I Voted

[pj.mask]

Our county mailed out absentee ballots 6 days ago. Still haven’t received it yet...
6 days for 14 miles vs the standard 3 days it takes when I periodically send letters to family 100-150 miles away.

I hope to get it soon. We don’t have drop boxes. I believe I can drop it off inside a voting station but that kind of defeats the purpose.

Will have to mail it back and probably make a few calls to follow up...

 

[Markola]

We voted as soon as possible in person.

 

[gerntz]

I'm curious what the fascination is with voting the very first day of early voting when it's known to be more crowded than any other day. Afraid of dying before the next day or day after? Is your early vote still counted if you die before election day? If so, why should it count?

 

[MRG]

Received a call yesterday our ballots will be mailed first week in October. I'll drive them downtown to a dropbox the following day.

 

[gerntz]

Received a call yesterday our ballots will be mailed first week in October. I'll drive them downtown to a dropbox the following day.

Assuming you have early in-person voting, which you would drive to also, you like hoping you'll receive them in a timely manner by mail and that the dropped off ballots will make it to the counting location. Why?

 

[Sanstar]

We will be out of state on Election Day. I’ve requested absentee ballots for DH and me. In our state, DH qualifies for mail in ballot due to age more than 65. I miss this eligibility by 3 weeks. Lucky we’ll both be in CO and can vote absentee.

On another , but related note:
My DIL and I are participating in a letter writing campaign to personally encourage voters who are registered but don’t always vote to do so. No hint of how/who to vote for. Just vote! We have completed 100 so far. The collective has complete > 3 million.

 

[pacergal]

Vote by mail for years. I should be receiving the ballot in a week or so.
Used to have drop boxes at the local library, but now there is a large permanent one outside the Police station, on camera. You can drop it off anytime 24/7, and I don't imagine any shenanigans happen.

 

[harllee]

Assuming you have early in-person voting, which you would drive to also, you like hoping you'll receive them in a timely manner by mail and that the dropped off ballots will make it to the counting location. Why?

I did not want to vote in person at early voting because in the past there have been long lines, there always have been even after the first day. May not be as bad this year because so many voting by absentee. I did not want to mail my absentee ballot because I wanted to be sure they got it so I hand delivered it to the Board of Elections. I only had to stand in line 10 minutes which is much better than the normal early voting line (sometime I have had to stand in line for an hour or more for early voting).

 

[pj.mask]

We haven’t been inside a store for months.. curbside, instacart, or friends who are going to the store. We are work from home and really enjoying the family time!

With all the news about Covid’s ability to hang out in the air after you leave, I am not interested in going inside a high traffic building to vote or drop off my ballot. Why take a risk if there is an equally convenient and secure option?

 

[harllee]

We haven’t been inside a store for months.. curbside, instacart, or friends who are going to the store. We are work from home and really enjoying the family time!

With all the news about Covid’s ability to hang out in the air after you leave, I am not interested in going inside a high traffic building to vote or drop off my ballot. Why take a risk if there is an equally convenient and secure option?

What is the "equally convenient and secure option" for you? We were able to drop out ballot off at the local Board of Elections. They had staff outside under a tent to take it, did not have to go inside.

 

[Bryan Barnfellow]

My wife and I got our absentee ballots via email on 17 September. Then printed, marked, signed, and scanned them. Returned as pdf attachments via email the same day.

 

[Tiger8693]

There have been two election workers at the table with the box each time I've dropped off a mail ballot.....

How many ballots have you dropped off?

 

[rodi]

I have always voted in person on election day. Every election since I was 18, except the one I missed in PA because I was sent out of town for work, and couldn't get the absentee ballot approved because it was a last minute trip and PA had super strict rules about who qualified. I'm 59 - so only having missed one election isn't bad.

My husband switched to mail in several years ago. My son used mail in for the primary (he was at college and I forwarded the mail in ballot to him). They both plan on using drop boxes rather than postal service to return their ballots.

I plan to early vote in person when it opens up in early October. I will wait till my mail in ballot is received so I can turn it in and vote in person. In prior years, that was the rule - if you wanted to vote in person AND had requested a mail in ballot, you had to turn in your mail in, and they give you a ballot. If you'd lost your mail in ballot, they issued a provisional ballot. This year every registered voter is receiving a mail in ballot - so I'll wait till I receive it - then turn it in and early vote in person.

My mother worked for the county Registrar of Voters for 20+ years, prior to that we had polling in our garage (not unusual for So Cal to have a polling station in a private garage). I've worked as a poll worker for 4 or 5 elections, and if it weren't for covid would be volunteering this year. As mentioned above - the day is long and the pay is low... I always considered it to be volunteering, not a paid gig.

Anyway... I haven't voted yet... but will in 2 weeks or so when it becomes available.

 

[rodi]

How many ballots have you dropped off?

I assume she meant 1 per election, multiple elections... Mail in ballots haven't even been sent out here.

 

[Tiger8693]

I assume she meant 1 per election, multiple elections... Mail in ballots haven't even been sent out here.

Of course. It was a joke.

 

[steelyman]

My absentee ballot arrived yesterday. I’ll fill it out and drop off (always did in-person before).

My only concern is virus-related this year. I’ll trust the state (NC) system and use noise-cancelling headphones for all the rest.

 

[cathy63]

How many ballots have you dropped off?

I've been a permanent absentee voter for about 10 years, so that's at least 18 dropoffs. There have been a couple of times when we didn't have an election in the Spring.

 

[harllee]

My wife and I got our absentee ballots via email on 17 September. Then printed, marked, signed, and scanned them. Returned as pdf attachments via email the same day.

Wow that is an easy way to do it. I see you are in Switzerland--was this a ballot for the U.S. election or the Swiss election?

 

[cathy63]

... I've worked as a poll worker for 4 or 5 elections, and if it weren't for covid would be volunteering this year. As mentioned above - the day is long and the pay is low... I always considered it to be volunteering, not a paid gig.

I actually thought I was volunteering when I signed up, then I found out it's paid. It turns out that because of the polls being open for 4 days this year, they are hiring us on as temporary county employees at a rate of $14.25/hr. I will donate my earnings anyway, but maybe sticking an equal amount in my IRA will be worth a few dollars in tax savings.

 

[IMATERP]

Same here!

Ditto, except that I put the ballot in a return envelope and sent it to the Election Board.

Go Dr. Fauci! I believe his Vegas odds are around 2 gazillion to 1.

 

[MRG]

Assuming you have early in-person voting, which you would drive to also, you like hoping you'll receive them in a timely manner by mail and that the dropped off ballots will make it to the counting location. Why?

We don't. We are among the 10% of states that vote by mail.

 

[Freedom56]

We have been voting my mail for a long time. Our ballots won't arrive until after October 5th, 2020. We get notified by email when our votes are received.

 

[MichaelB]

We received our ballots in the mail today.

 

[Bryan Barnfellow]

Wow that is an easy way to do it. I see you are in Switzerland--was this a ballot for the U.S. election or the Swiss election?

US election, as we are US citizens. We can vote through the state we were last registered in. We are permanent residents here in Switzerland, but aren't allowed to vote in Swiss elections. There are about 6-8 million (estimated) US citizens abroad!

-BB

 

[audreyh1]

We’re planning on early voting in late Oct. My previous experience has been little walk-in traffic at polling station. Of course, we have to drive back to TX to do this.