It has been discovered that Democrats have found a way for their voters to cast 2 ballots. This was especially noticeable in Orange County, where Republicans outnumber Democrats but still lost six seats.
Apparently, enough Democrats were able to vote twice to win those seats and overcome the Republican advantage. The way it was done was to have Democrats register as independent voters and later, they would apply to vote as a Democrat. One ballot would be sent to their house and they could vote a second time in person. California Secretary of State Alex Padilla is taking heavy flak for not correcting a serious issue in several counties.
Padilla is making no secret of the fact, he isn’t going to correct the problem.
Since it’s not uncommon in this period of American history for election determinations to come down to a few votes, this is a complete mess that very well could have serious implications for future state and national elections.
But it’s not a problem that Democratic politicians, including Padilla, seem to be eager to fix. It’s not difficult to understand why: A majority of those double-voters are likely to be Democrats, given their geographic location.
So, the trick is that the voter doesn’t surrender the nonpartisan primary ballot received, which can later be taken to the polls on Election Day and exchanged on the spot for a Democratic ballot for a second vote. The poll workers have no way to check if that voter has already voted by mail, as other counties do. They use computers to check whether a voter has participated.
But in the affected counties, which include Contra Costa and Alameda counties, it’s difficult to determine whether someone has already voted until it’s entirely too late.