Is Trump Encouraging Illegal Multiple Voting in Colorado? (It Wouldn’t Work)

CNN:

Trump kicked off his rally here on Sunday by encouraging his supporters to “make sure” their ballots are properly counted, saying that he is a “skeptical person” when it comes to the state’s largely vote-by-mail process. He then encouraged his supporters to get a “new ballot” in person at a local polling location.
“They’ll give you a ballot, a new ballot. They’ll void your old ballot, they will give you a new ballot. And you can go out and make sure it gets in,” Trump said.
Registered voters in Colorado automatically receive a ballot in the mail, but can request a new ballot or vote in person if they have not yet mailed in a completed ballot.
“In some places they probably do that four or five times. We don’t do that. But that’s great,” Trump said Sunday, appearing to hint at the possibility of voter fraud in Colorado, a rare prospect Trump has continued to hammer on the stump.
It was unclear whether Trump was encouraging his supporters to get a new ballot even if they had already voted, which would constitute voter fraud. Trump campaign officials in Colorado did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The signature database is essential in verifying ballots. The ballots themselves are anonymous, but residents voting by mail must sign the return envelope for the vote to be counted. Once the vote is cast, a bipartisan team of election judges in each county checks each signature against the copy on file with the state. If the signature on file doesn’t match the signature on the ballot, it’s set aside and the voter gets a letter asking them to resolve the discrepancy. Unsigned ballots are not counted.

Election judges are civic-minded volunteers (or temporary employees) recruited by parties and county election officials, and are then trained to follow and enforce the Secretary of State’s rules.

“We couldn’t do the elections without them. The people conduct the elections,” said Pam Anderson, executive director of the Colorado County Clerk’s Association.

The Secretary of State’s office says of the roughly 2 million ballots returned by mail in 2014, about 8,000 were thrown out because signatures did not match. And several thousand ballots were counted after counties contacted the voter and resolved the signature issue.

“In general, there appears to be only a few cases where ill intentions may be involved,” areport commissioned by the legislature to evaluate the 2014 election said.

The signature comparison system means it’s “impossible” for someone to vote twice, Anderson said. “We can’t accept more than one ballot for an individual voter.”

UPDATE: The CNN article quoted above has been the source of some controversy. I quoted from the edited version of the article, not the original.

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