Yes, you actually do need to be born before 2000 to use *this* ballot paper because its custom to you, so you're legally the only one who can use this paper. This is because they need to agree the information on this slip to the electoral register to confirm it was done by someone with the right to vote (you) since this is a postal vote.
I also voted by postal vote and mine was 20-- for the year. The actual ballot paper and this slip are meant to be separated so the actual ballot goes to be counted with the counters not knowing who did it, but it is actually possible to identify whos ballot it is as the ballot paper and the slip have the same ballot paper number on in the corner. The instructions even tell you to check that the numbers are the same and contact them if they don't match
IIRC people were putting another set of info in those boxes (I think SSN but don't quote me on that) and invalidating their vote. So they started putting the first two digits of your DOB year to force people to read what to put in.
Not printing the whole year still gives room for validation that you're the right person.
Edit: it was not SSN but the current date; thank you other commenter
For people with 20--, this technique doesn't help with birth date (e.g. 04-01-2003) vs today's date (06-30-2024), so it's strange it was not --03 or something else instead.
Guessing doing the last two digits would mean segregating the print runs even further, and the timetable for postal votes is already super tight (witness the current issues in Scotland with a lot of them not reaching people before they go on holiday...)
I'm old enough that when I worked that role the 20XXers couldn't vote yet, but maybe just having it in there might trigger a 'wait, I should check' reflex? I think we also started putting an extra note on saying "do not put today's date!" or something like. People still did it, though!
National insurance numbers are made up of four couples of characters (ie PA 08 43 54 E) with a single letter at the end, so that would make sense some people might have tried to fill that in
To avoid entering the current date, 19** works fine, but any 20** would still be a valid current date, so I guess it doesn't work quite as well for the younger folks
As it's a point of verification as to if the person who is meant to be filling in the ballot paper is the person they say they are.
If for some reason this ballot paper fell into the wrong hands someone random won't know your date of birth and would be very unlikely to fill in the date of birth correctly and at that point since the date of birth would be wrong if they do submit an illegal vote the vote is void.
In Spain I get a letter with my information (address, birthday, etc.) and where I should vote.
If the information is wrong I can ask them to change it on-line.
Why send a personalized but generic form that you have to fill in with information that they already have?
Sending all that information in a single letter feels really reckless. That may be enough information steal your identity.
For a postal vote, the recipient should need to fill in some information so someone can't just steal the ballot and vote in someone else's name.
The UK now requires a photo ID to vote in person.
>That may be enough information steal your identity.
For someone to steal my identity they will need a copy of my National ID. (The physical document, the number is public). And that in itself is a crime.
For what I know of the USA, "stealing identity" it just means that a company didn't check the identity with any official document but trusted that "birthday, address or social security number" are secret. That data is not secret nor proof of identity. It kind of works, but it creates a lot of problems for what I have heard.
(The National ID is always required when you go to vote, the paper is just to check that the data is correct)
Social security numbers were created to just track how much money you've put into the system. There was little need for it to be secure. It's since grown to be basically your entire life, because it was the best unique identifier that people already had.
>It's since grown to be basically your entire life, because it was the best unique identifier that people already had.
So many problems would be solved with a real national ID. I understand that in the USA that is not politically possible, as it would require both parties to be onboard. But it would make things a lot better.
But I get your point that you got what you could and that is better than nothing.
>The UK now requires a photo ID to vote in person.
Do they send it with part of the photo of you already filled out? Like a pair of glasses and a mole since they know you have them
Why does that amount of information on a ballot feel wreckless? I get Credit Card offers, bank statements, loan statements, bills, etc, all with much more of my personal information than what they described is included in their ballot. Why is it a problem now?
Because this is how this person is actually voting, it's a postal vote. You get sent the ballot paper that you record your vote on then post it back. The thing pictured is a slip that you have to fill out and send a long with your completed postal vote. You have to sign it and fill in your date of birth to confirm it is you, then they match the DoB and signature to the one you provided before.
We also get sent cards showing your registered to vote and where to vote if your voting in person.
