Some facts about voting by mail
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After doing some research on voting by mail or absentee ballots, these are the facts:
-Voting by absentee ballot started in the 17th century in Massachusetts, if a man was vulnerable to an Indian attack.
-It happened during the Revolutionary War in 1775.
-It was used on a larger scale in 1864 during the Civil War when incumbent Republican Abraham Lincoln won. It was then used more often during times of conflict. As our country grew, absentee ballots were used for other reasons such as sickness or people on vacations.
-In 1978, California allowed no-excuse, mail-in ballots. In 1995, Oregon switched entirely to mail-in ballots. By 2020, another five states had switched to exclusively using mail-in ballots, and 29 states were using no-excuse, mail-in ballots.
In the 2016 election, it was found that .00006% out of 250 million votes by mail were fraudulent.
Data from 1996 to 2018 shows mail-in ballots do not have an advantage for one political party over another.
The problem in Washington County is letting a voter try to correct a ballot before the election. Every surrounding county permits the voter to correct their ballot. Washington County Commissioner Nick Sherman chose not to allow voters this option.
Sherman took an oath to represent all of Washington County, not just his voters. He needs to start working for all of us.
Pamela Blanck
Washington PA