The Elections Division of the Office of the County Clerk and the Kauai Police Department are investigating a possible case of voter fraud on Kauai. Officials had received an absentee ballot by mail, but the affirmation statement on the back of the return envelope wasn’t signed. When the voter was contacted for a signature, he informed officials that he had never received the ballot in the first place. “This recent event is of great concern to our office. We wish to note that the procedures we have in place to process absentee mail ballots were able to alert both the voter and our office of the situation,” said County Clerk Ricky Watanabe. “Fortunately, this appears to be an isolated case but we ask that anyone with information on this incident to please contact the Kauai Police Department.”
Officials say absentee mail voting procedures are very stringent and that the signature on the affirmation statement is verified against the corresponding voter’s signature contained on an official document on file in the Elections Division. The ballot will only be counted if the signatures on the return ballot envelope and document match.
If the voter’s signature is missing from the Affirmation Statement or does not match the corresponding voter’s signature, the voter will be contacted to either inform the voter of the need to sign or to determine why the signatures do not match.
If a voter does not sign the Affirmation Statement or does not respond to follow-up attempts before the close of polls at 6 p.m. on Election Day, the ballot will not be counted.
Full Article: Absentee ballot fraud investigation underway on Kauai | KHON2.