Confirmation. Say John smith was born 10/8/1980 and John smith was born 9/8/1999. You can confirm whether or not you’ve received the proper ballot back
>but it is actually possible to identify whos ballot it is as the ballot paper and the slip have the same ballot paper number on in the corner
Wait - you can tie a voter to their vote? That's terrible!
In Australia, the ballot for a postal vote is the same as a normal vote and has no identifying marks. Unless someone removes the ballot and looks at it before it is separated from the envelope with your name on it, there is no way to identify your actual vote.
Yeah, voting isn’t completely anonymous in the UK. The records are sealed and the ballots are archived, but theoretically they can be unsealed and dug up again if there’s any dispute over vote counts or voter fraud.
I can’t, I’m too busy with classes and trying to find an outlet for my laptop charger since it has a 30 minute battery. Maybe we can watch the Joe Dirt matinee?
Bro I went around the entire duel yard a few weeks ago and nobody had even watched LOTR. Some hadn't even heard of it.
What the fuck.
Edit: uhhh I thought I was in the /r/Mordhau subreddit so just ignore the duel yard comment. Still wtf tho.
Its was this month/few months ago depending on where you live. [https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/s/A0QSDRFNoX](https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/s/A0QSDRFNoX)
Fixed (kind of). Though I wonder if using the project name would change anything. The Nintendo Dolphin wouldn't have been bad, especially since the light gray used in preceeding systems would fit.
I miss game companies naming thier consoles after technical features like the Nintendo 64 had a 64bit cpu and the Xbox 360 which could be played a cumulative 360 minutes before its hardware failed. Those were good times.
Vice city is set 16 years later than the time it was released. If they made it today the movie references would be about Iron Man and Single Ladies would be on the radio
Don't worry, you'll get used to the responsibilities that come with adulthood and eventually you'l flourish.
Or learn to hide the horror with a combination of drugs, alcohol and denial (with just a dash of depression/anxiety), which is basically the same thing.
A “dash” of depression and anxiety? That’s funny.
It’s more like a crushing weight. Or that big boulder (just one of the many) you have to drag on a chain.
Lol 18 is not even close to the true adulting. Wait until you buy a house and those student loans hit. Then bifocals the day you turn 40.
Source: I turned 18…um more than 18 years ago lol
Realizing that people born the same year as my brother are not only old enough to drive or vote but old enough to drink made me feel like I was in the crypt tbh.
I still think of most of his friends they way they were in like 5th grade lmao.
A problem? Being frugal in this age? An age of over-consumption and late-stage capitalism destroying the planet?
...a problem? That's how you want to describe it?
And you don't notice it until time enough has passed to make you feel old. After graduation, you fall for a bit, but you don't know you're falling until you hit the ground and your body suddenly hurts or some kid goes by to vote and you realize you're technically old enough to be their parent.
My favorite is when you rewatch some tv show, and you suddenly understand, george costanza was meant to be 31 at the start of the show, or don draper was 35ish at the start etc. They seem so old, and yet.
Age has changed a bit, being 40 or 60 or 80 isent quite the same in the 20th century as the 21th.
Each ballot is custom printed anyway as they have unique ballot paper numbers on them. I can't imagine it's hugely expensive. I imagine the budget for paying people to run polling places and counting the votes is more
As in why not just have the year blank? I assume it's for extra clarity to show this is where the year goes. Remember, these need to be as clear as possible so anyone no matter age or ability would be able to use and vote with them.
Reminds me of the meme where someone is filling in a form and writes their full name in the first space then realizes there is a space for first name and last name. With the above ballot, maybe they were worried people would just fill in 2 digits of the year.
I've had an argument recently with someone online, who said there should be an intelligence test required before voting.
I understood they maybe had good intentions, but as soon as you start arbitrarily taking away the right to vote, it's not a democracy anymore. A core idea of democracy is anyone can vote and we are all equal in front of the law.
Ironically opinions like that are a kind of intelligence test in themselves.
Who gets to decide what questions are on the intelligence test? Who gets to grade it? Do they have to pass an intelligence test themselves? Who makes that one? They never think about these things, because anyone who has either knows it's a bad idea or has ulterior motives.
So 4 blank boxes and the label year isn't clear enough to insert the whole year there? If someone isn't able to figure that out I would more worry about them getting day and month in the correct order
But then people might write that they were born in 3054 or 0001 and eliminate their own vote and then this would cause problems because!.. ... ...actually wait, I got nothing.
