B
So
if
you
fail
to
include
an
id
or
you
don't
include
a
signature
or
we
can't
verify
that
signature,
all
three
of
those
can
be
cured.
If,
however,
you
return
your
ballot
after
7
pm
on
election
night,
we
can't
cure
that
one.
Also,
if
you
return
more
than
one
ballot
in
an
envelope,
we
can't
cure
that
one
lots
of
times
that
happens
with
husbands
and
wives,
who
think
they'll
save
55
cents
by
returning
both
ballots
in
the
same
envelope.
B
That's
not
going
to
work
because
we
don't
know
who
to
give
vote
credit
to
so
those
are
examples
of
ballots
that
we
cannot
cure.
So
that's
kind
of
an
example
of
the
way
we
process
you
have
until
eight
days
after
the
election
to
to
do
any
of
these
cures.
The
counties
themselves
have
to
notify
you
right
away.
B
So
let's
say
you
submit
your
ballot
15
days
prior
to
the
election,
and
you
have
eight
days
after
the
election,
so
you
have
23
days
to
cure
your
signature
problem
or
cure
your
id
problem
so
that
you
can
get
that
valid
tabulated.
But
regardless,
even
if
you
vote
on
election
day,
you
still
have
eight
more
days
to
make
that
cure.
B
The
last
thing
I
wanted
to
mention
is
this
year:
we
are
instituting
ballot
tracking.
So
every
voter
in
the
state
of
colorado,
who
has
an
email
on
file,
will
receive
email,
notifications
or
potentially
text
or
voice
notifications.
If
they
make
this
selection
telling
them
about
the
progress
of
their
ballot,
that
their
ballot
has
been
created
has
been
mailed
and
then
once
you
get
it
and
you
return
it
that
that
ballot
has
been
received
by
the
county
and
it's
been
tabulated
by
the
county.
B
So
every
voter
in
the
state
that's
signed
that
has
an
email
in
their
file
which
is
about
40
of
our
electorate.
They
will
receive
these
notifications
and
anyone
who
signs
up
after
that,
which
they
we
have
a
sign
up,
page
that
they
can
sign
up.
They
can
also
receive
those
notifications
as
well
and
by
the
way
you
don't
have
to
choose
just
email.
A
B
Great
question:
so
it's
sort
of
two
different
scans,
so
I
shouldn't
use
the
word
scan.
I
used
sort
of
the
euphemistic.
You
know:
do
you
bank,
in
a
ballot?
Well,
so
that's
what
you're
doing
when
you
originally
receive
a
ballot.
You
are
just
telling
you're
using
the
scanner
the
code
on
on
the
outside
of
the
return
envelope
to
bank
in
the
ballot
to
tell
our
voter
reg
system.
I've
got
this
voter's
ballot.
Now
then
we'll
go
through
the
process
of
verifying
and
then
batching
and
then
scanning
and
tabulating
so
way
later
in
the
process.
B
Are
you
actually
scanning
the
physical
ballot
at
this
point
you're
just
making
sure
that
the
voter
reg
system
knows
that
a
ballot
has
been
received
for
barbara
costello
and
then
the
second
question
was:
what
percentage
do
we
not
count
based
cure
problems
or
verification
problems?
So
the
first
batch
of
ballots
that
cannot
be
verified.
B
So
at
the
end
of
the
day,
the
percentage
of
ballots
that
we
cannot
accept
because
they
have
been
rejected
for
the
various
curable
causes
is
4.4
percent
and
that
usually
holds
steady
across
most
of
our
elections.
So
we're
talking
about
about
four
out
of
a
thousand
that
cannot
be
tabulated
because
we
can't
verify
the
identity
for
some.
Some
reason
that
is
curable
helps.
A
D
Great
thanks,
wendy
and
brian
and
ncsl
for
inviting
me
to
be
here.
I'm
really
excited
to
be
joining
all
of
you
today,
so
I
want
to
step
back
and
just
start
by
stating
that
all
forms
of
voting,
including
mail
or
absentee
voting,
bring
a
variety
of
risks,
but
we
know
that
those
risks
can
be
managed
just
like
they
are
for
in-person
voting,
meaning
that
there
are
various
policies,
procedures
and
controls
around
the
mail
ballot
process
that
build
layers
of
safeguards
to
defend
the
process
from
manipulation
and
similar
to
the
safeguards
for
in-person
voting.
D
A
male
or
an
absentee
voter
must
be
registered
to
vote
before
receiving
a
ballot.
The
voter
is
validated
before
a
ballot
package
is
accepted,
a
ballot
isn't
separated
from
the
ballot
package
for
voter
privacy
or
voter
anonymity,
and
then
the
envelopes
are
kept
designating
that
the
voter
has
voted
in
case.
They
try
to
double
the
double
vote
and
then
that
ballot
is
counted.
