Damien Broderick wrote:
>
> 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)?
Owning a postage machine allows you to set the date on it (or produce your
stamped envelopes with the correct date for later mailing). Corrupting postage
employees is very difficult, because every postage center has second story one
way windows for postal inspectors to spy on the employees, along with cameras,
etc. Offenses like that are one thing the postal workers union has difficulty
protecting its members from.
> 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?
>
No, its not, though many states don't have laws against the 'Nader Trader'
websites for people to trade votes between battleground and non-battleground
states.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:50:20 MDT