Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said his wife dropped off his ballot for him, which is illegal and punish
Source: Business Insider
punishable by a $1,000 fine and up to a year in prison.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf in an interview last week said his wife dropped off his ballot for him ahead of Election Day, which is illegal and carries possible jail time and a fine.
"I didn't show up in person at the polls. We voted a couple weeks ago, actually," Wolf said during an appearance on the Pittsburgh radio station KDKA, according to a report from Spotlight PA. "My wife actually dropped it off personally two weeks ago, so it's there."
As Spotlight PA reported, Pennsylvania law in most cases prohibits any person from submitting another person's ballot. The act is punishable by up to a year in prison and a maximum fine of $1,000, according to the report. Individuals who live with disabilities are able to designate another person to turn in their ballot, the report said.
A spokesperson for Wolf, a Democrat, told the Harrisburg local news outlet ABC 27 that the incident was an "honest mistake."
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/pennsylvania-gov-tom-wolf-said-his-wife-dropped-off-his-ballot-for-him-which-is-illegal-and-punishable-by-a-1-000-fine-and-up-to-a-year-in-prison/ar-AAQq9PK?li=BB141NW3&ocid=DELLDHP
You can't drop a ballot off from a member of your own household? That's a tad absurd if you ask me.
secondwind
(16,903 posts)DENVERPOPS
(8,844 posts)Is Republicans being able to point out Dem voting fraud.
How is there even a law like this on the books???????????
Pisces
(5,602 posts)Voting location. You are allowed to drop off family memeber ballots at the same time that are sealed and signed.
NullTuples
(6,017 posts)cbabe
(3,549 posts)catrose
(5,073 posts)marble falls
(57,204 posts)pnwmom
(108,994 posts)FBaggins
(26,757 posts)In some areas, you can go door to door picking Im up ballots fir people. In others thats explicitly banned.
Dont know PA, but this seems excessive
piddyprints
(14,648 posts)made by a Democrat will bring the most severe punishment allowed.
Meanwhile, the insurrectionists and traitors walk free. SMDH
Orrex
(63,224 posts)maxsolomon
(33,400 posts)Send me to the hoosegow!
LisaL
(44,974 posts)Family members dropping off a ballot should be legal. It's legal in my state.
jimfields33
(15,948 posts)Clearly he wanted the rule.
Calista241
(5,586 posts)It should Prevent abusive spouses from forcing their partners to vote the way they want them to.
LisaL
(44,974 posts)First of all, the law is clearly impossible to enforce. Are you going to put a cop next to each mailbox to make sure people are only dropping off their ballots?
Second of all, an abusive spouse can still force their partner to vote the way they want to. Not being allowed (in theory) to drop off your partner's ballot doesn't prevent that.
Torchlight
(3,360 posts)Seems really naive to me to believe abusers would be foiled by this.
Sneederbunk
(14,300 posts)bucolic_frolic
(43,281 posts)he is being treated for cancer, so there is that and I could see fatigue being a factor in asking another family member for a dropoff.
DallasNE
(7,403 posts)Most states allow for members of households to drop off ballots for the household. What they want to avoid is harvesting of ballots, generally meaning more than 6. But that is tough to enforce when there are unmanned drop-off boxes where there is no way to know if 1, 2 or 30 ballots are being dropped off. That means that people in nursing homes and hospitals are disenfranchised because they are physically unable to drop off their own ballots.
NullTuples
(6,017 posts)"Under Pennsylvania law, voters must return their own ballots. The only exceptions to this are for voters with a disability who have designated someone in writing to deliver their ballot."
orleans
(34,073 posts)regardless if he put something in writing
NullTuples
(6,017 posts)former9thward
(32,077 posts)He said it was an "honest mistake". He did not say he had any type of disability that would prevent him from returning the ballot himself. He is the governor. I am pretty sure people would know if a governor had that type of disability.
NullTuples
(6,017 posts)And by that I just mean he screwed up & should have to go through whatever anyone else would.
former9thward
(32,077 posts)No one really cares. Its just a political gotcha that parties play on each other.
Permanut
(5,637 posts)NullTuples
(6,017 posts)Rebl2
(13,551 posts)its ridiculous that a spouse cant drop off a ballot for you.
George II
(67,782 posts)...and the inner envelope has the voter's name and a serial number, so there's no possibility of submitting a fake ballot.
I assume it was an absentee ballot, so what if she took it to the corner mailbox to "deliver" it by USPS?
Here in Connecticut anyone now can get an absentee ballot without having a reason, and they can either be mailed back or dropped in the Town Hall drop box. Anyone can do it.
Igel
(35,356 posts)if you collect 10 ballots and know that three are from people that voted for the other candidate, not yours, they just might never make it to the drop box.
Sure, somebody may complain if they check to see if they voted, but there are a few reasons to explain things if the official record says they didn't vote.
Family members don't usually play those shenanigans. But ballot harvesters in general might.
hay rick
(7,639 posts)Think our media will give this outrage the inattention it deserves? Think again. Welcome to America in the Yeare of Our Lorde, MMXXI.
LogicFirst
(572 posts)Deminpenn
(15,290 posts)nt
rpannier
(24,338 posts)lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)States should not be allowed to enact shit like that.
Deminpenn
(15,290 posts)Up until the R state legislature passed revisions a couple years ago, voters needed a reason to vote by absentee ballot. If the voter was physically unable to sign the absentee ballot envelope, they needed the signature of a witness, complete with witnesses address, to verify the identity of the voter. Absentee ballots must be received by 8PM election day as well.
PA has no such thing as early voting, i.e. actual polling places open before election day, either.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)I just hope our Senate can hold the line on voter suppression until 2025.
moose65
(3,168 posts)Especially in large cities! I love being able to go vote on my timetable. Early voting in NC began in those long-ago glory days when Democrats controlled our state legislature. Once the Republicans took over, it was hard for them to eliminate early voting, so they have tried to shorten the period and throw up other restrictions. Assholes.
Deminpenn
(15,290 posts)nt
El Mimbreno
(777 posts)In New Mexico you can assign a family member to drop your sealed absentee ballot.
The Jungle 1
(4,552 posts)The republican controlled legislature refuses to do anything to help. Of course White Amricans are only 14% of the Philadelphia school system. Go figure. Reading is also considered a failed school system. But at least the white suburbs have great schools. There is that.
Deminpenn
(15,290 posts)that could reach a conclusion next year. The legislature did enact a fair funding formula in conjunction with Gov Wolf's administration, but they only apply it to part of the state school funding.
The school funding inequality isn't limited to urban schools, it affects schools in conservative/Republican more rural counties and areas, too.
The Jungle 1
(4,552 posts)However I do not think the failure is quite a stark as when looking at Philadelphia and Reading For awhile these two schools had close to a 50% drop out rate. The numbers are some what lower now. That said I am not an expert on the subject. Depending on real estate taxes for school funding will create this unfairness.
I did not know about the lawsuit. That could force change. I will look it up.
Deminpenn
(15,290 posts)the R-controlled state legislature has so far refused to apply it to 100% of the money the state allocates to schools. IIRC, the formula is only applied to "new" funding which would be the extra amount, if any, year over year.
The Jungle 1
(4,552 posts)Now that is painfully slow.