In 2012, I landed an interesting temp job: Elections Clerk at the Utah County Elections office on Provo Center Street. I learned how to calibrate voting machines, update voter file information, and generally how the sausage of Utah County elections is made. I was particularly proud of using my mission language skills to translate the voter registration document into Spanish. But I learned one lesson in particular that has always stayed with me, and has become even more relevant recently:
Mail-in ballots are the best way to vote.
This is immediately obvious to anyone who’s worked in elections. With mail-in ballots, there is no need to maintain old voting machines or transport the clunkers to myriad polling places around the county (or at least, not nearly so many). Having fewer polling places saves time and taxpayer money because it requires fewer poll workers and elections staff, and the ballots are easier to count—and recount, if necessary. Utah voting machines did leave a paper trail, unlike some other states’ equipment, but it was on receipt paper that faded over time and could be fouled by an errant fingernail. Mail-in ballots marked with pen have no such problems. They’re also bigger, and therefore harder to lose (or maliciously dispose of.) When my co-workers and I were hand counting ballots that for various reasons couldn’t be read by the machine, it was easy to stack them up in neat piles by whichever race we were counting at the time. The winner was immediately obvious by the size of the stack.
Those are just the benefits to the election staff. The benefits to the voter are even greater.
Instead of having to make hasty, oftentimes less-informed decisions in the voting booth, voters have time to research the candidates and ballot measures at their own pace. Instead of having to drive somewhere and possibly wait in a long line, the filled-out ballots can be dropped into a mailbox (or a drop box)—no stamp required.
Overall, mail-in voting increases voter participation by making it easier and more convenient to vote—not just for one group or political party, but across the board. It gives everyone a better chance to cast informed votes.
On the security side, mail-in ballots are the most secure voting method we humans have ever figured out. They’re not perfect—nothing is—but their very nature makes them harder to commit fraud with, and Utah’s procedures fortify them even more. In our internet-connected world, voting machines are vulnerable to nefarious infiltration, but paper ballots can’t be hacked. Even if one of the machines in the elections office were compromised (which would be very hard to do because they’re not connected to the internet), mail-in ballots are easily hand-countable. Utah also keeps them around for several years just in case a problem is discovered after the fact.
I had the opportunity to tour the Utah County Elections Office earlier this year. The changes they’ve made since I worked there are incredible. The machine that removes the ballots from their signed envelopes is lightning fast, preserving the privacy of each ballot. But before ballots even arrive there, the signature on every single envelope is scanned and compared to the voter signature on file. Any signature that gets flagged as different is sent to a real human being for further comparison. This, by the way, is the very same security feature that we used in 2012 for our in-person voting. Every voter that year, when they showed their ID, had to sign the precinct book. It was that signature, not the ID, that was compared to the records on file. The fact of the matter is that IDs can be easier to fake than signatures. In any case, identification and citizenship have already been established when voters register. Doing it again at the polling place is redundant and unnecessary. All we need to do is confirm that the individual is the previously registered voter on file. The signature does that equally well, whether in person or by mail.
Last, but by no means least, is the issue of accessibility. Mail-in voting is far easier for the elderly, persons with disabilities, and people who might not feel safe or comfortable (for various reasons) at a traditional polling place. All these people have the same right to make their voice heard in our democracy as everyone else. Mail-in voting enables them to exercise that right.
Unfortunately, we are in a time and place where Utah’s fabulously successful and safe elections system is under attack. Extremist candidates are spreading disinformation about our elections system, and some are proposing to send us back to the system I worked in 2012. We cannot allow them to push us backwards.
—Daniel Craig Friend
Daniel Craig Friend has lived in Provo for twelve years. He graduated from BYU with a degree in English language and editing in 2012. Friend is a devoted husband and father. His young daughters, Sophie and Christina, motivated his decision to enter the race for a seat on Utah’s House of Representatives in order to improve education, legislate for clean air and water, and offer residents more opportunities to strengthen and support their families. In the interest of voter rights, he is supporting a write-in vote for Candace Jacobson as Utah County Clerk—the official who oversees county elections. Jacobsen is the single candidate who defends the mail-in voting system. Friend promises to defend mail-in voting on Utah’s Capitol Hill. Election Day is November 8th. Polls open at 7 a.m., and close at 8 p.m. at the following locations: the Elections Office, 100 East Center Street; Provo City Library, 550 North University Ave; and Provo Towne Center Mall, 1200 Towne Center Blvd. In-person early voting runs October 25th through November 4th at 100 East Center Street. Mail-in ballots will be received until November 1st. Residents who haven’t received a mail-in ballot should contact the Utah County Clerk at (801) 851-8124 or elections@utahcounty.gov.
South Provo Prophet 