EDIT: See @AnimePhantasm comment below! My friend called the election board and they confirmed what @AnimePhantasm and @fmstrat commented! This was Virginia reusing last year’s envelopes.

OP I am an absentee voter in Blacksburg just next door. Shine a light on the blacked out part. I am 99% sure this is legit, they just crossed out the witness requirement. I can see the word witness under the sharpie in your picture. Virgina doesnt have to do that witness thing anymore. We did at the last general election, so I am guessing they just reused the same envelopes. You should call and ask your elections office before alerting the news. They are hardworking folks whose jobs are already 100 times harder then they used to be. Stirring up reports of election fraud where it isn’t happening makes us just as bad as them.

    • GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca
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      29 days ago

      What’s to stop me from filling it out the way I said I would, going to the voting office and saying the ballot I had previously was lost/damaged/spoiled and then voting differently than how I was paid to vote?

      The premise behind a secret ballot is it can’t be proven how you vote. You can still sell your vote (illegally), you just can’t prove you voted the way you said you would. As shown above, absentee ballots don’t remove that distinction. I suppose the criminals could just trust each other…

      • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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        29 days ago

        If you submit multiple ballots its voter fraud. If your buyer drops off your ballot on election day then there is nothing you can do to stop it that you couldn’t do in the other circumstance.

        • GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca
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          29 days ago

          This topic has been discussed for a couple thousand years now, and you clearly have access to the internet. Feel free to search for the answers on your own.