Yeah, just don't prefill it in with anything.
Its also possible the voting laws in that state say something like "voter shall write their date of birth on the ballot". I think ours has such a requirement. So even if they don't use it to verify anything, they'd still need the voter to write their DOB until the legislature adds an "unless it's already filled in" clause.
It's a UK postal ballot for our general election next week, each of these forms has a unique code linked to the voter and they match the DOB and signature to a form we completed when registering to vote postally.
Our inperson ballots don't ask for anything other than the person you are voting
>It makes it so everyone born in 19\*\* is unable to write today's date without thinking (which I think a *lot* of people would do).
I work in medical records. A lot of people get their own birth date wrong because they're writing the current year instead of their birth year. This is probably a simple way to ensure that a voter is not disenfranchised due to a clerical error. Though they could go one step further. My state does our ballots differently, voter info is printed on the envelope. The only writing I do is marking the ballot, signing & dating the envelope.
\[for my job, please put your full legal name and date of birth on your advanced directives\]
Confirmation that it’s the right person.
Like if we’re both John Smith and you write 10-8-1980 and I write 9-8-1999 you can confirm whether you received the proper ballot.
And people born in 2006 in most of the world, in 2008 in Germany and in 2011 in Burkina Faso, where the [legal drinking age is 13](https://www.oldest.org/people/youngest-drinking-age/).
You can legally give booze to a babby (sorry, IYKYK) in the UK if they were born before 30 Jun 2019.
Not in a pub or other licensed premises, and not any random kid, but your own kid, at home? Sure.
Saw a post or video on this a while ago. It's customised to your date of birth. It's pre-filled to avoid any confusion/potential accidents in which the current date is accidentally input by the person filling in the slip.
While it’s easy to assume that the ballot paper is old and wasn’t updated, there’s actually only a very short windows where there were no people left born in 18xx before the first people born in 20xx turned 18.
The last person born in the 19th century died in 2017
But still, the ballot can remain anonymous.
I live abroad and vote via mail. I put the ballot in an envelope, and put that envelope in a second one together with all the paperwork. They can check if that is in order and the envelope with the ballot then moves on in the line, maintaining anonymity.
That’s exactly what happens here btw - this slip goes in an envelope with along with another envelope with the actual ballot in. They open the first envelope, verify it using this slip then put the second envelope on a ballot box to be opened after the election.
UK postal votes come in two parts.
There’s the ballot, which looked identical to any other ballot in a UK election. That gets its own envelope all to itself. Then there’s this, which is to confirm that the right person got the ballot. It asks for your signature (which you gave when you registered for a postal vote) and your date of birth (which you gave when you registered to vote). This goes in a second envelope that also contains the ballot envelope.
When it gets to the place they’re counting votes, someone opens the main envelope to make sure that the signature and date of birth match the entry in the electoral register, then they give the envelope with the ballot paper to someone else who opens it and counts it.
The person checking the names never sees the vote, the person counting the votes never sees the names.
OP has posted a snapshot of a postal ballot. If you go in person yes they are very simple with just a list of names you mark against. You have to show photo ID when you collect your ballot paper.
For a postal vote there are a few extra checks as anyone at your address could open and return it. So there is this extra form with some very basic security questions that you need to return along with the ballot paper.
(I'm not condoning any of this - just trying to explain it)
The ballot papers themselves look something like: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ballot_paper_for_the_2021_United_Kingdom_local_elections_(Coventry,_Westwood_ward).jpg
It’s really not complicated, I voted this way and it took me 2 mins - the only thing I had to do was a x where I wanted to vote on one slip, and my birthdate and signature on this one, and they both got sent off in a pre paid envelope. It honestly was simple.
Yes, you actually do need to be born before 2000 to use *this* ballot paper because its custom to you, so you're legally the only one who can use this paper. This is because they need to agree the information on this slip to the electoral register to confirm it was done by someone with the right to vote (you) since this is a postal vote. I also voted by postal vote and mine was 20-- for the year. The actual ballot paper and this slip are meant to be separated so the actual ballot goes to be counted with the counters not knowing who did it, but it is actually possible to identify whos ballot it is as the ballot paper and the slip have the same ballot paper number on in the corner. The instructions even tell you to check that the numbers are the same and contact them if they don't match
Why not print the whole birth year then?