So
the
the
safeguards
are
very
similar
to
what
we
have
in
place
for
in-person
voting.
D
D
Second,
we
verify
a
voter's
identity
when
they
register
to
vote
when
they
request
an
absentee
ballot.
We
know
that
return
ballot
envelopes
must
be
signed
by
the
voter
and
they
attest
under
penalty
of
perjury,
and
I
think
that
that's
really
important
to
recognize
that
they're
signing
a
declaration
verifying
or
validating
that
they
are
the
entity
that
filled
out
that
ballot
and
who
is
casting
or
sending
that
ballot
to
the
election
official.
D
The
signature
on
that
declaration
is
often
further
verified
and
jud
talked
about
the
process
in
colorado,
where
it's
checked
against
the
signature
on
file.
Other
states
require
identification,
information
or
admit
witness
or
notary
signature
in
some
states.
The
voter
cannot
be
validated
or
authenticated,
and
that
voter
is
contacted
to
verify
that
the
ballot
packet
was
submitted
by
him
or
her,
and
we
call
that
normally
a
cure
process.
That
also
is
a
safety
mechanism
or
verification
that
ensures
if
they
were
not
the
person
who
submitted
the
ballot,
the
issue
can
be
identified
and
dealt
with
accordingly.
D
Then
we
verify
the
ballot
itself,
so
most
ballots
have
style
codes
that
might
be
timing,
marks
or
code
channels
or
qr
codes
that
are
verified
by
the
voting
system
and
generally.
These
are
proprietary,
are
in
a
proprietary
format
and
they
can
only
be
interpreted
by
a
specific
type
of
voting
equipment.
D
So
if
the
codes
are
not
recognized
by
the
equipment,
the
val
the
ballot
gets
rejected
and
requires
a
manual
review
by
the
election.
Official
ballots
must
also
be
printed
on
a
specific
type
of
paper,
and
if
the
ballot
is
printed
on
paper
that
doesn't
match
those
specifications
so
such
as
the
length
or
maybe
the
paper
weight,
then
the
voting
equipment
again
will
reject
that
ballot
and
require
further
review
and
both
of
these
things
should
be
tested
prior
to
sending
ballots
out
as
part
of
the
logic
and
accuracy
testing
that
every
jurisdiction
normally
performs.
D
Finally,
we
verify
the
mail
piece
once
it
enters
the
us
postal
system,
so
usps
has
provided
an
election
mail
logo
that
must
be
approved
by
a
mail
design.
Analyst.
You
can't
just
go,
make
up
your
own
and
slap
it
on
an
envelope
and
it
helps
identify
official
ballots
and
then
many
states
again,
as
judd
mentioned,
the
ballot
tracking
technology.
D
That
colorado
is
using
many
states
and
jurisdictions
are
leveraging
that
same
technology
through
use
of
intelligent
mail
barcoding
to
really
enable
ballot
tracking
as
a
security
mechanism
to
verify
delivery
to
the
voter
and
receipt
of
the
ballots
into
the
election
office
and
sort
of
provide
this
digital
chain
of
custody
along
the
way.
So
that
was
the
first
security
control.
D
We
have
in
place
the
second
security
mechanism
is
created
through
ballot,
reconciliation,
ballot,
reconciliation
provides
a
way
to
consistently
and
accurately
record
the
number
of
ballots
in
an
election
official's
possession
at
any
given
point
in
time
and
document
any
changes,
and
so
by
requiring
an
accounting
or
reconciling.
We
reduce
the
chance
of
voted
ballots
being
misplaced
and
left
uncounted,
and
this
occurs
through
out
the
mail
ballot
process.
D
I
don't
have
time
today
to
go
through
all
of
the
steps
where
accounting
or
reconciling
occurs,
but
any
time
there
is
a
physical
transfer
of
pieces
of
paper.
A
physical
count
has
to
be
performed,
but
those
pieces
of
paper.
So
when
I
say
pieces
of
paper
that
could
mean
return,
ballot,
envelopes,
extracted,
ballots,
ballots,
removed
for
signature,
verification
or
requiring
duplication
or
ballots
that
are
being
scanned
and
counted,
and
we're
always
doing
this
balancing
then
to
ensure
that
those
physical
pieces
of
paper
equal.
D
The
number
of
voters
given
credit
for
returning
a
ballot
chain
of
custody
is
the
next
security
mechanism,
and
hopefully,
we've
got
I'm
sure.
We've
got
a
number
of
attorneys
and
lawyers
on
the
phone,
so
chain
of
custody
actually
is
a
term
that
comes
or
is
used
quite
frequently
in
the
law,
and
it's
proving
that
an
item
has
been
properly
handled
through
an
unbroken
chain
of
custody,
and
this
is
a
must
right
in
a
court
of
law.
