I just came home after a few months away this winter and found this disturbing letter, dated 2022-11-08 had arrived from the county.
We have received your voted ballot for the 11/08/2022 General Election. Colorado law requires us to compare the signature on your return envelope with the signatures in your voter registration record in order to verify your identity. Unfortunately, either your return envelope did not have a signature, or we were unable to verify your signature with those on file.
Well, I did sign my ballot, and I always do. Here is a scan of it (I always keep a copy) with my signature censored out:
The letter continues:
In order for your ballot to count, you must complete, sign, and return the enclosed form by 11/16/2022. Please note that you will also be required to return a photocopy of your identification.
If you indicate that you have not voted a ballot, or if you fail to return the enclosed form, we will not count this ballot. If your ballot contained a signature that was not verifiable, and you do not affirm on the enclosed form that you voted a ballot, we will also turn over this discrepancy to the District Attorney's Office for investigation.**
It sounds like my ballot wasn't counted this year. Why weren't they able to verify my signature? I do not know. I've been voting by mail for more than ten years and never heard such nonsense.
Worse, I wasn't called or emailed about it. Colorado actually has a vote-tracking website that voters can use to ensure their ballot was counted, and I checked it and it showed (and still shows) my ballot as "counted":
On that same website, you can see that the county/state has my email address on file. I also recieved an email from Ballot Trax notifying me that my vote was counted.
Why even have a ballot-tracking website if it's not going to be accurate at all? As I said, I've voted by mail for over ten years... but if the county is going to find "discrepencies" with my signature, then I am going to start voting in person again.
^ 2023/01
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