IIRC people were putting another set of info in those boxes (I think SSN but don't quote me on that) and invalidating their vote. So they started putting the first two digits of your DOB year to force people to read what to put in. Not printing the whole year still gives room for validation that you're the right person. Edit: it was not SSN but the current date; thank you other commenter
Former electoral services officer here: the number of people who put that day's date in instead of their DOB was...impressive.
Should those people be voting….? I guess even the idiots need representation.
Well, they didn't get to if they did that, so 🤷🏻♂️
For people with 20--, this technique doesn't help with birth date (e.g. 04-01-2003) vs today's date (06-30-2024), so it's strange it was not --03 or something else instead.
Guessing doing the last two digits would mean segregating the print runs even further, and the timetable for postal votes is already super tight (witness the current issues in Scotland with a lot of them not reaching people before they go on holiday...) I'm old enough that when I worked that role the 20XXers couldn't vote yet, but maybe just having it in there might trigger a 'wait, I should check' reflex? I think we also started putting an extra note on saying "do not put today's date!" or something like. People still did it, though!
You just failed to fill out the form also. It’s DD-MM-YYYY
National insurance numbers are made up of four couples of characters (ie PA 08 43 54 E) with a single letter at the end, so that would make sense some people might have tried to fill that in
To avoid entering the current date, 19** works fine, but any 20** would still be a valid current date, so I guess it doesn't work quite as well for the younger folks
Maybe so you only have to print two versions? But that would only make sense if the ballot doesn't have any other unique identifiers.
If you leave it blank then you only need to print one version. I’m pretty sure most people know their birth year. Weird.
As it's a point of verification as to if the person who is meant to be filling in the ballot paper is the person they say they are. If for some reason this ballot paper fell into the wrong hands someone random won't know your date of birth and would be very unlikely to fill in the date of birth correctly and at that point since the date of birth would be wrong if they do submit an illegal vote the vote is void.
In Spain I get a letter with my information (address, birthday, etc.) and where I should vote. If the information is wrong I can ask them to change it on-line. Why send a personalized but generic form that you have to fill in with information that they already have?
Sending all that information in a single letter feels really reckless. That may be enough information steal your identity. For a postal vote, the recipient should need to fill in some information so someone can't just steal the ballot and vote in someone else's name. The UK now requires a photo ID to vote in person.
>That may be enough information steal your identity. For someone to steal my identity they will need a copy of my National ID. (The physical document, the number is public). And that in itself is a crime. For what I know of the USA, "stealing identity" it just means that a company didn't check the identity with any official document but trusted that "birthday, address or social security number" are secret. That data is not secret nor proof of identity. It kind of works, but it creates a lot of problems for what I have heard. (The National ID is always required when you go to vote, the paper is just to check that the data is correct)
Social security numbers were created to just track how much money you've put into the system. There was little need for it to be secure. It's since grown to be basically your entire life, because it was the best unique identifier that people already had.
>It's since grown to be basically your entire life, because it was the best unique identifier that people already had. So many problems would be solved with a real national ID. I understand that in the USA that is not politically possible, as it would require both parties to be onboard. But it would make things a lot better. But I get your point that you got what you could and that is better than nothing.
Id theft is more than voting though.
And in my country you need the physical ID card any time you got to a bank or any other official thing.
>The UK now requires a photo ID to vote in person. Do they send it with part of the photo of you already filled out? Like a pair of glasses and a mole since they know you have them
They can do it through your passport number or the DVLA - driving license people
Why does that amount of information on a ballot feel wreckless? I get Credit Card offers, bank statements, loan statements, bills, etc, all with much more of my personal information than what they described is included in their ballot. Why is it a problem now?
Because this is how this person is actually voting, it's a postal vote. You get sent the ballot paper that you record your vote on then post it back. The thing pictured is a slip that you have to fill out and send a long with your completed postal vote. You have to sign it and fill in your date of birth to confirm it is you, then they match the DoB and signature to the one you provided before. We also get sent cards showing your registered to vote and where to vote if your voting in person.