D
It
assures
that
the
evidence
is
authentic
and
was
never
unaccounted
for,
so
the
chain
of
custody
for
an
election
is
documentation
that
should
provide
that
same
assurance.
That
ballots
are
authentic
and
accounted
for
at
each
point
in
the
process
where
they
are
physically
or
electronically
transferred.
So
that's
from
the
time
they're
printed
issued,
delivered,
cast,
transported,
scanned,
duplicated
reconciled
audited,
stored
anytime
they're,
physically
being
transferred
somebody's
going
to
sign
that
log
and
chain
of
custody
logs.
D
Since
we've
seen
a
lot
about
mail
drop
boxes
in
the
news,
so
a
bipartisan
team
of
two
would
record
their
names,
the
date
that
they
arrived
at,
that
ballot
dropbox
and
the
time
that
they
arrived
at
that
box.
They're,
going
to
verify
the
security
seal,
making
sure
that
it's
intact
on
the
door
and
they're
going
to
initial
or
sign
that
form
they're
going
to
inspect
that
dropbox
for
signs
of
tampering.
They'll
unlock
the
access
door,
they'll
remove
the
ballots.
D
Okay,
so,
finally,
the
the
last
sort
of
security
piece
and
all
of
this
is
that
we
validate
or
we
audit
how
the
system
functioned
and
ensure
that
those
procedural
safeguards
and
those
physical
control
mechanisms
work.
So
typically,
this
is
done
through
post
election
tabulation
audits
of
the
voting
system.
That's
one
way
we
audit,
such
as
risk
limiting
audits
where
we
can
validate
the
outcome
of
the
election.
D
Many
of
you
have
heard
me
talk
about
that,
but
there
are
also
states
that
require
an
audit
of
the
reconciliation
documents
and
the
chain
of
custody
logs
as
part
of
your
canvas
or
your
certification
process,
and
I
think
that
this
is
one
area
where
we
could
use
some
future
legislative
work
in
thinking
about
the
the
kinds
and
types
of
things
that
we
would
like
to
verify
or
audit
or
validate
at
the
end
of
an
election,
to
sort
of
further
ensure
the
integrity
of
that
election.
So
with
that,
I
will
end.
A
That
was
a
little
bit
like
a
magic
that
you
were
able
to
hit
in
that
short
amount
of
time.
Thank
you
very
much.
There's
a
question
in
here
about
whether
emails
or
phone
numbers
that
are
collected
for
the
purpose
of
ballot
tracking
are
ever
distributed
and
we've
got
the
answer
from
colorado.
Do
you
know
around
the
nation
whether
this
kind
of
information
tends
to
be
a
part
of
the
voter
record
and
therefore
is
distributable.
D
Yeah
so
most
of
the
jurisdictions
that
are
using
ballot,
tracking
capabilities
or
working
through
a
third
party
vendor
and
that's
normally
part
of
that
contract
that
that
information
is
kept,
is
not
shared
or
distributed
to
other
parties.
So
the
quick
answer
is
is
no
and
it
doesn't
usually
become
part
of
the
voter
record.
I
think
it
just
depends
on
the
contract
that
they
have
with
that
vendor.
A
Okay
and
I'll
say
that
we
do
have
a
list
on
the
use
of
of
excuse
me,
our
web
page
on
the
use
of
voter
lists.
I'm
not
sure
it's
100
up
to
date,
but
we
could
go.
Take
a
look
at
that
and,
if
you're
interested
and
then
one
more
question
before
we
come
over
to
you
me,
matt
from
pennsylvania
asks
about
community
groups
that
may
circulate
applications
may
distribute
applications.
They
may
even
fill
them
in
in
part.
A
D
It
actually
makes
things
a
lot
more
difficult
for
the
local
official
to
efficiently
and
quickly
process
those
and
actually
sometimes
those
forms,
don't
get
completed
correctly,
or
they
don't
have
the
right
information,
and
so
they
actually
end
up
being
invalid,
and
that
creates
a
huge
problem
because
that
voter
thinks
they've
registered
or
thinks
that
they've
created
an
absentee
application
when
in
fact
it
cannot
be
processed.
So
if
any
of
you
have
connections
to
any
of
those
groups,
please
please
please
encourage
them
to
use
the
official
form,
drive,
voters
to
the
state
website
or
state
portal.
E
Good
thing,
let
me
I'm
gonna
talk
with
powerpoint
here,
so
I'll
share
my
screen.
Thanks
for
having
me
again,
it's
always
a
pleasure
to
talk
to
a
group
of
election
officials.
People
are
actually
in
the
in
the
trenches
as
well
as
legislators,
who
are
who
are
shaping
the
rules
and
I'm
going
to
talk
about
fighting
over
the
rules
and
in
particular
what
is
happening
right
now
in
courts
with
the
challenges
that
are
being
lodged
to
mail,
balloting
and
other
and
absentee
voting
during
the
pandemic,
all
I'll
I'll
go.
