Question: Now that we vote by mail, we must sign the ballot packet’s outer envelope — otherwise our vote won’t count. I’m wondering if they shred the envelopes afterward because signatures are a prime target for ID theft, if someone with ill intent got their hands on those envelopes. I’m concerned about this and I don’t think I am the only one.
Answer: After the signature on the return envelope is used to confirm and validate the voter, “the envelopes are stored, sealed, and maintained for 22 months pursuant to law. After the 22 months, the envelopes are disposed of, according to best practices, to maintain the privacy and sensitivity of the voter’s signature,” Scott Nago, Hawaii’s chief elections officer, said in an email.
In past elections, disposal has been by incineration at Oahu’s H-Power plant, but shredding could be an option, depending on cost, Nago said in a follow-up email.
As for your concern, you aren’t the only one, as Kokua Line hears every election from registered voters who wish the state would redesign the ballot return packet so their signature wouldn’t be visible on the outside of the envelope; all cited the risk of identity theft, as signatures are prized by such criminals. However, those readers expressed concerns about their signature being visible as the ballot return envelope travels through the mail, not after it reaches the county elections office.
You are correct that the ballot return envelope must be signed by the registered voter for the ballot to be counted. The signature on the envelope is compared to the voter’s signature on file with the elections office, before the envelope is opened. Learn more about how Hawaii ballots are tabulated and secured at elections.hawaii.gov.
Q: I just had a call from someone claiming to be from Publishers Clearing House telling me I’d won not only $2.5 million, but also a new car and $5,000 a week for life. I looked online and this is a well-known scam; PCH never calls their winners. This is the first I’ve heard it done in Hawaii. Fortunately, I gave them no personal information. Might be a good idea to warn others that this is occurring here in Hawaii.
A: Sweepstakes imposter scams have been a problem for years in Hawaii, but it’s always good to remind folks to beware, especially as scammers continuously adapt their tactics. On its website, PCH warns people to beware of thieves impersonating PCH and some of its best-known employees by various methods, including by phone, email, text message, social media posts and messages, and regular mail.
“If you are ever contacted by someone claiming to represent PCH, or claiming to be one of our employees, and asked to send or wire money (for any reason whatsoever, including taxes); or send a pre-paid gift card or Green Dot Moneypak card in order to claim a sweepstakes prize — DON’T! It’s a SCAM. If you are sent a check, told it’s a partial prize award, and asked to cash it and send a portion back to claim the full prize award, DON’T. The check is fake, but the SCAM is real! Publishers Clearing House does not operate this way and would NEVER ask for money to claim a prize,” the company says on its website. As for phone calls, “Our major winners are notified by mail or in person (at our option) and we never phone ahead to disclose that someone has won a major prize,” it says.
Speaking of impersonation scams, Hawaii’s Department of Taxation is once again warning Hawaii residents not to fall for fraudulent, threatening letters demanding immediate payment of purported overdue debts. “Taxpayers should not reply to any correspondence from the ‘Tax Processing Unit’ or ‘Internal Processing Service.’ They have no association with DOTAX,” the department said in a news release Thursday. Anyone who needs to confirm the legitimacy of any apparent state tax notice should contact DOTAX directly using the contact information listed on its website, tax.hawaii.gov/contact.
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
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