For all the talk about voter fraud and ways to combat it, the most vulnerable aspect of the election process remains in the area of absentee voting.
In May, voters in Mississippi’s First Congressional District were the first to be required to present a photo ID when voting. But voter ID doesn’t apply to absentee ballots, said Lowndes County Circuit Clerk Haley Salazar.
Asked if the current absentee voting system is subject to fraud, Salazar didn’t mince words.
“Oh, I sure it is,” she said. “The question we don’t know is how prevalent it is, how often it happens, but there’s no question there are people who will abuse it.”
The state allows registered voters to vote by an absentee ballot if they meet certain conditions related to age, disability, work obligations or being out of town on the day of the election.
“The process is done strictly by mail,” Salazar said. “People have to mail in a request for an absentee ballot. They fill out the ballot and sign it and must have a witness over the age of 18 sign it, too. Then, they have to mail it back to us. We can’t accept ballots that are hand-delivered.”
Salazar said absentee voters can begin voting 45 days before the election. For those who are not out of town, the ballot must arrive at the circuit clerk’s office by the Saturday prior to the election. For those who are voting absentee because they are out of town, their ballot must arrive in the mail the day before the election.
‘Been going on a long, long time’
For District 4 Supervisor Leroy Brooks, who is facing two opponents in this year’s Democratic primary in the District, the subject of absentee voting is a touchy subject.
During a January meeting of the Lowndes County Democratic Executive Committee, the six-term supervisor raised the issue of absentee voting fraud in animated fashion while speaking to the committee.
According to an audio recording of that exchange sent anonymously to The Dispatch, Brooks can be heard saying: “All you folks that love to play with absentees…the first absentee ballot that you do wrong, you’re going to the penitentiary.”
According to Section 23-15-753 of the Mississippi Code, there is a range of punishments for a person found guilty of voter fraud. The guilty party can be fined from $500 to $5,000, be sent to jail for up to one year or be sentenced to serve one to five years in the state penitentiary.
Reached Thursday, Brooks said absentee voting fraud is nothing new.
“It’s been going on for years,” he said. “There are a number of people who go out and knock on doors of elderly people and offer to help them get absentee ballots. Then they go around to candidates and tell them, ‘I can get you this many votes.’ Then, they’ll go back to the voter and offer to help them with their ballots. These people may tell them, ‘You can only vote for this person.’ Or, if they can’t read or write, they will fill out the ballot for them and the person has no way of knowing how their ballot is being marked.
“It’s been going on a long, long time,” Brooks said. “I don’t think it’s as bad now as it used to be, but I have no doubt it’s still happening. There are still people out there hustling these votes.”
At the mercy of system
Salazar said because all of the absentee voting is done through mail, it is almost impossible to detect a fraudulent ballot for a legitimate one.
“One of the things we do try to do is compare the number of absentee ballots we get to previous elections,” she siad. “If there’s a big difference, the red flags may go up.”
They are also aware of other irregularities that might suggest fraud, including large numbers of ballots signed by the same witness.
After a 2010 election, Salazar noted that, of 1,263 absentee ballots, 350 were witnessed by six individuals.
“If my memory is correct, one person had been the witness on 75 absentee ballots,” Salazar said. “It was unusual, which is why I reported it the Secretary or State’s office.”
Although the Secretary of State office did not substantiate voter fraud in that case, it was enough to prompt an effort to change the process.
“There was a bill proposed – I think it was in 2012 – to limit the number of absentee ballots one person could be a witness on to 10,” Salazar said. “The bill was passed in the House of Representatives and we were so excited. But it died in the Senate, so as it stands, there are no limits to how many absentee ballots a witness can sign.
Salazar said there are certainly people who serve as witnesses because they honestly want to help. She is concerned, however, that others may attempt to influence votes, or take advantage of the system.
“But I can’t prove that,” she said.
Brooks said he still has hope that changes can be made in the absentee voting system.
“For all the talk about Voter ID, the area that is most apt for fraud is absentee voting,” he said. “It’s something that really needs to be cleaned up.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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