E
Through
this,
because
to
go
in
deep,
would
take
a
semester's
class
because
there
have
now
been
over
200
cases
that
have
been
filed
related
to
voting
changes
that
have
happened
due
to
the
pandemic.
That
doesn't
even
include
some
other
kate
sort
of
your
typical
election
voting
rights
cases
we
will
have.
It
looks
like
we
are
maybe
no
surprise
about
to
set
a
record
for
a
total
amount
of
election
litigation
for
this
election
and
in
part,
that's
because
there
are
such
massive
changes
that
are
going
on
in
our
electoral
system.
E
E
We've
started
up
this
project
charles
stewart
at
mit,
and
I
the
stanford
mit
healthy
elections
project,
and
you
can
see
all
the
research
we
have
at
healthyelections.org
and
we
have
several
state
memos
there
as
well,
and
this
this
presentation
and
the
memo
that
accompanies
it,
which
you
can
see
at
this
top
url
on
mail
ballot
cases,
was
done
by
a
group
of
students
that
we've
brought
in
the
basic
story.
Here
right
is
that
mail
balloting
you
know.
Well,
while
there
are
plenty
of
opportunities
in
the
in-person
realm
to
litigate
cases.
E
The
eligibility
to
get
a
ballot,
the
process
for
submitting
about
the
verification,
and
then
the
normal
accounting
process,
where
we
are
right
now,
is
that
there
are
some
cases
that
have
been
resolved.
Indeed,
we
haven't
had
you
know
some
cases
that
have
gone
to
the
supreme
court
related
to
mail
balloting
already,
but
that
we
should
be
getting
a
series
of
decisions
in
the
next
month,
which
will
hopefully
settle
the
rules
going
forward
for
this
election.
E
The
the
material
that
judges
are
using
and
the
plaintiffs
are
are
basing
their
claims
on
comes
from
different
sources,
and
it's
not
equally
representative
here
in
terms
of
the
amount
of
litigation,
if
you're
in
federal
court.
The
kind
of
litigation
that
surrounds
male
balloting
is
the
kind
that
surrounds
you
know.
Some
of
it
is
common
to
all
election
litigation
right.
E
When
you
make
an
argument
about
the
right
to
vote
being
implicated,
you
are
saying
that
the
14th
amendment,
the
equal
protection
clause,
has
been
violated,
and
that's
that
was
true
for
bush
versus
gore.
It's
true
for
people
who
think
the
absentee
ballots
have
been
either
that
they're
committing
fraud
or
that
they
are
being
deprived
of
the
right
to
vote
through
absentee
ballots.
So
you
you
lodge
it
with
that.
E
If
there's
a
racially
discriminatory
impact
or
if
there
is,
are
implications
for
language
minorities,
then
their
provisions
under
the
federal
voting
rights
act.
Similarly,
when
it
comes
to
people
with
disabilities
and
obviously
the
male
battling
process
can
be
pose
unique
challenges
for
people
with
disabilities,
then
you
will
get
some
kinds
of
litigation
under
the
ada
and
related
disability
protections
and
other
federal
laws.
E
But
most
of
of
what
you
will
see
is,
in
the
bottom
right
hand,
quadrant
there
or
sixth
of
the
page,
and
that
is
state
law,
claims
right
and
and
that's
sort
of
the
moral
of
the
story
here,
which
is
that
we
are
going.
We
are
seeing
now
and
we'll
see
over
the
next
month,
inconsistent
resolution
to
a
lot
of
these
claims,
so
that
in
some
states
you
know
under
state
law.
E
It's
going
to
be
perfectly
fine
to
change
the
deadline
very
late
in
the
process,
but
in
other
states
it's
not
going
to
be
fine,
and
so
different
states
have
different
rules
and
the
judges
in
those
states
will
be
interpreting
them
differently,
and
so
actions
at
the
local
level
will
be
seen.
As
you
know,
disenfranchising
in
some
areas
of
the
country,
whereas
in
others
it'll
be
just
following
the
law,
I
should
say
by
way
of
well
before
I
get
to
that
slide.
E
Let
me
just
say
something
sort
of
at
the
at
the
500
foot
level
here,
which
is
the
kind
of
categories
of
litigation
that
we
are
seeing
as
a
result
of
you
know
the
transitions
that
are
happening.
The
first
is
a
category
of
litigation
that
questions
the
legality
of
of
making
a
transition
to
greater
use
of
the
mail
in
balloting
or
moving
away
from
polling
places,
and
so
you're,
seeing
this
in
nevada
and
new
jersey
and
elsewhere.
