Stephen Hunt, Chairman of the Fairfax County Election Board is concerned about voter fraud he has uncovered and what it means for Virginia in 2016:

Last May the Virginia State Board of Elections approved electronic signatures on absentee ballot applications. Unfortunately they failed to define what they meant by an electronic signature. Now the same staff who recommended that the citizen block on the voter registration form be optional has instructed registrars to accept a typed name with “electronic signature” in parenthesis behind it as an electronic signature. This is being exploited by third party entities who are submitting absentee ballot requests for voters without the voter being aware of the process.

Governor Terry McAuliffe has said he is rapidly building the Democratic infrastructure in Virginia for the 2015 elections as a test run for the 2016 Presidential race. Who knew they would be testing the ability to steal votes.

Hunt details what he has discovered so far:

As of the last meeting of the Fairfax County Electoral Board on September 16th, 93 absentee ballot applications with electronic signatures had been received in Fairfax County. The vast majority of them (~87) had come from two different email addresses. When voters were contacted due to incorrect information, it was learned that they had not filled out the form. Someone had asked them if they would like an absentee ballot and they had responded in the affirmative. However, Virginia does not allow proxy signatures on absentee ballot applications. The voter is required to specify the justification for which they are requesting an absentee ballot and sign under penalty of law that the justification is valid.

Since the 16 September board meeting more websites have been identified by which voters can request an absentee ballot. These sites include the requirement to check a box acknowledging that the request is being signed electronically. They also send the absentee ballot request so that it appears that it is coming from the voter’s email address. This still has no mechanism to prove that the request is from the voter.

The State Board required that an electronically signed absentee ballot application have a checked box acknowledging that the form is being signed electronically. The forms being received do not have this on them but the State Elections Office says that the check box may be on the system by which the form is generated but does not have to be included in the form sent to the registrars. Consequently the registrar has no means to determine if the form had the proper acknowledgement. The form on the State Department of Elections website does not have the required check box.

When an absentee ballot request has nothing more than a typed name with “(electronic signature)” behind it, there is no way to connect that request to a voter. This is especially true when that electronically signed request comes from a third party email. Someone could request an absentee ballot for you and you would not know it until you tried to vote on November 3rd and were told that you cannot vote because you were sent an absentee ballot. While someone could also do this with a forged written signature, there would be the forged signature to prove someone else had signed the form as well as other pieces of evidence that could point back to the culprit. The electronic signature as currently implemented along with a third party submission breaks any link to whomever sends in a “forged” absentee ballot request.

The original request from the Speaker of the House of Delegates was for the use of a stylus or finger signing pad. This goes well beyond that request and leaves the absentee process wide open for fraud.