If a person votes by absentee ballot, what prevents him from voting again on election day?

I'm a poll worker and USUALLY if you voted absentee, at least here in PA, the sheet that you have has the name crossed out. You can still see the name, but there is a line through it. Therefore, you can still see who is there, but know that they voted absentee.

Also, they USUALLY have someone from each party present.. At least that's how it works here in PA. We have someone from the Republican party (me) and someone from the Dem party to watch over and make sure ID's are checked and all that.

ALSO, I know that we always have attorneys on call in case someone tries to come in and start trouble or if there are any voting concerns. It's a lot more than you would imagine.

I worked as a poll worker a few years ago. When someone had even applied for an absentee ballot, their name was marked off the list as eligible to vote at the polls. If they came in and said they had not sent in their ballot, they were allowed to fill out a ballot, and it would then be held back pending confirmation of their absentee ballot being received in the mail or not. If poll workers don't do their jobs properly, that is another matter entirely.

<Grin> Vote early and often!!!

Actually that is really not much of a flaw. Not sure the procedures where you live in our area the absentee info is on the list they use to check you off. They also have a drop box for people that want to drop their absentee ballots in person. My wife does this. She prefers to fill out the ballot at home but enjoys going to the polling place to mingle with neighbors on election day.

I had applied for an absentee ballot in the Kerry/Bush election, but I had forgotten about it. I stood in line at the polls for 3 hours. I got to the front to show them my ID, and they turned me away- because if I had applied for an absentee ballot, I would not be able to vote in person. I had to go to my mailbox and get it filled out then drop it off at the county clerks.

There was no way they would let me vote knowing that I already had a ballot in my possession.

I would imagine that they have a system that notes that the person has already voted. You said the lady said they're supposed to check the list. Did she say that they don't?

So, your real question is: How do we make sure poll workers do their job properly?

The answer is: We can't. Unless you want military supervised elections (which opens up all kinds of cans of worms that I don't even want to think about) the only thing you can do is become a poll worker who does their job properly, or trust the poll workers know what they're doing.

Nothing. You can still vote on Election day. It's not like they have a record that they're checking at the polls to see who already voted. I don't believe there should be absentee ballots or early voting at all.

They do check the list and if you vote by absentee ballot you won't be on the list so they won't give you a ballot

Hmmmm. That's a great question and I imagine that it does happen quite a bit. When I go to vote I am going to see if they check my name off of a list. If not, then I am definately going to question them about it. I would really like this election to be fair.

Can't happen, your name is taken off the list at the Precinct, (place where you would normally vote)