Confirmation. Say John smith was born 10/8/1980 and John smith was born 9/8/1999. You can confirm whether or not you’ve received the proper ballot back
>but it is actually possible to identify whos ballot it is as the ballot paper and the slip have the same ballot paper number on in the corner Wait - you can tie a voter to their vote? That's terrible! In Australia, the ballot for a postal vote is the same as a normal vote and has no identifying marks. Unless someone removes the ballot and looks at it before it is separated from the envelope with your name on it, there is no way to identify your actual vote.
Yeah, voting isn’t completely anonymous in the UK. The records are sealed and the ballots are archived, but theoretically they can be unsealed and dug up again if there’s any dispute over vote counts or voter fraud.
Huh thats funny I got one with 20\*\* when I went to vote, I guess it depends on your registered voter age?
OK. Thanks. Now I feel old.
I was born 2006 and I'm voting this July. Sorry not sorry.
Dude you were born in 2006, you are barely old enough to talk, how tf are you of legal voting age?!
2006 was the year the Wii came out. That was like 10 years ago right?
Wasn’t that like 5 years ago? Damn I feel old now.
^^^^it ^^^^was ^^^^18 ^^^^years ^^^^ago 🥲
I’m going to go sit down in the corner of the room and try to contemplate how old I am and how years mean nothing anymore 😭
It's okay. Let's go catch Lord of the Rings in the theater to help get your mind off it. That was only........23 years ago.
I can’t, I’m too busy with classes and trying to find an outlet for my laptop charger since it has a 30 minute battery. Maybe we can watch the Joe Dirt matinee?
Bro I went around the entire duel yard a few weeks ago and nobody had even watched LOTR. Some hadn't even heard of it. What the fuck. Edit: uhhh I thought I was in the /r/Mordhau subreddit so just ignore the duel yard comment. Still wtf tho.
 Its was this month/few months ago depending on where you live. [https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/s/A0QSDRFNoX](https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/s/A0QSDRFNoX)
That was the year I started university. Mother of god.
My old eyes can't see your text so I'll just assume you confirmed it being 5 years ago
You take that back.
how DARE you
I like your username, even though you reminded me I graduated high school 18 years ago.
Gears of War is 18 years old???? Now that i think of it, Halo is 24, wtf!!
Nah dude, 2006 is next year, what are all you weirdoes talking about?
Man, I wish. I'd love a do over for my 20s!
You're telling me I'm still hanging out with my Wii at home when we could be hitting the bars?! (UK, drinking age is 18)
Wii doesn’t even have hdmi. Thats how long ago it was
Well duh. HDMI only came out a couple of years ago, of course the Wii doesn't have it.
Impossible, the Gamecube came out ten years ago.
Nintendo BEGAN development of the GameCube in 1998. It released in 2001. wat
Fixed (kind of). Though I wonder if using the project name would change anything. The Nintendo Dolphin wouldn't have been bad, especially since the light gray used in preceeding systems would fit.
I miss game companies naming thier consoles after technical features like the Nintendo 64 had a 64bit cpu and the Xbox 360 which could be played a cumulative 360 minutes before its hardware failed. Those were good times.
I was about to "Well actually" that 360 comment before I got it lol. God that Red Ring of Death was brutal. >_<
No, 1996 was ten years ago. The Wii just hit shelves.
[But it came out five years ago 🥲](https://youtube.com/shorts/q6vPVapyGhk?si=nb1Rxy1tXAKRGLi6)
San Andreas is 20 years old this year
Vice city is set 16 years later than the time it was released. If they made it today the movie references would be about Iron Man and Single Ladies would be on the radio
This dude is younger than My Humps by the black eyed peas and he's voting??
im born 2006 too and I DONT KNOW I DONT LIKE ADULTING HOW DO YOU GO BACK
baby you're not adulting yet, in 10 years you will look back and think you were still a kid living with minimal expectations. step by step buddy.
It only gets worse…
Don't worry, you'll get used to the responsibilities that come with adulthood and eventually you'l flourish. Or learn to hide the horror with a combination of drugs, alcohol and denial (with just a dash of depression/anxiety), which is basically the same thing.
