President Trump is not wrong Massachusetts Town Clerks: New mail-in voting format "ripe" for fraud Sept. 25, 2020 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Evan Lips, communications director 617-523-5005 ext. 245 WOBURN -- The state's new mail-in ballot authorization system launched Wednesday through Secretary of State William Galvin's office grants anyone the ability to request a ballot without having to submit a signature, a process local town clerks identified as being "ripe" for fraud. The discovery falls in line with President Donald Trump's recent criticisms of Massachusetts' mail-in voting plan, which will determine the outcome of November's general elections. "I was horrified to learn yesterday that the new mail-in ballot application system that was authorized by Chapter 115 of the Acts of 2020 and made 'live' Wednesday of this week through the Secretary's office will allow ANYONE to request a ballot without a signature," Hanover Town Clerk Catherine Harder-Bernier wrote in an email Friday.  Harder-Bernier continued: "For the seven years that I have served as Hanover's Town Clerk, we have been consistently rejecting ballot applications without signatures. That has simply been the law and we are following it. We are not trained in signature matching, but if there was ever a case where there was a dispute about a fraudulent ballot request, we had a paper trail that we could go back to. The key here is that no ballots were sent following a casual request. "Now we are being asked to mail ballots to ANY request received in the new portal - and none of those requests will have been signed by a voter. Think of how ripe that process is for fraud!" Harder-Bernier's concerns echoed those of Sandwich Town Clerk Taylor White, who wrote in a Facebook post Friday that he "used to be able to reasonably defend the vote-by-mail system" but now has "absolutely zero confidence." "No Social Security or license number verification, no signatures, and the ability to change the voter's mailing address. I am utterly baffled as to how legislators would allow this system to be implemented without reasonable safeguards." White referenced the legislation introduced by Democratic leadership on Beacon Hill: Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman Jim Lyons praised the town clerks for having the courage to act as whistleblowers and said the alarming development validates President Trump's concerns. "For Democratic leadership to try and pull this scheme off, knowing that the commonwealth's dedicated town clerks must dutifully follow the letter of the law, is absolutely shameful," Lyons said. "And now the Democrats have the audacity to go after President Trump and try and dismiss his concerns about potential voter fraud, even when they themselves are responsible for putting an entire system in place that is ripe for voter fraud. "These town clerks are to be commended for calling attention to this impending disaster, the Democrats should be held accountable, and it is incumbent upon our media to ask them some serious questions." Paid for by the Massachusetts Republican Party Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee Massachusetts Republican Party | 400 West Cummings Park, Suite 5650, Woburn, MA 01801 Unsubscribe [email protected] Update Profile | About our service provider Sent by [email protected] powered by Try email marketing for free today!