I Voted

[harllee]

We intend to vote in person early, available here starting Oct 15 thru Oct 31. We’ll probably go Oct 16, so we can go again another day if lines are too long the first day we try. We made sure we were registered long ago, and voted in the primary to be sure. We’ve found where early voting is available, similar but not all the same locations as Election Day.

I agree it’s important for everyone to vote, but that’s true every year.

Midpack, not sure about your area but here in my area of North Carolina there are so many people voting by absentee ballot this year (about 20% of registered voters have already voted in my county) I bet that the lines will not be very long for early voting.

 

[cathy63]

So who assures election officials have continual custody of drop-off box locations? Is there an election official present with the boxes? Are they taken to the votes-counting location each evening by an election official or police?

There have been two election workers at the table with the box each time I've dropped off a mail ballot. I don't know what they do with the boxes when the drop off locations are closed, but hopefully I will find out when I go through the poll worker training next month.

 

[Marita40]

I will walk 1.5 blocks on election day to cast my ballot in person.

 

[Golden sunsets]

We have always voted in person on Election Day. It's a tradition with us. We always vote early in the morning and go to breakfast afterward, with our "I Voted" stickers on our jackets. BUT NOT THIS YEAR. NO REASON TO TAKE ANY CHANCES. Our voting location is our local high school (gym) where there have been confirmed cases of Covid 19 in the past week.


We requested absentee ballots from our Town Clerk and they will be mailed to us on 10/3, (mandated by law to be sent no earlier than 10/3). We do not have Early Voting in our state, but anyone can request an Absentee Ballot. We will complete the ballots and hand deliver them back to the Town Clerk shortly after received in order to avoid USPS issues.

I had a 15 minute conversation with the Town Clerk about the process. The Town will keep in a secured environment all returned absentee ballot envelopes unopened until the weekend before 11/3. On that weekend the ballot envelopes(which have signatures on the sealed envelope) will be opened and matched to ballot requests and securely held until Election day. As soon as polls close on Election Day the ballots will be run through a dedicated voting machine. The Town is prepared for an overwhelming number of absentee votes and fully expects all absentee votes to be counted and tallied the night of 11/3 thus no delay in adding to the in person vote.

 

[gerntz]

The way I understand it works here in NC --if the tracking shows that your mailed ballot has not arrived at the Elections Office within a reasonable amount of time after mailing you are to contact the local board of elections and they send you another ballot. If the first ballot eventually shows up in time that is the one that is counted and the second ballot is destroyed. If the first ballot does not show up they use the second ballot.

So there's no requirement you vote the same way both times? What happens if first shows up after second one?

 

[gerntz]

Virginia opened early in-person voting last Friday September 18th. I stood in line for **3.5 hours** (!!!) that day (in a socially distanced line) to cast my ballot! It was just like election day voting here where you fill out the scannable ballot and personally put in the machine to see that it registers.
It certainly wasn't easy, but I wanted to get it done early and without the uncertainty of mail delays, etc.

There wouldn't be a mail delay if you did it Oct. 01 and stood in line for 5 minutes.

 

[gerntz]

There have been two election workers at the table with the box each time I've dropped off a mail ballot. I don't know what they do with the boxes when the drop off locations are closed, but hopefully I will find out when I go through the poll worker training next month.

Thanks. if there are workers there, then I'd bet they take them to wherever the secure location is each evening. Surely they don't leave them at the location.

 

[Car-Guy]

I'll be voting early and in person the morning of Nov 3rd. Actually, with all the noise this year about early voting and especially mail-in voting, I'd rather vote in person on voting day.

 

[Montecfo]

Yes. It's amazing to me how many have decided to go ahead and vote early before hearing anything from debates. I guess those are not the "swing votes" that will probably be the decision makers.

Agree on both counts. Debates should be interesting and probably moreso this year than is typical.

We have in-person absentee voting in Va. We will vote after the debates.

 

[Montecfo]

So who assures election officials have continual custody of drop-off box locations? Is there an election official present with the boxes? Are they taken to the votes-counting location each evening by an election official or police?