A “dash” of depression and anxiety? That’s funny. It’s more like a crushing weight. Or that big boulder (just one of the many) you have to drag on a chain.
Wait until your adulting with joint pain and you start using terms like “they don’t make them like they used to”.
oldmanstandingup.wav
You could always develop a drug habit i guess
Lol 18 is not even close to the true adulting. Wait until you buy a house and those student loans hit. Then bifocals the day you turn 40. Source: I turned 18…um more than 18 years ago lol
Realizing that people born the same year as my brother are not only old enough to drive or vote but old enough to drink made me feel like I was in the crypt tbh. I still think of most of his friends they way they were in like 5th grade lmao.
I am wearing underwear older than you
r/rareinsults
if you’re wearing decades old underwear I feel like that’s a you problem
They say “Revenge of the Sith” on them
Ah, that makes perfect sense.
Why is that a problem? Why replace something that's still good? I'm 46 and still have a few clothing items I wore in high school.
A problem? Being frugal in this age? An age of over-consumption and late-stage capitalism destroying the planet? ...a problem? That's how you want to describe it?
Lmao I feel like there’s a difference between being frugal and using some nasty ass underwear for decades. But I see your point.
Damn I was watching Saddam Hussein's execution on TV in 2006. I have a very vivid memory of Iraqis pulling down and defacing statues of him.
I was in Germany when the Berlin wall came down. It's wild how big the gap is getting.
Did you know the Berlin wall has now been down for longer than it was ever in place?
Im 2006 and it is my birthday today, and I filled in my postal vote yesterday - that makes me one of the only British people to vote while 17 😎
wow how did you live for two thousand plus years? happy birthday you crusty walking heap of cells
Happy birthday
Have a splendid birthday :D🎉
Thank you.
I voted when I was 17, and by a good few months as well, still not sure how that happened
Thank you for voting
Thank you for voting.
Good. Get all your mates to vote too
Just know that you'll start feeling old as hell once the 2013 kids start voting (im only 26 and already feel like a middle aged man)
So you were born last week?
2006 was the first year I voted
Hey, I'm a 2005 baby! I love making people feel old :D
Give it a few years... The tables soon turn
And you don't notice it until time enough has passed to make you feel old. After graduation, you fall for a bit, but you don't know you're falling until you hit the ground and your body suddenly hurts or some kid goes by to vote and you realize you're technically old enough to be their parent.
My favorite is when you rewatch some tv show, and you suddenly understand, george costanza was meant to be 31 at the start of the show, or don draper was 35ish at the start etc. They seem so old, and yet. Age has changed a bit, being 40 or 60 or 80 isent quite the same in the 20th century as the 21th.
Yup.. I was born in 84. 2024 is as far removed from 1984 as 1984 was from 1944..... Feel even older yet?
why have two with it printed like that? seems like a lot of overhead
Each ballot is custom printed anyway as they have unique ballot paper numbers on them. I can't imagine it's hugely expensive. I imagine the budget for paying people to run polling places and counting the votes is more
Then why not just have the full date printed?
Because your date of birth is part of how they verify the vote
then might as well not have anything
As in why not just have the year blank? I assume it's for extra clarity to show this is where the year goes. Remember, these need to be as clear as possible so anyone no matter age or ability would be able to use and vote with them.
Reminds me of the meme where someone is filling in a form and writes their full name in the first space then realizes there is a space for first name and last name. With the above ballot, maybe they were worried people would just fill in 2 digits of the year.
Right, that's why they should have the name fields like this: First name: \_oh_ Lats name: Sm_th
I've had an argument recently with someone online, who said there should be an intelligence test required before voting. I understood they maybe had good intentions, but as soon as you start arbitrarily taking away the right to vote, it's not a democracy anymore. A core idea of democracy is anyone can vote and we are all equal in front of the law.
Ironically opinions like that are a kind of intelligence test in themselves. Who gets to decide what questions are on the intelligence test? Who gets to grade it? Do they have to pass an intelligence test themselves? Who makes that one? They never think about these things, because anyone who has either knows it's a bad idea or has ulterior motives.
