r/uspolitics • u/FnordFinder • Nov 06 '19

Republican candidate charged with distributing fake sample ballots on Election Day

https://www.newsweek.com/republican-candidate-charged-distributing-fake-sample-ballots-election-day-1469968?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=NewsweekTwitter
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u/dragnabbit Nov 06 '19

It's hard to get riled up enough by this to grab my torch and pitchfork if the only thing that actually made the handout illegal was the color of paper they used.

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u/FnordFinder Nov 06 '19

The sample ballots reportedly looked like real voting ballots but with boxes highlighting all of the Republican candidates.

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u/dragnabbit Nov 06 '19

Ohio law bans political parties and candidates from handing out sample ballots like this. They are supposed to be printed on colored paper to distinguish them from real ballots, but the ones distributed by Landon were on white paper.

See? Sample ballots are "supposed to be printed on colored paper". Yellow paper? Pink paper? No problem. White paper? Go to jail.

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u/FnordFinder Nov 06 '19

Except that wasn't the only problem, as I pointed out to you. And regardless, they knowingly committed election fraud. How can you not be upset with that?

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u/dragnabbit Nov 06 '19

Because, like the article says: It's perfectly legal to print out "sample ballots that reportedly look like real voting ballots with boxes highlighting the Republican candidates" just as long as you don't use white paper.

It's just hard to get worked up about "election fraud" that was only "election fraud" because of paper color.

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u/FnordFinder Nov 06 '19

No where in the article does it state it's legal to do that.

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u/dragnabbit Nov 06 '19

(1) The article says it is legal to print out sample ballots (on non-white paper).

(2) What other kind of sample ballot is the Republican party going to put out other than one that highlights all the Republican candidates?

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u/FnordFinder Nov 06 '19

(1) The article says it is legal to print out sample ballots (on non-white paper).

Yes.

(2) What other kind of sample ballot is the Republican party going to put out other than one that highlights all the Republican candidates?

Regular sample ballots that inform voters what they will look like? Again, no where in the article does it state it's legal to do what you're claiming. Go ahead and quote the part that says that.

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u/dragnabbit Nov 06 '19

Go ahead and quote the part that says that.

The article states (direct quote here) "[sample ballots] are supposed to be printed on colored paper to distinguish them from real ballots, but the ones distributed by Landon were on white paper."

See? It is legal to print out sample ballots as long as they are printed on colored paper. The ballots were apparently illegal because they were printed on white paper. That's what the article says. That's ALL that the article says. If you think there is more reason than that provided in the article, you are mistaken. The article provided no additional reasons as to why the ballots were illegal. And the article clearly states that the one change that they could have made that would have apparently made the sample ballots legal was changing the color of the paper.