I think custody is a big issue. I do prefer to vote in person.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

I was a poll worker last election in California. It was an eye opener to say the least. I was paid $120 for 14.5 hours work, far less then state minimum wage. Started at 7.00am and didn't leave till after 9.30PM. Nice to meet some of your neighbors and a little startling to see 10 people registered to vote at the house across the street from me. The only reason I noticed was a lady showed up without a ballet and gave that address and she wasn't listed at the address. In California, we're not allowed to ask for ID, all I could do is send her to a supervisor so she could fill out a provisional ballot so she could vote. Met lots of nice people and a few that were not so nice that showed up with a real attitude.

 

[harllee]

So there's no requirement you vote the same way both times? What happens if first shows up after second one?

The way I understand it here in NC --if the first ballot eventually shows up it will be the one counted. The second ballot will be counted only if the first ballot does not show up. To avoid all the mailing issues here in NC you can hand deliver your ballot to your local Board of Election--that is what I did. So many people are doing that that my local Board of Election has an outside tent set up and two employees taking ballots every day 9-5. When I was there earlier this week there were about 10 people in the line to turn in their ballots, standing 6 feet apart.
The local paper said today that about 20% of all registered voters in my county have already voted by absentee ballot.

 

[Boose]

I had just stopped listening to NPR for the remainder of the election season when I found out at w*rk (public library) that WE are going to be the official mail ballot drop-off monitors. Usually it's a couple of nice neighborhood ladies in their 80s - perhaps they're staying safe from covid. Here's hoping that all voters just zip their lips, sign their envelopes, and put them in the box. I don't want to hear any commentary!

 

[Walt34]

So who assures election officials have continual custody of drop-off box locations? Is there an election official present with the boxes? Are they taken to the votes-counting location each evening by an election official or police?

Where we used to live the ballots were collected twice on election day, once about halfway through and then again when the polls closed. Since I was a police officer one of the easiest volunteer overtime gigs you could get was to escort the poll workers, one from each of the two major parties from each polling station. Everybody rode on a school bus that went to a dozen or so polling places and the whole thing was very cordial, discussing everything except, of course, politics. I only got to do that a few times since your regular day off had to be an election day.

I have no idea how they do it here in WV.

Back on topic, our absentee ballots arrived in the mail today. In WV everyone who requests one can get it. We'll probably wait until about a week before closing and then mail them.

 

[Katsmeow]

I mailed away to the county for an absentee ballot (my first time ever), and so far have not received it. Their website is very sparse on any sort of update, much less tracking! I did find a FAQ that said they would start mailing out ballots 45 days before an election (to those with a qualifying request). Early in-person voting will be my backup if nothing materializes. As far as any sort of tracking, none has been talked about, just mail request and ballot into the great unknown. I don't think they like the concept.

I think I recall you live in the DFW area. Anyway, there is no tracking.

DH and I both (for the first time due to Covid) requested absentee ballots for a primary runoff. However, neither of us got to vote. You have to return the ballot in an envelope they provide and have to sign the sealed envelope. Well, for both of us, the envelope was already partially sealed and would have had to be torn to get it open.

We could taken to the polling place and cancelled the absentee ballot and voted in person, but didn't want to do it due to Covid. Polling places are exempted from mask requirements.

Anyway, I think when we get our general election ballot we will find an unpopular time of day and unpopular location then will go during early voting and cancel the ballots and vote in person.

One of the columnists for the Ft. Worth Star Telegram was notified after the runoffs that his absentee ballot didn't count due to signature mismatch. He didn't find out until after the fact and there is no was to cure something like that.

To OP: we haven't started early voting yet.

 

[gerntz]

Where we used to live the ballots were collected twice on election day, once about halfway through and then again when the polls closed. Since I was a police officer one of the easiest volunteer overtime gigs you could get was to escort the poll workers, one from each of the two major parties from each polling station. Everybody rode on a school bus that went to a dozen or so polling places and the whole thing was very cordial, discussing everything except, of course, politics. I only got to do that a few times since your regular day off had to be an election day.

