Question: With the mailed ballots, what’s stopping someone from sending in their ballot and then showing up in person to vote again?
Answer: “The return ballot envelope contains a bar-code unique to the voter which prevents the voter from voting more than once. If a voter’s mail ballot was already received and scanned, they would not be allowed to vote in person if they went to a voter service center. Likewise, if someone votes in-person at a voter service center, their mail ballot will be canceled,” Nedielyn Bueno, spokeswoman for the state Office of Elections, said Tuesday in an email.
The actual ballot, which the voter returns inside a secrecy sleeve inside the ballot envelope, does not contain any personally identifying information, she said.
Q: How are voter signatures being verified for the election? Manually, by computer or not at all?
A: Voter signatures are verified; the first scan is by computer, and any signature that can’t be verified that way is checked manually by at least two election staff, said Rex Quidilla, administrator of Honolulu County’s elections division.
For their vote to be counted, the voter must sign the outside of the return envelope containing a ballot secrecy sleeve and their voted ballot. The signature is compared with the signature on file for the registered voter linked to that envelope.
If a signature cannot be verified electronically or manually, the registered voter is notified and given the chance to correct the discrepancy, Quidilla said. A voter’s advancing age is one reason a signature might vary from what’s on file, he said.
Ballot return envelopes are not opened during the signature verification process, which occurs at the county level.
After ballot return envelopes are validated, they are forwarded unopened to the state elections office for processing, he said. When they are opened, staffers follow a multistep process to ensure that no ballot can be matched with the voter who submitted it, according to the state Office of Elections.
“First, return envelopes are opened, and ballot secrecy sleeves are pulled out of the envelopes. The ballot secrecy sleeves are accumulated and separated from the envelopes. Once all the envelopes have been opened, they are removed from the work area. Next, ballots are removed from the ballot secrecy sleeves and accumulated for processing. Ballots and the secrecy sleeves do not have any personal identifying information on them, and, as they are separated from the return envelopes, there is no way for a voter’s identity to be connected to a specific ballot,” its website says.
Q: My neighbor has limited income of Social Security of $980 a month. He does not file a state or federal tax return since it’s below the minimum income. How does he participate in the state tax rebate?
A: He must file a Hawaii individual income tax return by the end of 2022 to receive the Act 115 refund, which in his case would be $300 per exemption. In general, low-income people are encouraged to file federal and state income tax returns to ensure they aren’t missing out on refundable tax credits that don’t require any tax liability to claim.
Mahalo
A huge mahalo to the nice former flight attendant who paid for our breakfasts on July 5.
As my husband drank his coffee at Karen’s Kitchen while waiting for my appointment at Straub Medical Center to be finished, they struck up a conversation, and she quietly paid for our order before she left.
Thank you, sweet lady, for your kindness, and please know it will be paid forward to brighten someone else’s day. Aloha. — Grateful couple
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
