The details vary a little bit depending on the state.
In my state, regular ballots go directly into the ballot box on election day and on early voting days. They get all mixed together so they are all counted.
The provisionals are in individual envelopes and in a separate container. The envelope identifies the provisional voter and the circumstances of why they were voting provisional. A few days after the election, the higher-ups evaluate the circumstances of each provisional voter to see whether or not the vote should count. This process is open to the public to attend and observe. A few disqualifiers include not being eligible to vote, voting in the wrong place, trying to vote more than once, etc. if the provisional voter is disqualified, the envelope is not opened and the ballot is not counted. If the voter is qualified to vote, then the envelope is opened and the ballot counted.
All ballots whether they be regular, provisional, or uncounted are stored in separate boxes for a few years in case there's ever a legal challenge to the election results.
I'm skeptical
Some states have registration by party, but some do not. Some states have early voting for everyone, but some do not.
The data that we're seeing is in the states that have early voting for everyone AND registration by party, we're seeing more registered Republicans voting. This is promising, but it isn't proof of how people are voting. We're also missing the data from the states that don't have registration by party or early voting.
Actual proof doesn't get released until after the polls have closed for those states.
A simpler explanation
Trump wants people to vote early to better ensure that people actually vote. A million and one things could happen to prevent a Trump voter from voting on election day, so it's better to lock in those votes early and not take any chances.
It looks like this person was provided a provisional ballot. You can tell because of 2 things:
- The election worker says they'll figure it out later, and they don't know if it will be counted.
- At the end the provisional ballot appears to go in an envelope and a separate bag instead of the normal ballot box.
Regular ballots are always counted and go into a normal ballot box.
This is not as nefarious as it seems. A provisional ballot gets set aside for higher-up election authorities to figure out, and for candidate campaigns to dispute. There they figure out if the voter was actually allowed to vote or not. It could be that there was an honest mistake in the pollbook which prevented a voter from being able to vote normally on election day, in which case that vote will count. But for someone that's not registered and not a citizen, they'll determine that that voter is ineligible, and the ballot will not count.
Anyone who shows up at a polling place that cannot be given a normal ballot for any reason can be given a provisional ballot. It's a way for election workers to 1) deescalate conflict with the voter, and 2) pass the buck up the chain.
An election worker cannot just tell someone they can't vote, which is the outcome the video poster wanted to see. It doesn't matter if the person is a noncitizen. That opens up liability for possibly denying someone their right to vote. The best they can do is offer a provisional ballot which will get thrown away later for people ineligible to vote.
Part of a fair election is that no one can know for sure how you voted. If voters can be provided with proof of how they voted, that could open up a scheme where candidates can pay people to vote a certain way. "Show me your receipt that you voted for me, and I'll give you $X" Right now the best they can do is register people and drive them to the polls, but the pollbooth is still private and people can vote however they want there.
Granted, another part of a fair election is that the vote counters (whether they be human or machine) provide accurate counts. This is likely broken, which is why people want receipts. If this part were not broken, the receipts wouldn't matter.
Electoral College
You're not voting for President and Vice President, you're voting for a slate of Electors chosen by the different presidential campaigns. Once that slate is chosen via the election, they almost always vote for the President and Vice President with their electoral votes, and some states require them to vote that way by law (see faithless Electors). But they are technically free to vote for whomever they want.
In a scenario where a Vice Presidential candidate drops out, and the campaign supports that dropout, they will likely issue new instructions for whom their slates of Electors should vote.
I think you're conflating 2 things. One is the existence of the bond, and the other is the mismanagement of it.
The way this is supposed to work is that your municipality wants some expensive things, like new utility infrastructure, roads, bridges, whatever. If they have the funds in their Treasury, they can pay for it that way, or they can issue a bond and saddle future residents with the debt. It's actually preferable, and more fair, to issue the bond, because the Treasury is made up of the tax money people paid in the past whereas the bond is tax money people pay in the future. People in the past may move away and never get a chance to use the thing that was built, but future residents will use the thing AND as you've pointed out, they can see the bond before moving there, so there is a form of consent.
Now mismanagement is awful, but a separate issue. If the municipality got too much bond money and then used it for something else, that's bad and likely criminal.
No problem doing that. If you did go to the post office you can buy the "additional ounce" stamp for much less. But we're really only talking about a difference of 50¢ or so.
I still bring mail ballots to the post office so I can see them put that postmark on it.
But to each their own
🇺🇸MAGA🇺🇸
The post office will often still deliver election mail even with insufficient postage. In fact, if it gets too close to election day, they'll even overnight election mail.
If you're voting by mail, 1) ask for a post mark from the clerk, and 2) mail your ballot well in advance of election day to give sufficient time for delivery.
https://about.usps.com/what/government-services/election-mail/
Please Free the American People from Income Tax Slavery