Voters all over Virginia are receiving mail from “The Center for Voter Information” with a Richmond VA return address.
The envelope sent to VA voters contains:
- A flyer encouraging by-mail absentee voting.
- A pre-filled application for an absentee ballot that needs only the voter’s signature and date.
- A return envelope that is supposed to be addressed to the voter’s local Registrar.
The last item is the problem: Tens of thousands of these have the wrong Registrar address. If a voter completes the absentee ballot application and returns it to the wrong Registrar, the application either (1) will be thrown in the trash, (2) returned to the voter, or, (3) forwarded to the correct registrar (not likely).
For example, voters in Fairfax CITY are receiving return envelopes addressed to the Registrar in Fairfax COUNTY, or, vice versa. Ditto for Roanoke City/County. And the same in several heavily-populated areas.
According to several reports, CVI does not answer their phones. The organization appears to be legitimate but their quality control seems to be non-existent.
I don’t know if the same thing is going on in other states.
Regardless of where you live, if you want to vote absentee, call your town/city/county Voter Registrar or General Registrar and ask for an application.
UPDATE: I see a few comments from folks who have requested but not yet received an absentee ballot.
Absentee voting in Virginia starts 45 days before Election Dy, which is September 18.
Registrars start mailing absentee ballots on the 45th day before Election Day. Your application likely has been received and the ballot will be mailed to you on/after Sep 18. Also, ballots have not yet been printed — we will order our ballots in early September — don’t want packs of thousands of ballots sitting around.
I assume every other state operates in a similar manner.
I am an Electoral Board member in a small rural VA county. We have received 3X as many absentee applications. Our Registrar processes them as they arrive; all applications received to date have been processed and are waiting for the ballots to be printed and stuffed into the envelopes to go to voters.