E
The
states
that
have
moved
to
all
vote
by
now,
even
in
california
and
so
part
of
those
arguments,
are
that
that
it
dilutes
the
votes
of
other
voters,
because
it's
more
likely
to
lead
to
fraud
right
and
then
there's
others
claims
that
it
violates
state
law
to
make
a
wholesale
change
to
the
electoral
system,
like
that.
So
there's
a
category
of
sort
of
cases
that
fall
into
that
bucket,
most
of
which
I
think
are
going
to
be
unsuccessful.
E
Then
there
are
the
specific.
Well
then,
there's
a
category
of
of
general
mail
ballot
related
litigation
that
I'll
go
into,
and
that
is-
and
this
could
happen-
this
could
have
happened
four
years
ago
or
two
years
ago,
not
necessarily
to
this
period,
and
that
is
types
of
cases
dealing
with
deadlines.
Right
types
of
cases
dealing
with
just
the
signature
mismatch
cases
the
inability
to
cure
the
lateness
of
balance
right.
E
If
you
get
into
a
recount
situation,
whether
it's
the
bush
versus
gore
recount
or
the
minnesota
senate
case
recount,
you
will
always
have
those
kinds
of
arguments
that
focus
on
the
legality
of
certain
votes
and
the
illegality
of
others
right.
But
then
there
are
the
category
of
cases
which
are
are
sort
of
covid
related,
which
are
those
cases
where
either
the
existence
the
pandemic
is
leading
to
lawyers
say:
look,
these
are
the
rules.
E
And
these
are
all
examples
of
of
claims
of
actual
cases
that
have
been
filed
so
far.
This
cycle
mostly
related
to
the
primaries
that
have
happened,
but
some
in
preparation
for
the
general.
So,
as
I
mentioned
before,
that,
there's
a
set
of
cases
which
are
focusing
on
whether
rolling
out
all
vote
by
mail
makes
fraud
easier
and
that,
therefore,
that
is
unconstitutional
and
the
argument
there
is
that
you're
diluting
the
votes
of
actual
voters
by
by
running
the
risk
of
fraud.
E
Those
are
more
kind
of
headline
grabbing
kinds
of
cases
more
than
they
are
likely
to
succeed.
But
when
it
comes
to
the
deadlines
right
and
the
other
requirements
for
requesting
an
absentee
ballot,
those
are
ones
where
the
judges
are
taking
sort
of
equitable
considerations,
constitutional
considerations
into
affecting
their
decisions
and
then
maybe
releasing
and
making
the
deadlines
more
flexible.
E
Then
we
have
these
set
of
cases
like
the
texas
case
that
I
was
mentioning
before
having
to
deal
with,
who
is
eligible
to
vote
absentee
whether
covid19
is
an
excuse
in
and
of
itself
right.
So
in
those
states
that
do
not
allow
for
no
excuse
absentee
balloting.
Does
the
fear
of
contracting
the
virus
then
give
you
either
a
constitutional
or
state
right
to
vote
by
mail
right
and
and
so
far
the
the
cases
are
tending
to
say?
E
No,
you
don't
have
sort
of
a
constitutional
right
to
to
necessarily
vote
by
mail
just
because
you
might
fear
getting
infection
in
the
polling
place,
but
there
are
some.
There
are
definitely
some
states
that
are
that
are
going
in
a
different
direction.
I
mentioned
the
age
limits
case
again
that
one's
that
one
could
easily
go
to
the
supreme
court
in
the
next
month,
because
that
that
that
the
argument
there
is
that
it
violates
the
26th
amendment
which
garrett
says
you
may
not
discriminate
on
the
basis
of
age
with
respect
to
voting.
E
So
if
you
allow
older
people
presumptively
to
vote
by
mail,
why
can't
younger
people
do
that
as
well?
The
last
half
of
cases
right,
the
the
submission
of
the
mail
ballots
with
respect
to
the
deadlines.
Bans
on
voter
assistance,
as
well
as
so-called
ballot
harvesting
right,
are
becoming
an
active
area.
Particularly
democrats
are
trying
to
ensure
that
that
people
so
going
back
to
the
chain
of
custody.
E
I
think,
with
respect
to
male
valley
will
be
the
kind
of
garden
variety,
which
is
to
say
that
the
normal
kinds
of
litigation
you
get
in
close
elections
with
male
balloting.
We've
already
had
some
on
the
requirements
for
mail
ballots
like
weather,
especially
during
the
pandemic.
You
can
require
witnesses
and
signatures
and
notaries,
and
the
like,
because
right
now,
if
you're
living
home
alone,
going
out
to
get
a
notary
or
going
out
to
get
a
witness,
might
be
burdensome.
E
But
the
most
frequent
kinds
of
litigation
are
the
ones
that
judd
was
sort
of
hinting
toward
and
talking
about
the
ways
that
that
ballots
can
be
disqualified
and
that
you
know
becomes
the
the
game
when
an
election
is
close,
are
the
signatures
mismatched?
Was
it
late?
