Oh hey you guys guess what my ballot was released from us customs yesterday
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@hacks4pancakes seems to me that since Customs almost certainly retains destination address information for every package or letter that's cleared through them it should be pretty feasible to get aggregate data about time spent in processing for letters in general and for letters going to specific addresses (specifically addresses to which votes are delivered). I don't know if an individual Representative could get it but I'm pretty sure a committee could.
@hacks4pancakes that's some bullshit
@hacks4pancakes it should still be counted because it was postmarked before the election and received within the allotted time period. I belive all of Illinois, vote by mail ballots post marked by the 3rd have until the 17th to arrive and be counted.
@Mr_Midnigh7 tentative yes, but remember it went international mail not USPS so it won’t have an origin USPS postmark
@hacks4pancakes that's true... I can reach out to a county clerk I know and see what they think would happen if you'd like.
@hacks4pancakes So wrong to hold up your ballot like that but as long as it’s postmarked by Election Day and received within two weeks, it should be counted. https://chicago.suntimes.com/elections/2026/10/30/voting-mail-illinois-pope-leo-is-it-legal-how-to-do-it
@hacks4pancakes My kid’s got from Norway to California in a week. Data point.
@hacks4pancakes Well well well - will you look at that.....
All that suppression and they still got nuked from orbit
@hacks4pancakes I guess you can console yourself that in hindsight your vote wouldn't have made much of a difference. Unless your vote would have been cast in MIssissippi :-)
@kauer sure, Illinois wasn’t at risk. But it’s my civic duty, and how many Mississippi ones were held?
@hacks4pancakes @kauer There were more than 15k provisional ballots cast in MS by people who were voting *in person* but who weren't listed on the voter rolls, because “bad data" 😑 There were plenty of shenanigans to go around.
@hacks4pancakes You're right of course. I find it extremely suspicious that any ballots were held by customs at all. Hard to think of any legitimate reason.
@hacks4pancakes This is bullshit, holding your ballot until after the election 😡
@lawyersgunsnmoney everyone said I was overreacting
I’m like never overreacting when I say stuff like this.
@hacks4pancakes My recollection is that a USG agency put a hold on your ballet. Then released it for the Post Office to deliver after the election. You’re not overreacting. You’re being gaslighted. That is election interference in my book.
@hacks4pancakes @lawyersgunsnmoney I know several other people (mostly Asia/Pacific) where the same thing happened this year.
@hacks4pancakes @lawyersgunsnmoney Apparently the US pulled out of a number of postal agreements this last year, which contributed to the delays.
@mattblaze @hacks4pancakes @lawyersgunsnmoney I’m sure that was a factor in some cases, but this person’s ballot was in the possession of US customs for over a month. https://infosec.exchange/@hacks4pancakes/117538900123087649
@hacks4pancakes @lawyersgunsnmoney The four steps to disaster:
1: Don't be silly.
2: You're overreacting.
3: Shut up and sit down.
4: Why, oh why did nobody tell us?
@hacks4pancakes oh, that burns. I hope you can send this info to your rep/senator and this can get put on the list of issues requiring accountability. It's not right to slow-walk mail-in ballots this way to deny people their vote (based on percieved political affiliation). @sean
@raven667 @SeanCasten I wish he still was. He was awesome while I lived in Villa Park.
@hacks4pancakes yikes. I’m glad my county of former residence allows for voting by email. And yes, my district was one that flipped from republican to democrat this time (albeit by enough votes that mine alone didn’t matter).
I did discover a couple of years ago, however, that they had changed their rules regarding remaining on the roll, without notifying me that they had. Had I not randomly logged in to check, I would have been removed from the roll and never known about it... except for my ballot package never arriving once it was too late to do anything about it.
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@hacks4pancakes Does that mean it will still get counted? Or did it miss the delivery window?
@atcdev I mean the election is over, it might keep me from getting purged from voter rolls
@atcdev @hacks4pancakes FYI our experience (also Illinois, specifically for Chicago) is we must submit a foreign voter “postcard” to register every election cycle. VERY annoying but not as frustrating as our ballots not showing as received this election. Doubtful we’ll use the consulate return path again given a >30 day delay. TBF without transit tracking we have no idea what failed
@hacks4pancakes Held up ballot ...and they still lost... @atcdev
It should count unless your state changed the date of receipt if post marked... some have. If it does count, it will change the margin of victory!
@hacks4pancakes That sucks, sorry to hear that.
@hacks4pancakes
This is why it's called first past the post