I Voted

[HenryD]

Wouldn't it be a kick to discover political ads, rallies and such were defunct due to early voting? Sure, there will always be late voters, but the future may prove their votes don't matter if enough early voters already cast their ballots. I get tired of the political ads early on in an election year.

I wonder how outsized early voting is being factored into polls. Assuming I'm being honest, stating how I have already voted is not quite the same metric as how I intend to vote.

 

[RunningBum]

Where there are long lines probably isn't too surprising if you take a look at NYT's early voting by state statistics: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/elections/early-voting-results.html

I think Missouri and CT have been mentioned here as having long lines, and they are pretty low on early voting.

 

[Gumby]

Where there are long lines probably isn't too surprising if you take a look at NYT's early voting by state statistics: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/elections/early-voting-results.html

I think Missouri and CT have been mentioned here as having long lines, and they are pretty low on early voting.

In CT, we don't have early in person voting - just absentee by mail and election day in person voting. Until this year, you could only vote absentee if you met a very narrow list of qualifications.

 

[W2R]

I let Frank decide what time we should go to vote in order to avoid the crowds, and he chose 11 AM (about an hour and a half from now). Afterwards we will go to lunch. Later today I'll let you all know how it went. Yes I am so excited. Like many of us I cherish our freedom to vote for the candidate we want in office.

It only took us 9 minutes, from the time we got out of the car until we were done voting! We got a great parking spot. There were only 3-4 people ahead of us, and 2 voting machines. Sure beats the five and a half hours of waiting in line that some early voters went through in our area.

Everybody was masked up, and socially distanced according to the markings on the floor. Instead of giving us each a different disinfected pen to sign in, we all used the same pen but then they gave each of us a HUGE (maybe 12"x12"? disinfecting wipe that was more than enough to clean off the pen, our hands, and any parts of the voting machine that we touched.

The sign said they were going to do contactless temperature checks on everyone, but they didn't do those checks.

 

[RunningBum]

I wasn't being judgemental in any way. I was just struck at first at how some people reported no lines, and some have long lines. Then it became obviously tied to statewide %s of early voting, and I can believe that a lot of those differences are tied to each state's early voting procedures.

I had never voted absentee before this year. I didn't want to risk not being able to vote on election day because I wasn't feeling well or was under quarantine. I'm glad most or all states loosened absentee voting guidelines this year.

 

[Markola]

It’s a spectacularly beautiful day in the somewhat swing state of Minnesota, so weather is no issue. We voted early but I drove past two polling places in St. Paul just to see. There were no lines, in fact, not even many cars in the lots, no doubt due to massive early voting, as others have said. I was glad to see that each had a volunteer in the parking lot greeting voters and, no doubt, trained to report on any problem people.

 

[Aerides]

.. I was just struck at first at how some people reported no lines, and some have long lines. Then it became obviously tied to statewide %s of early voting, and I can believe that a lot of those differences are tied to each state's early voting procedures...

It can be as simple as precinct to precinct. In my county we have many early voting locations, but the ones at libraries seem to attract a lot more folks. We voted on day 2 of EV, and had maybe 20 mins on line. The poll workers told us the location 3 miles north of us - a library - was reporting 2-3 hour waits that same afternoon.

 

[RobbieB]

Vote by mail rocks! Mail it in early and forget about all the politics!

Sweet. I'm going to request permanent vote by mail -

 

[PatrickA5]

My state normally requires mail in ballots be notarized, but suspended that rule due to Covid. LOVED doing the mail in voting and hopefully will be doing it from now on.

 

[Chuckanut]

We've had voting by mail for a decade and it works well. Voting starts about 18 days before the final election da' and ends on that day. Ballots have to be postmarked by the final election day and have, IIRC, 21 days to make it to the counters before the election is certified. I think most ballots are in by the first week, and a few stragglers after that. However, that can be important. In 2004 Governors race, after three counts of the ballots the winner won by about 150 votes.

 

[gamboolman]

ms gamboolgal & I drove from Monahans in West Texas to Marshall, Texas on the Louisiana border to take care of a business need, and then on down to Spring to vote in person the next day at our home Precinct.

753 miles one way - it is a long ways across Texas

And then 522 from Spring back to Monahans

Oh well, glad to do it in order to vote in person at our home Precinct. Took about 45 mins to vote.

 

[REWahoo]

753 miles one way - it is a long ways across Texas

And then 522 from Spring back to Monahans

"The Sun Done Riz
The Sun Done Set
And We Ain’t Out
Of Texas Yet"

- Burma Shave

 

[Car-Guy]

ms gamboolgal & I drove from Monahans in West Texas to Marshall, Texas on the Louisiana border to take care of a business need, and then on down to Spring to vote in person the next day at our home Precinct.

753 miles one way - it is a long ways across Texas

And then 522 from Spring back to Monahans

Oh well, glad to do it in order to vote in person at our home Precinct. Took about 45 mins to vote.

I was one of many waving (most native Texans are friendly) to you as you went by...

 

[harllee]

ms gamboolgal & I drove from Monahans in West Texas to Marshall, Texas on the Louisiana border to take care of a business need, and then on down to Spring to vote in person the next day at our home Precinct.

753 miles one way - it is a long ways across Texas

And then 522 from Spring back to Monahans

Oh well, glad to do it in order to vote in person at our home Precinct. Took about 45 mins to vote.

You win the prize for the person who made the most effort to vote on this Forum!

 

[rodi]

In CT, we don't have early in person voting - just absentee by mail and election day in person voting. Until this year, you could only vote absentee if you met a very narrow list of qualifications.

