<CORSA Chapters> CORSA Board of Directors Election & Ballot Harvesting.

[Allan Lacki]

Hello Chapter Leaders,
Please be advised that the national office will not count ballots that have been harvested in bulk.
According to Article VII Section 3 of the CORSA Bylaws, “It is the duty of the Election Chair to ensure the fair and diligent conduct of the following procedure.  The CORSA Secretary shall serve as the Election Chair each year; provided however, if the CORSA Secretary is eligible for candidacy in a given year, then the CORSA President shall appoint another Board member who is not eligible for candidacy that year.”
It has come to my attention that an envelope containing a significant number of ballots for the 2023 CORSA Directors election was received by the national CORSA office from one of our chapters.  That the ballots were mailed in batch by a third party rather than by the individual CORSA members meets the definition of vote harvesting.  Therefore, in my capacity as Election Chair, I have instructed the CORSA Executive Secretary not to count them but instead, return those ballots to the secretary of the chapter involved.  The affected members are welcome to recast their votes individually using either the online ballot or by mailing their marked ballots individually to the national CORSA office.
Vote harvesting is the collection of absentee ballots - also known as mail-in ballots - from voters by a third party who then delivers them to election officials.  Allowing individuals other than the voter or his immediate family to handle absentee ballots is a recipe for mischief and wrongdoing in the election context.  Neither voters nor election officials have the means of verifying that the secrecy of the ballot has not been compromised or that the ballot submitted in the voter’s name by a third party actually contains votes for the voter’s intended candidates and was not fraudulently changed by the vote harvester.

Although CORSA elections are not beholden to federal or state regulations, vote harvesting is prohibited by 23 of the 50 States of the Union.  According to the Heritage Foundation, “The handling of absentee ballots should be restricted to voters, most immediate family members, or an individual residing in their household.  This will prevent campaigns, political parties, and other third parties from handling absentee ballots.”  
In my judgement, the prohibition of vote harvesting in CORSA elections is within my authority to ensure the fair and diligent conduct of our elections.  This prohibition shall be applied across the board to any and all chapters that engage in ballot harvesting.  Also, please be careful to respect the privacy of individuals while they cast their votes.  No poll-watching please.
Allan Lacki
Secretary to the Board and Election ChairCorvair Society of America