Ballots aren't signed, but the envelopes the ballots are in are.
Well I guess that still has the same effect of removing anonymity, but if it gets more people voting it's still a net positive. To my knowledge the US has a concerningly low turnout rate for elections, so anything that helps...
I guess what I'm most concerned about is a situation where people are forced to vote for a specific candidate, and it doesn't really seem to me like there's any mechanism in place to prevent that (?)
All the state knows is if you cast a ballot or not; they do not track how you actually voted.
The signatures are checked in an initial step and then the ballots are removed from the signed envelope and grouped with other ballots before being counted - it's about as anonymous as in person voting.
Ballots aren't signed, but the envelopes the ballots are in are.
Well I guess that still has the same effect of removing anonymity, but if it gets more people voting it's still a net positive. To my knowledge the US has a concerningly low turnout rate for elections, so anything that helps...
I guess what I'm most concerned about is a situation where people are forced to vote for a specific candidate, and it doesn't really seem to me like there's any mechanism in place to prevent that (?)
All the state knows is if you cast a ballot or not; they do not track how you actually voted.
The signatures are checked in an initial step and then the ballots are removed from the signed envelope and grouped with other ballots before being counted - it's about as anonymous as in person voting.
Here's an article to read about the history in Colorado, one of the early states to implement it: https://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2020/10/01/colorado-mail-in-ballot-absentee-voting-how-state-perfected-system/3572176001/