I guess I’m coming from a California perspective, where it is the law (as of 2018) to give voters a chance to fix their signature.
As the article says, not all of the mismatches were corrected. Maybe they were fraudulent, or semi-fraudulent (i.e., a wife signing an otherwise-legitimate ballot for her husband). It does seem like a fairly small problem in any case.
Glad we are now on the same page.
Even if people are given a chance to fix it, it’s still a glaring opportunity for one party (and less be honest, it will be republicans) to “invalidate” as many ballots as possible (again, by someone with absolutely no training) in Democratic areas and some will get repaired, when a minimal if any effort to contact is made, and some won’t.
Not hypothetical. Already happening.
If there’s evidence of bias, or if the contact efforts are insufficient, or if the process is insufficiently formalized, then there should be a lawsuit. The lawsuits are winnable–the ACLU showed that. There are a zillion ways to mess with ballots, and for the most part the right answer is to fight these things with lawsuits, not throwing away the process entirely.
Great. And until they work that out no ballots should be invalidated by a signature unless there is an investigation and it is proven to be fraudulent.
Eh. We’re getting into hanging chad territory. The signature has been a cross-check since forever, and doesn’t seem to result in many problems. Defective ballots, whether because they got mutilated somehow, or were incorrectly marked, or had a mismatching signature, or whatever, were always in a gray area when it comes to being counted. I certainly don’t mind tightening up the system, but eliminating the signature completely doesn’t sound like a great solution. I’d want evidence that doing so wouldn’t invite fraud.
Here’s one example of someone attempting to commit voter fraud by forging a signature:
The miscreant was opposed to Colorado’s VbM system and I’m going to guess was going to use his own case of voter fraud as proof the system is rife with fraud. Anything to get better ratings (he was a radio talk show host), I guess. Didn’t quite work out the way he planned.
Just saw an article today that in Missouri tracking is on a county-by-county basis. Apparently St Louis city and county (which I think are entirely separate geographic entities) have it, Jackson county (most of Kansas City) doesn’t.
Yes. It’s the “chain of custody” problem. There absolutely needs to be more drop off boxes in TX - they need to be placed by TX election officials.
I’m an advocate for more official drop off boxes. I’d be totally ok if a group provided maps that showed how to get from their storefront or church to the nearest official drop off box. A post service/mass convoy-to-the-drop-off-box is a great idea. (in non-covid times, shuttling people to the polls or to the drop-off box is also fine).
But this? no. Who knows if the unofficial people are going to submit all the ballots? Who knows if they’re going to alter them? There’s a lack of oversight that makes this a bad idea.
Wow, that’s perfect. 
Showing not only who is intent on committing voter fraud, but how difficult it is to actually pull it off. Thank you for sharing that!
My little county in the Colorado mountains has an app that maps drop off box locations. It’s trivial to set up.
This put me in a better mood
Two key swing states will not have numbers available until up to a week after the election, but the other swing states will begin counting quickly or start counting as soon as they receive ballots.
Based on these timelines and early voting trends, I’m feeling marginally better about one “Trump steals the election” scenario than previously. The hypothetical was that Trump would jump out to an early lead on election night, as his voters turned up on election day and Biden’s support would depend on absentee ballots that would slowly trickle in before and after election day. Trump and conservative media would declare victory on election night, and would scream fraud as Biden’s vote totals in swing states crept past his days later. The goal being to “flood the zone” and sew enough confusion about who’s the legitimate winner that Republican state legislators or the courts could hand him the necessary electoral college votes he needs.
Now, potentially the exact opposite could happen. With Democrats so fired up to get their ballots in now through absentee and in-person early voting, Biden could easily jump out to a significant early lead in swing states that count absentee votes before election day like NC, OH, FL and AZ. It’ll be Trump who will be playing catch up election night and into the next morning as precincts report their election day voting numbers. Ironically, he could be in a position where he’s still behind in critical swing states and needs late-arriving absentee ballots (which may tilt more Republican) to be included in the count.
I’m reminded of an episode of Veep where Selina’s lawyers are arguing to keep a recount going because they’re aware that there’s a cache of uncounted votes they think will favor her. They find out that the votes will actually benefit her opponent, and her lawyer mid-stream in oral arguments before the court starts arguing that they need to stop this “endless recount.”
Yeah, the ideal scenario would be for Biden to be ahead at midnight Nov. 3 – and then the lead just keeps getting bigger in the days to follow.
“It’s like a nightmare, isn’t it? It just keeps getting worse and worse.”
Don’t recall seeing this yet (and apologies if it has been mentioned):
The postal service agreed to reverse all changes, which included reduced retail hours, removal of collection boxes and mail sorting machines, closure or consolidation of mail processing facilities, restriction of late or extra trips for timely mail delivery, and banning or restricting overtime.
The agreement also requires the Postal Service to prioritize election mail.
Regarding the highlighted section, I seem to recall Postmaster General DeJoy (or one of his henchmen assistants) saying that the sorting machines could not be put back together. If that be so, someone is lying — either about the original statement or the current agreement. Which astonishes me not in the least.
It also wouldn’t astonish me if the service restoration will take two (or three) weeks. But at least it’s a slap at one element of the malAdministration’s voter suppression strategy.
Various news reports at the time said that some of those sorting machines had been physically dismantled and the pieces hauled out to the dumpster. Someone even mentioned left out to rust in the rain. IIRC there were photos.
ETA: Links, from various days last August, with photos:
I mailed in my ballot a week ago and checked online today. It has been received for counting. I’m still not going to reveal whom I voted for – the monstrous cretin from Hell or the kindly, upright statesman. Hawaii is a reliably blue state, and we have only four electoral votes, but it is nice to know my vote will be added to the overall total, making the end gap just that much wider.
Hehe. Very sub-tile. 
"Ballot Accepted
10/09/2020
Your ballot has been accepted! Your ballot was received by your county elections office and will be counted."
I got one of these, too! I’m in Colorado.
Here’s the timeline:
I think my wife’s is still waiting for signature verification, but the 22-year-olds’ ballots are also accepted.
It should be this easy for every American, full stop.
And now we wait.