PA, prior to the changes made this year for COVID, had similar rules. I have missed ONE election in my life, and it was when I lived in PA... I had a last minute business trip that I learned of 1 week before election day. I had 2 days between learning of the trip and leaving - and could not get an absentee ballot without taking about 3 hours during the business day to prove I was going to be out of town. I still resent they made me miss my chance to vote.

(California has had no-excuse mail in voting for years. My parents were permanent mail in voters.)

 

[rodi]

It can be as simple as precinct to precinct. In my county we have many early voting locations, but the ones at libraries seem to attract a lot more folks. We voted on day 2 of EV, and had maybe 20 mins on line. The poll workers told us the location 3 miles north of us - a library - was reporting 2-3 hour waits that same afternoon.

Here in San Diego they are doing something called "super polling centers". The local one is close by at the park & rec department basketball gym. But they are not distributed evenly. And yes - it seems to follow demographics that richer neighborhoods have more polling stations per zip. I would imagine that will cause longer lines in the neighborhoods with fewer or no local polling locations. https://www.kpbs.org/news/2020/oct/30/some-neighborhoods-hit-harder-others-covid-19-forc/

 

[Koolau]

Vote by mail rocks! Mail it in early and forget about all the politics!

Sweet. I'm going to request permanent vote by mail -

Mentioned elsewhere, I guess I just miss the process of the whole in-person voting. It never takes long here. We see neighbors and talk about (the weather - yeah, right!). But with mail in, it's sort of anticlimactic.

I was a bit concerned when I saw a spot on TV about how they were dealing with the votes. We have to sign the outside of the envelope - what could possibly go wrong with having your signature and legal address "out there" in the same place? - but I digress. Supposedly, the signature gets checked to an on-file signature. But in the spot, a worker was simply tearing open the envelopes and discarding them while placing the ballot into a bin (all in the correct orientation for subsequent reading, I guess.) IF someone was checking signatures, it surely was not during what I saw. I'm just going to assume the signature check was done earlier. I'll believe it if you will.

The in person voting (from my past years here) is friendly as you would expect in the Islands. The voter rolls are checked, you sign a form, your signature and ID are checked right there, you are handed a ballot and proceed to a private desk. When finished, you hand your ballot to a nice poll worker who - at that time - run it through a reader. The "used" ballot is then placed in a locked sturdy box - in case of issues, I suppose.

My point, in the old days: You got to see the sausage being made. Amazingly, it made me want more sausage. I'm not so sure now - not a political statement as there are no politics here - except within the one party. The only reason to vote is the (sometimes) plethora of 'initiatives' which get 'snuck' in. (Do you favor giving the legislature or county gummint the right to blah, blah, blah AT their discretion - without hearings, blah blah blah?) etc.

I absolutely see the advantages of mail-in voting. I'll hold my reservations to myself as they would be interpreted as political. I guess I just miss the process - then again, I claim membership in the dinosaur party. We used to be the Luddites but that name was changed about the same time as the Whigs ceased to be a party.

 

[TrvlBug]

PA, prior to the changes made this year for COVID, had similar rules. I have missed ONE election in my life, and it was when I lived in PA... I had a last minute business trip that I learned of 1 week before election day. I had 2 days between learning of the trip and leaving - and could not get an absentee ballot without taking about 3 hours during the business day to prove I was going to be out of town. I still resent they made me miss my chance to vote.

(California has had no-excuse mail in voting for years. My parents were permanent mail in voters.)

That's how DH and I became permanent CA mail in voters. DH had a last minute business trip and couldn't vote in a presidential election.

 

[rodi]

That's how DH and I became permanent CA mail in voters. DH had a last minute business trip and couldn't vote in a presidential election.

If I'd been in California - I could have early voted, in person, at the registrars office. That was not an option in PA. My sister has early voted, in person, several times, here in CA when she was due to be out of town.

As others have mentioned - I like the ritual and act of voting in person. Which I did - but early at the registrars office. My first time not voting on election day.

 

[Dawg52]

I waited until 2pm to vote and I only waited 5 minutes in line. Early morning was quite busy I was told.

 

[scrabbler1]

I voted in person at my usual polling place (Long Island, NY) at around 11 AM. I was in and out in 5 minutes. Bringing the postcard the local BOE mailed to me helped speed up the check-in process because it has a bar code scanned to ball up my info. This year, unlike prior years, I signed a screen like you do in the stores when you buy something using a CC (sometimes).


I was a little dismayed we were using a smaller room in the back of the school instead of the larger gym in the past. It made social distancing a little tougher.


My ladyfriend was glad I tipped her off about the postcard. I found hers so she could bring it with her when she voted after coming home from work. She had a similarly speedy time as I did.

 

[TrvlBug]

If I'd been in California - I could have early voted, in person, at the registrars office. That was not an option in PA. My sister has early voted, in person, several times, here in CA when she was due to be out of town.

As others have mentioned - I like the ritual and act of voting in person. Which I did - but early at the registrars office. My first time not voting on election day.

Interesting. We have early voting now, but this was 30 years ago and we probably just assumed voting early was not an option. DH had like a days notice that he needed to be elsewhere. No significant notice he needed to be out of town.

 

[RobbieB]

I've voted in all previous elections in person. Watched all the ads and evaluated my positions and succumbed to all the hype. Watched the returns on TV on the big day like nervous nellie.

No more. The covid opened my eyes! Vote early by mail and cross it all off my list and my stress level.

 

[audreyh1]

No more. The covid opened my eyes! Vote early by mail and cross it all off my list and my stress level.

Cool!

 

[MarieIG]

Voted today, in person, fed my own ballot into the machine.