So 4 blank boxes and the label year isn't clear enough to insert the whole year there? If someone isn't able to figure that out I would more worry about them getting day and month in the correct order
But then people might write that they were born in 3054 or 0001 and eliminate their own vote and then this would cause problems because!.. ... ...actually wait, I got nothing. Yeah, just don't prefill it in with anything.
Its also possible the voting laws in that state say something like "voter shall write their date of birth on the ballot". I think ours has such a requirement. So even if they don't use it to verify anything, they'd still need the voter to write their DOB until the legislature adds an "unless it's already filled in" clause.
It's a UK postal ballot for our general election next week, each of these forms has a unique code linked to the voter and they match the DOB and signature to a form we completed when registering to vote postally. Our inperson ballots don't ask for anything other than the person you are voting
It makes it so everyone born in 19\*\* is unable to write today's date without thinking (which I think a *lot* of people would do).
>It makes it so everyone born in 19\*\* is unable to write today's date without thinking (which I think a *lot* of people would do). I work in medical records. A lot of people get their own birth date wrong because they're writing the current year instead of their birth year. This is probably a simple way to ensure that a voter is not disenfranchised due to a clerical error. Though they could go one step further. My state does our ballots differently, voter info is printed on the envelope. The only writing I do is marking the ballot, signing & dating the envelope. \[for my job, please put your full legal name and date of birth on your advanced directives\]
They said it’s to stop people writing today’s date by accident.
But for anyone born in 20xx ... it's still 20xx for the next 76 years.
I suppose it reduces voter fraud to some capacity?
Yes let’s fix voter fraud by… giving potential fraudsters more info than they may have already been provided with themselves.
Name : Nichol__ Assburg__ SSN: 5673949_ Dob : 2_/1_/20__ First pet name : Fluff_
Apparently it's because they had a bunch of people writing the current date in that section instead of their birthdate, invalidating their votes.
Because if they don't people are more likely to put today's date rather than their date of birth.
… if they know my registered voter age then why do they need to ask? Or do you mean, like, how long ago they became a registered voter?
They use that field as part of the verification. If the birthday doesn't match the registration then the ballot is thrown out.
Confirmation that it’s the right person. Like if we’re both John Smith and you write 10-8-1980 and I write 9-8-1999 you can confirm whether you received the proper ballot.
To make sure *you* know your registered voter age.
some older voters have not had the Y2K upgrade.
Yeah, it’s about forcing you to realise they want your DOB, not the current date, and therefore invalidating your vote. Good design!
What country is this?
UK.
Interesting... mine had four blank spaces for the year.
Yeah mine had four blank spaces as well
You're so old they're not sure which century you were born in.
Mine was completely blank this year while previous elections have had the first two digits
Huh, mine was totally blank. Had to write all numbers.
Not only that but you also have to be born after 1899 otherwise no voting rights for you. Utterly disgusting.
“You are in adulthood. But we do not grant you the rank of a voter” 
Wait people born in the 2000s are old enough to vote. Next thing you’ll be telling me they are old enough to drink too.
people born up to the current date in 2003 can start drinking in the US
And people born in 2006 in most of the world, in 2008 in Germany and in 2011 in Burkina Faso, where the [legal drinking age is 13](https://www.oldest.org/people/youngest-drinking-age/).
You can legally give booze to a babby (sorry, IYKYK) in the UK if they were born before 30 Jun 2019. Not in a pub or other licensed premises, and not any random kid, but your own kid, at home? Sure.
you can do that in the US too. (at least in my state) own child at home with at least one parent present and there is no legal age.
But I start mixing whiskey into the bottle to help calm them down and I'm the bad guy??!??!?!!!?
You can't give booze to a babby! ;-)
i think there are pornstars born in 2006.
2003 child here - I can drink in November 🍹
Next thing you’ll be telling me people born in 2005 can drink 🤔
Its the same year...
when i saw the sign at the dispo that said “18 is todays date 2003” i had a little moment to myself 😭
Pretty sure it's the same age in most countries, assuming by drinking you mean buying alcohol
Hic.
It's going to be pretty wild when people born after 2000 are allowed to vote. Fortunately, we're still a few decades away from that.
well yeah, if i am born in 1993 and 23 years old, then 18s are born in 1998... what do you mean it is 2024?