The
litigation
that
we
saw
over
the
new
york
absentee
ballot
fiasco
is
characteristic
of
that.
E
Where
you
see
you
know
these
problems
with
what,
if
it
does,
if
you
require
a
postmark,
but
there
isn't
a
postmark
on
it,
how
do
you
know
whether
it
was
it
was
mailed
before
the
deadline
and
the
like
I'll
say
that
that
we
at
stanford
and
yeah,
I
put
up
a
tiny
url,
so
you
can
get
access
to
this
report.
Judd
was
kind
enough
to
speak
to
my
class
on
this.
E
We
had
a
group
of
students
who
was
just
really
interested
in
signature
matching
stanford
students
never
cease
to
amaze
me
in
their
in
their
range
of
interest,
but
we
actually
did
this
in
the
fall
last
year,
not
knowing
the
pandemic
was
going
to
hit
and
and
produced
this
report
hundred
page
report
on
signature
verification.
So
I
commended
all
too
and
happy
to
take
any
questions.
A
Muted,
there
we
go,
I
think
we
got
it
all
right
thanks
thanks
nate,
that
was
just
fabulous.
Would
you
take
a
minute
to
tell
us
a
little
bit
more
about
the
class?
Why
were
students
so
excited
about
this
and
what
are
the
hitches?
I
mean
if
we
hear
that.
Oh,
we
have
a
bipartisan
team
looking
at
them
and
they're
all
as
well.
There
must
be
something
more
if
you
could
do
a
whole
class
on
it,
so
give
us
a
little
bit
more
on
what
does
it
mean
to
do
signature,
verification.
E
E
You
know,
director
of
elections,
for
los
angeles,
had
mentioned
something
in
his
testimony,
which
is
that
you
know
it's
becoming
increasingly
difficult
to
match
signatures,
because
you
know
they
don't
teach
cursive
in
school
right
and
so
young
people
just
don't
have
signatures
anymore,
something
a
lot
of
election
officials.
You
know
you're
familiar
with
and
you
and
we
do
see
quite
a
number
of
errors,
disproportionate
number
of
errors
among
first-time
voters
and
young
voters,
and
so
when
I
was
teaching
my
law
of
democracy
class,
which
is
like
my
voting
rights
class.
E
During
the
passage
of
this
new
law
that
we
have
called
the
every
vote,
accounts
act
which
deals
with
when
you
can
disqualify
balance
on
the
basis
of
signatures,
and
so
what
the
students
they
were
interested
and
ambitious
enough
they've
got
a
group
together
and,
I
said
sure,
I'll
teach
on
this.
I
know
you
know,
I
know
people
like
judd
showed.
I
can
bring
them
in
and
talk
about
this,
and
so
it
really
has.
They
really
went
down
the
rabbit,
hole
and
look.
E
Every
state
has
has
differences
in
how
they
do
the
verification
process.
You
know
and
how
likely
it
is
that
the
signatures
will
lead
to
bouncing
of
ballots.
And
you
know
there
is
technology
that
is
used
for
signature
matching
and
then
there's
the
human
component.
So
there's
an
art
and
design
colorado
has,
I
think,
the
most
developed
sort
of
pamphlet
out
there
or
guidebook
on
signature
matching
right,
but
other
states
and
other
firms
even
have
different
ones.
E
A
I
thank
you
very
much
and
jennifer.
When
you
talked
earlier,
you
talked
about
the
signature,
barricade
verification
process
as
part
of
the
security
for
elections.
I
just
want
to
point
out
that
not
all
states
have
a
cure
process,
so
there's
a
data
point
that
legislatures
could
be
looking
at
into
the
future.
If
there's
not
a
way
for
a
voter
to
have
a
second
chance
to
say
that's
mine
or
for
the
election
official
and
it
looks
like
judd,
would
like
to
jump
in
on
that.
Go
ahead
and
jennifer
then
we'll
come
back
to
you.
B
Yeah,
so
one
thing
to
keep
in
mind
here,
especially
with
a
group
of
state
legislators,
is
the
key-
is
to
provide
your
elections
officials
enough
time
to
be
able
to
do
this,
because
so
many
states
have
these
really
crunched
post-election
calendars
where
they
have
to
election
day
happens
on
the
third
they
have
to
certify
on
the
sixth.
They
have
to
do
contests
by
the
eighth.
They
have
to
do
recounts
by
the
11th.
I
mean
these
frankly
ridiculous,
post-election
calendars,
which
cannot
be
achieved
if
you're
going
to
try
to
cure.
B
D
D
So
judd
sort
of
talked
about
the
tiered
process
in
colorado,
where
there
are
challenges
in
other
states,
is
that
either
staff
make
that
determination
and
it
may
go
to
a
board
of
elections,
and
so
that
might
be
the
second
review
where
the
board
might
make
a
determination
to
accept
or
reject
it
and
still
no
notification
to
the
voter.
