A proposed state law that would prohibit taking someone else’s early ballot to a polling place is getting mixed reactions here, with some saying it would deny home-bound or disabled people their right to vote and others saying the measure would help prevent electoral fraud. In San Luis, it has been a practice for decades for campaign workers of candidates for city and county offices to collect early ballots from voters who presumably can’t get to the polls on election day, or who otherwise need help voting. But ballot collecting – sometimes called “ballot harvesting” – has also raised concerns that the practice leaves open the possibility that vote collectors could pressure voters to vote a certain way, or that the ballots could be trashed or altered before being delivered to the poll.
House Bill 2023, which has passed the state House of Representatives and is in the Senate, would make it a Class 5 felony for anyone but the voter to deliver his or her early ballot to the poll or to election workers.
Ballot collecting takes place in San Luis because no law up to now has barred it, and because it has made it easier for many residents to exercise their right to vote, says Tony Reyes, a former San Luis mayor who currently represents the city as a Yuma County supervisor.
Reyes, who plans to seek re-election to the board of supervisors later this year, says he’s taking a wait-and-see attitude toward the legislation. “It’s an issue where we still don’t know a lot of the details,” he said. “We have to wait to see what happens in the Legislature, but I believe we will adapt to whatever change results.”
Full Article: Ballot law idea raises concerns – Yuma Sun: News.