SEPTEMBER 2018 BEACON

Soooo we use 2 envelopes. One envelope contains the ballot which is filled out in private and put in the Blank Envelope; that's the anonymous ballot part. That envelope is then put into another envelope which Must Contain the Voters Name and Member Number; that's the identification part. When the votes are tallied, the Name and Member Number on the outer envelope are checked off against the Member Roster. Now we know no one can vote twice. The actual Ballots in the Blank Envelopes are still sealed and Anonymous. At that point the Outer envelope is opened and the Blank Ballot envelopes are removed and thrown randomly into a box. That box is then given to other people who open the now anonymous and Blank envelopes and tally the ballots. In this way it can be verified that all ballots were submitted by a Member and that no Member voted more than once, and that all ballots were completely anonymous. Any Ballot envelope (the inner one) with any identifying mark must be discarded. Any ballot envelope that shows up Not Inside a properly filled out outer envelope with the Member’s Name and Member # must be discarded. Each year, roughly 25% of ballots received fall into one of these 2 categories. That's a lot of votes that won't count. Now you know why it’s so important to follow the voting instructions precisely. Please do so in order for your vote to count. Hmmmm maybe next year we should all go meet at my Township Hall and employ the ladies behind the old wood tables........ Hope this helps, Ron Ron Draper, your most informative Director of Publications