Opinion
There has been quite a bit of speculation on whether voters should have used Sharpies to cast their ballots in Maricopa County.
Social media posts being circulated in the Phoenix area are saying that if anyone used a Sharpie to fill out their ballot, their votes could be tossed.
We received several messages on Election Day and into Wednesday that many polling places offered Sharpies to those voting in person. However, there were reports that some Sharpie-filled ballots were not counted, while others who used ballpoint pen had no issues.
Video of voters complaining about poll workers handing them sharpies instead of pens:
Arizona wtf you doing? #ElectionNight #voterfraud pic.twitter.com/4ycwe0L7S0
— Caleb Brown (@cbreeze32) November 4, 2020
To set the record straight, Right Journalism spoke to Erika Flores, spokesperson for the Maricopa County Elections Department.
Flores said voters can use one of three types of writing utensils to cast their ballots:
Black pen
Blue pen
Sharpie
You read that correctly. Sharpies are allowed. That’s because the new tabulation equipment counts votes in a such a way that bleed-throughs are not a problem.
Not only are Sharpies accepted when filling out a ballot in Maricopa County, but they are also preferred. That’s because Sharpies have the fastest drying ink.
The one color you do need to worry about is red ink. The tabulation equipment can’t read red ink.
Did you know we use Sharpies in the Vote Centers so the ink doesn’t smudge as ballots are counted onsite? New offset columns on the ballots means bleed through won’t impact your vote! Find a location before the polls close at 7 p.m. today at https://t.co/8YEmXbWyRL. pic.twitter.com/KKG2O8rQhf
— Maricopa County Elections Department (@MaricopaVote) November 3, 2020
Election judges are now instructing voters to dab the sharpie vertically once to prevent bleed through. Regardless, there have been no issues reading ballots filled out with Sharpies. Even if a Sharpie did create a large ink blot that made the ballot difficult to read, there is a process in which a judge reviews the ballot to determine the voter’s intent. The same process occurs if a voter circles or underlines the candidate.
Sharpies with the same ballot paper were used in the primaries too, but no issues were reported then, officials said.
So officially this isn’t voter fraud.
Natalie Dagenhardt is an American conservative writer who writes for Right Journalism! Natalie has described herself as a polemicist who likes to “stir up the pot,” and does not “pretend to be impartial or balanced, as broadcasters do,” drawing criticism from the left, and sometimes from the right. As a passionate journalist, she works relentlessly to uncover the corruption happening in Washington. She is a “constitutional conservative”.
The post Video: Voters Complain About Alleged Voter Fraud In Arizona After Poll Workers Gave Them Sharpies Instead Of Pens – But Is This Is A Voter Fraud? appeared first on Right Journalism.
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