Vote harvesting is the act of collecting mail-in or absentee voter ballots by a third party, who then drops them off at a voting or ballot collection center for counting.
California previously allowed only relatives and those living in the same household – someone who could verify the identity of the voter and thus the legitimacy of the vote – to collect and drop off ballots. This requirement minimally impacted voters and at least offered some protection against fraud. However, in 2016 Gov. Brown signed into law AB1921 which allowed third parties – including political entities – to “harvest” and submit completed mail-in ballots.
Some see California’s ballot harvesting provision as creating a potential for voter fraud because it allows for a disconnect between the voter, the harvester and the ballot box. Harvesters can collect anyone’s ballot without a regard for its legitimacy and submit it without concern of prosecution in the event that the ballot turns out to be fraudulent. What level of fraud is enabled by this disconnect? Think about it: what’s to stop the ballot collectors from requesting any other ballots received in error (We’ll take care of those for you…”) at the time they collect legitimate ballots? And what would stop them from completing them for the candidates of their own choice and submitting them along with the others?
If you think such a scenario this is unlikely, think again: A 2017 lawsuit by Judicial Watch noted that Los Angeles county had a voter registration rate equal to 112% of the eligible voters in the county. What ever happened to those potential 1.5 million ballots? It should be noted that in the 2018 elections following California’s passing of AB1921 more than 250,000 ballots were returned by ballot harvesting entities. This dramatically altered the election results, giving Democrat candidates wins in districts where polls showed Republican candidates holding strong leads.
To protect the integrity of the election process, ballot harvesting should be allowed only by family members or residents of the same household. Additionally, the harvesters should have to certify under penalty of perjury that they collected the ballots from the actual voter identified on the ballot, and that the voter is personally known to them. This will have almost no impact on the ability of a voter to have their vote counted, while ensuring the integrity of our election system.
Tell your state voting officials that you support ballot harvesting, but only by those personally known to the voter and only when the harvester can/will certify to the same.