Sounds good. Thx. These are details about drop-off voting I don't know.

 

[38Chevy454]

We'll be voting in-person on election day.

 

[NateW]

I received my North Carolina absentee ballot by mail, completed it and hand delivered it to my local board of elections. NC has a way to track your ballot which I signed up for and got a text my ballot had been accepted.

Who else has voted?

In order to keep this thread open, please no politics or discussion of who you voted for--the thread is intended as a place for folks to say they have voted and, if they want to, the manner in which they voted.

I encourage everyone to vote!!

I voted yesterday (by dropping my ballot in the mailbox at the post office). We got them mailed to us late last week (I'm in Virginia).

 

[steady saver]

I plan on voting early in person though I also plan on being a poll worker this year for the first time. I just feel more comfortable voting in person and voting early, if possible. I will, of course, scope out the early voting sites and try to vote when it's not crowded. That's a bit difficult where I live.

I know the logical thing would be to vote on election day since I'll be working it, but I don't want to take any chances that anything might happen (I get sick, etc.) that would prevent me from voting this year.

 

[5Miler]

I just checked on our state web site and found my absentee ballot was issued 6 days ago so it should be delivered soon. In Georgia, as I'm now over 65, I was able to request an absentee ballot for all elections this year be automatically delivered to me when I requested my first ballot in February. I can also use the web site to check status of the ballot including any reason for not being valid so I can correct it. I understand Georgia does not send out absentee ballots unless they receive a request from the registered voter.

I can hand deliver my ballot to a polling place, election office, drop box or mail it in. Last time I used the drop box, they offered me a senior meal as well. (Covid lockdown). I politely refused.

My old polling location is at a church at the entrance to my subdivision but 5 years ago I was transferred to a voting location in a school that is a real pain to access. Don't even think about disrupting the flow of parents picking up their kids in the afternoon as they get evil real quick. I now vote absentee only and save myself the grief.

 

[Chuckanut]

What happens if they don't tell you?

You can get provisional ballot that will be counted if the original doesn’t show up. But, that needs to be done and postmarked by Election Day.

 

[Popeye]

I’d suggest checking how your state did in the primaries this year. I did that for PA and now I worry there could be a mess, like Florida 2000.

Nearly 40,000 mail-in ballots were "canceled" by county election offices in the June primary, according to figures provided by the Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees elections. Of those, 20,000 were canceled and their votes were not counted because the ballots were returned late or had an issue with the signature on the outer envelope.

Another 20,000 mail-in ballots were canceled for other reasons, like the U.S. Postal Service marked them undeliverable or a voter cast a ballot in-person at a polling place. It is unclear how many of those canceled ballots led to voters losing their say in the election.

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/new...primary-half-the-2016-victory-margin/2529295/

 

[harllee]

I plan on voting early in person though I also plan on being a poll worker this year for the first time. I just feel more comfortable voting in person and voting early, if possible. I will, of course, scope out the early voting sites and try to vote when it's not crowded. That's a bit difficult where I live.

I know the logical thing would be to vote on election day since I'll be working it, but I don't want to take any chances that anything might happen (I get sick, etc.) that would prevent me from voting this year.

Thank you for being a poll worker--I am sure there is a big need for people to be poll workers this year.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Well, after hearing about a neighbor’s experience with early voting in my jurisdiction I’ve requested my mail in ballot. Apparently everyone was crammed into a tiny room with only one way in or out, no social distancing, and some without masks. People just don’t get it.

 

[Midpack]

I plan on voting early in person. I just feel more comfortable voting in person and voting early, if possible. I will, of course, scope out the early voting sites and try to vote when it's not crowded. That's a bit difficult where I live.

I know the logical thing would be to vote on election day since I'll be working it, but I don't want to take any chances that anything might happen (I get sick, etc.) that would prevent me from voting this year.

My thoughts exactly. I assume the first day might be crowded so DW and I are going on the second day of in person early voting, so we can go back another day if it’s too crowded - we want our votes to be counted.