Other
states
staff
make
that
decision.
It's
a
you
know,
once
one
look
and
we're
done
and
it's
up
to
the
voter,
they
can
challenge
that
to
the
board,
but
there's
no
notification.
E
I
mean
as
much
controversy
as
there
was.
You
know
with
the
what
the
postal
postmaster
general
said
about
the
the
inadequacy
of
these
deadlines
with
respect
to
the
post
office.
That's
true
throughout
everything
that
we're
talking
about
here,
which
is
that
if
you
have
this
massive
ballots
that
are
dumped
on
election
officials
in
the
last
48
hours
of
the
election,
the
deadlines
in
the
statutes
are
simply
not
prepared
to
handle.
That.
A
That
is
a
great
segue
into
deadlines
to
apply
for
absentee
ballots,
and
that
is
something
that's
been
right
there
front
and
center
in
the
news.
Ncsl
has
data
on
this
and
I
believe
brian's
put
the
table
in
the
chat
box.
So
what
we've
got
is
some
states
you
can
ask
for
an
absentee
ballot
on
the
monday
before
the
election
or
the
friday
before
the
election,
and
try
to
imagine
processing
that
ballot
application
request
at
that
point
and
getting
that
ballot
out.
Oh
wait
a
minute.
A
It
may
not
even
gotten
to
the
voter
by
the
time
it
needed
to
be
voted
and
back
in
so
some
states
arizona
as
an
example.
Their
deadline
is
11
days
prior
to
election
day.
So
jen
I'm
going
to
ask
you
to
jump
in
and
talk
about.
I
know
you
don't
have
this
because
you're
mailing
out
ballots
to
everybody,
but
what's
the
right
amount
of
time
and
if
a
state
moves
from
something
that's
close
to
election
day
to
something
that's
far
out,
would
policymakers
be
accused
of
voter
suppression
in
making
that
shift.
B
B
You're
saying:
okay,
I
know
you
have
this
election
to
get
ready
for
here
in
a
couple
of
months,
but
what
I
need
you
to
do
now
is
concentrate
all
of
your
energies
on
getting
a
piece
of
paper
to
a
voter
asking
them.
Do
you
want
your
ballot
in
the
mail
getting
that
information
back,
making
the
change
to
their
database
so
that
then
you
can
get
that
list
to
the
to
the
print
vendor
so
that
they
can
send
that
ballot.
That's
a
whole
bunch
of
moving
parts
where
something
can
go
wrong.
B
If
you
just
give
them
the
list
of
your
voters
and
say,
send
all
these
people
about
it.
You
have
skipped
about
six
different
major
hurdles
there
and
you've,
given
your
elections,
administrators
a
chance
for
success
by
asking
them
to
do
this,
pre-mailing,
which
they
then
have
to
process.
You
are
setting
them
up
to
fail
and
I
just
feel
like
a
lot
of
states
have
have
put
their
elections,
administrators
really
tough
spots
and
then,
even
if
you've
sent
them
a
ballot,
you
can
do
all
the
other
stuff
you
can
have
in
person.
B
I
don't
trust
them,
and
so
for
that
purpose,
I'm
trusting
them
to
get
my
ballots
to
my
voters,
but
I'm
not
interested
in
getting
my
voters
ballots
back
to
me
and
that's
why
we
have
350
dropboxes
around
the
state.
That's
why
we
have
350
vspcs,
where
you
can
drop
your
ballot
and
that's
why
75
of
our
voters
vote
and
drop
their
ballots
instead
of
returning
through
the
usps,
because
they
see
that
concern
too,
and
they
want
their
ballot
to
get
to
an
election
administrator
as
quickly
and
seamlessly
as
possible.
A
Thanks
chad,
I
do
need
to
point
out
that
judd
gets
to
be
an
advocate
for
male
voting,
because
he
was
there
in
colorado
when
they
moved
in
that
direction.
At
ncsl.
We're
not
advocates
for
all-male
voting,
we're
neither
opponents
of
it.
There's
it's
hard
for
a
state
to
make
that
kind
of
shift.
There's
all
kinds
of
cultural
and
historical
things
and
the
key
questions.
Somebody
kind
of
put
it
in
here
shouldn't
the
voter.
Have
some
responsibility:
do
they
need
to
take
that
step?
To
say?
A
Yes,
that's
how
they
want
to
vote.
I
want
to
move
on
to
another
one
of
our
deadlines,
and
that
is
when
should
processing
of
these
absentee
ballots
begin
and
jennifer.
I'm
going
to
ask
you
to
address
this.
What
we're
hearing
is
that
if
your
law
says
you
can't
open
an
absentee
ballot
until
election
day,
you're
going
to
have
a
long
period
after
election
day,
while
you're
doing
it
so
jennifer.
