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IF YOU ARE A U.S. CITIZEN PLANNING TO VOTE VIA THE CONSULATE IN DUBAI, PLEASE NOTE ALL ENVELOPES YOU USE TO MAIL YOUR BALLOT MUST BE OPEN FOR INSPECTION.
That's despite state requirements for envelope sealing and whatever concern you may have about others seeing your ballot.
That's despite state requirements for envelope sealing and whatever concern you may have about others seeing your ballot.
I've been an overseas U.S. voter for over a decade now in several countries. Typically, I receive a packet by email from my county board of elections. I print and fill out the ballot, seal it with affidavits and drop it off at the nearest U.S. diplomatic post.
This morning, I went to the U.S. Consulate in Dubai. The G4S private security guards there refused to take my ballot, saying it needed to be open. I showed them how I need to have a signed affidavit on the mailing envelope confirming I sealed it and followed instructions.
The G4S guards were kind and helpful as they could be, but said it was their orders. I volunteered to have the envelope scrubbed for nitrates and X-rayed. They swiped it twice for nitrates, but then came out and said I still would need to open the envelope.
By this point, another overseas U.S. voter casting a Maryland ballot showed up. They told her too she'd need to open her envelope for inspection or use one of their envelopes. She told me she'd been voting for 20 years from the United Arab Emirates and never had this happen.
As a Maryland voter, she could reseal her ballot and use the consulate's generic mailing envelope. As an Ohio voter, I need to have a sealed mailing envelope affidavit, as well as a sealed inner envelope with a separate affidavit identifying myself at risk of perjury.
At this point, a U.S. consular official spoke to me by telephone from the guard post. He said concerns over "white powder attacks" required them to have all envelopes open before being collected. I explained my concern over Ohio voter rules and keeping my ballot secret.
The guards asked me to wait outside for another official. A U.S. consular official later came and we had a discussion over the rules and my concerns. We agreed I'd come back tomorrow with tape, a pen and my unassembled envelopes that I'd construct under his watch.
I'm lucky enough to have a job that grants me the time to vote, as well as to return again to the consulate tomorrow. If I lived in another emirate or had a job that didn't, that would have affected my ability to cast my ballot.
The U.S. official says these open-envelope rules now allow the consulate to take ballots 24 hours a day, as opposed to just during business hours. I suggested they needed to do more outreach to American voters about this change as I wasn't the only one tripped up by this.
In conclusion: IF YOU ARE A U.S. CITIZEN PLANNING TO VOTE VIA THE CONSULATE IN DUBAI, PLEASE NOTE ALL ENVELOPES YOU USE TO MAIL YOUR BALLOT MUST BE OPEN FOR INSPECTION.
As an update: U.S. Embassy Abuja and U.S. Consulate Lagos also asking American voters casting ballots from #Nigeria to similarly have their envelopes open for inspection.
U.S. Embassy Muscat in #Oman's instructions do NOT include the open-envelope requirement. "If your state requires you to return paper voting forms or ballots to local election officials by mail, then you can do so free of charge at the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate."
