RE: election: I wonder.....

From: Damien Broderick (d.broderick@english.unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Wed Nov 08 2000 - 21:13:51 MST


At 10:50 PM 8/11/00 -0500, "Harvey Newstrom" <mail@HarveyNewstrom.com> wrote:

>> Ah, so I could make some money with blank envelopes postmarked
>> from yesterday?

>Mail stuff everyday to get
>postmarks, and then sell the backdated postmarked envelopes over the
>Internet!

>Mike, you are a genius!

What? Maybe you go postal [so to speak] differently in the States, but how
does this possibly work (unless you're working in the Post Office or can
corrupt someone there)?

To send yourself mail with the flap tucked in rather than stuck down, you
still need an address on the envelope. Wouldn't the vote counters get
suspicious if lots of votes arrived later with new labels posted over Mike
Lorrey's snail? Or is this like buying `first day covers' or whatever
they're called by philatelists, stamped and postmarked by never mailed?

Even if this made sense, how do you *re*mail a letter which already has a
postmark, short of making it a redirection following delivery to the wrong
address? Wouldn't the vote counters get suspicious if lots of votes arrived
later with redirection addresses scribbled over Mike Lorrey's snail? Or do
you bundle them in via a corrupt polling official? If you can do that, why
bother with the pre-postmarks?

BTW, reverting to the original suggestion, is it *legal* to blatantly sell
your unmarked ballot in the States?

Damien Broderick



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