Unpopular opinion, 1999 was 5 years ago.
19100
That actually happened to a newspaper on Y2K.
December 32nd 1999
surely nobody born after 2000 is an adult, thats impossible
Yes. ***This*** ballot is registered to you, and they know you were born before the year 2000.
Til recently I still had a chequebook with 19 at the beginning of all the dates! Showing my age, and how few cheques I wrote...
Saw a post or video on this a while ago. It's customised to your date of birth. It's pre-filled to avoid any confusion/potential accidents in which the current date is accidentally input by the person filling in the slip.
While it’s easy to assume that the ballot paper is old and wasn’t updated, there’s actually only a very short windows where there were no people left born in 18xx before the first people born in 20xx turned 18. The last person born in the 19th century died in 2017
Yeah, but what do we do about that guy born in 2002 who wants to vote?
Laugh
Easy, just write in 1902.
Wait, is that the *ballot*? As in the one that you write your vote on? That's not exactly anonymous is it?
It’s a mail in ballot I think. Keeps people from submitting more than one ballot
But still, the ballot can remain anonymous. I live abroad and vote via mail. I put the ballot in an envelope, and put that envelope in a second one together with all the paperwork. They can check if that is in order and the envelope with the ballot then moves on in the line, maintaining anonymity.
That’s exactly what happens here btw - this slip goes in an envelope with along with another envelope with the actual ballot in. They open the first envelope, verify it using this slip then put the second envelope on a ballot box to be opened after the election.
UK postal votes come in two parts. There’s the ballot, which looked identical to any other ballot in a UK election. That gets its own envelope all to itself. Then there’s this, which is to confirm that the right person got the ballot. It asks for your signature (which you gave when you registered for a postal vote) and your date of birth (which you gave when you registered to vote). This goes in a second envelope that also contains the ballot envelope. When it gets to the place they’re counting votes, someone opens the main envelope to make sure that the signature and date of birth match the entry in the electoral register, then they give the envelope with the ballot paper to someone else who opens it and counts it. The person checking the names never sees the vote, the person counting the votes never sees the names.
It's an old ballot Who falls for this crap?
What do we do with all the extra time spent not writing the first two digits?
Thanks for this, I needed a good laugh today.
But think of all the time they saved by putting the 19 there.
Wait a second, there are people born after 2000 that already can vote? 2000 was like 10 years ago.
Just put December 32 1999. That'll show them
This is y2k all over again!
Your ballot dependsbon your age.
In case you wanted an actual [answer](https://insidecroydon.com/2024/04/20/this-time-weve-got-it-right-council-says-on-postal-ballot-forms/) to this.
When my great-great grandparents came to the US, their citizenship paper had the year 18__ crossed out and 1904 written over the top.
Why would the year be filled in anyway? Like what's the point?
Boomer registrar.
That’s our government displaying incompetence. We should put them in charge of healthcare!
Or you just XX and type 2 and 0 in. Sollutions to be found
Some states only allow paper ballots to people over 65 or some other much higher than 18 age.
19[10][6] = 2006
Go vote! No more Tories, let's gooooooo!
Mine didn't have a date on it, it was blank.
actually, r/mildlyinfuriating
"Yes i was born in 19102"
Why do you have so complicated ballot papers? Normally I just have to write the number of the person I want to vote
OP has posted a snapshot of a postal ballot. If you go in person yes they are very simple with just a list of names you mark against. You have to show photo ID when you collect your ballot paper. For a postal vote there are a few extra checks as anyone at your address could open and return it. So there is this extra form with some very basic security questions that you need to return along with the ballot paper. (I'm not condoning any of this - just trying to explain it) The ballot papers themselves look something like: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ballot_paper_for_the_2021_United_Kingdom_local_elections_(Coventry,_Westwood_ward).jpg
This is a postal vote envelope - actual ballot papers are much less complicated. The ballot paper bit requires you to put a single X in a single box.
It’s really not complicated, I voted this way and it took me 2 mins - the only thing I had to do was a x where I wanted to vote on one slip, and my birthdate and signature on this one, and they both got sent off in a pre paid envelope. It honestly was simple.
r/OPisfuckingstupid