What's
good
practice
on
that
front,.
D
Yeah,
a
good
practice
is
really
to
start
processing
those
as
soon
as
they
came
in
and
some
of
those
things
I
mentioned
around
reconciliation
and
chain
of
custody
are
a
lot
easier
to
do.
When
you're
dealing
with
daily
inflow
building
up
to
the
election
day,
you
get
the
opportunity
to
really
sort
of
test
and
perfect
those
processes
versus
trying
to
cram
it
all
in
from
election
day
through
certification,
and
I
think
where
some
of
the
concerns
have
been
raised
are
really
around
just
misinformation
about
what
is
taking
place.
D
So
when
we
talk
about
opening
or
processing
early,
we're
not
talking
about
tabulating
we're
not
talking
about
looking
at
results,
we're
simply
talking
about
moving
that
ballot
and
accounting
it
through
every
stage
of
the
process
and
checking
it
in
verifying
it.
Opening
and
extracting
might
sound
easy.
It
can
be
one
of
the
biggest
bottlenecks
in
a
vote
by
mail
process
so
physically,
taking
that
ballot
out
preparing
it
to
be
scanned,
dealing
with
any
issues
that
that
scam
scanner
might
encounter
so
much
easier.
D
When
you
don't
have
that
pressure
of
trying
to
again
get
all
of
these
done
in
that
short
window
of
time,
much
more
focus
can
be
placed
on
quality
when
you
can
extend
that
out.
So
best
practices
start
as
soon
as
they
start
coming
in
keep
up
with
them
each
day,
try
to
start
election
day
as
close
to
zero
as
you
can,
because
that's
really
where
the
majority
of
those
ballots
are
going
to
come
in
and
you're
still
going
to
have
challenges
getting
them
all
done
in
time.
A
Great,
so
that's
another
policy
point
that
legislators
could
be
thinking
about,
there's
one
more
deadline.
I
want
to
talk
about
and
nate
I'm
going
to
ask
you
to
do
this.
We
are
coming
close
to
the
end
of
our
hour
and
csl
wants
us
to
end
on
time.
So
nate
talk
to
us
a
little
bit
about
the
in
hand,
time
versus
post
march,
buy
what
what's
the
pros
and
cons
of
allowing
ballots
to
be
treated
in
those
two
ways.
Well,
judd's
pointed.
E
In
one
direction
on
that,
which
is
that,
if
you're
talking
in
hand
is
a
clear
rule
right,
you
know
where
it
is
if
it's
either
in
your
hand,
you
know
at
that
at
that
time
or
not,
I
mean
there
are
there's
no
ways
you
can
litigate
that,
but
that
would
be
the
amazing.
Definitely
once
you
start
going
on
the
question
of
postmarks.
E
What
about
the
you
know
the
pink
bar
code
that
that's
put
on
the
back,
and
so
we
saw
all
of
these
problems
coming
up
in
new
york
and
but
of
course,
you
know,
I
spent
when
you're
dealing
with
military
ballots
going
to
deal
with
all
kinds
of
valves
that
may
be
received
after
election
day.
That's
the
advantage
of
extending
the
deadline
so
that
it's
postmarked
by
election
day,
not
received
by
them.
A
Great,
I
appreciate
that.
I
guess
I
feel
here
too
there's
one
set
of
pulls
towards:
let's
count
all
the
balance
and
that's
making
people
go
to
post
marked
by,
but
then
you
get
the
after
effects
and
then
I
think
the
other
side
of
saying
hey
this.
This
is
the
end
point
isn't
being
heard
quite
so
much
well.
One
of
the
arguments
again
with
the
postmark
is
that
if
you
think
that
everyone
should
have
the
same
amount
of
information
at
the
time
that
they
vote
or
at
least
have.
E
A
That's
a
good
point,
and
so
I
think
good
minds
could
have
different
outcomes
on
that
question.
It's
up
to
policymakers
to
kind
of
that,
I'm
going
to
breathe
deeply,
I'm
going
to
say!
Thank
you
very
much
to
all
of
you
who
came
on
with
us
today.
This
has
been
great.
We
do
have
a
series
of
other
zoom
meetings
and
some
campaign
finance
webinars
coming
right
up.
I
think
we'll
send
you
an
email
after
the
fact
to
get
that
out
there
judd
jennifer
and
nate.
Can
we
put
your
emails
in
that?
A
So
people
can
contact
you
and
if
there's
anything
we
weren't
able
to
address
that
was
in
the
chat
box,
you
can
certainly
go
to
brian
or
me
brand.hinkel.ncsl.org
wendy.underhill.ncsl.org.
I
think
that
I
ended
up
a
way
smarter
person
than
I
was
an
hour
ago
and
I'm
very
happy
about
this.
Thank
you
all
for
being
here
and
stay
safe.