I Voted

[Car-Guy]

For you folks voting in person (especially on election day) do you have to stand in a long line? Last time I voted on election day (several years ago) I had to stand in line for 3 hours and I said never again.

No waiting here even on election day.... I think one time I had to wait maybe 5 minutes....

 

[harley]

In terms of the topic, DW and I voted today. It was simple. We were the only voters there. Now if I can only get the political advertisers to leave me alone - this would be a nice google feature.

On a similar topic, I'm really looking forward to turning 65 in a couple of months so I'll quit getting bombarded with Medicare calls and mailings.

 

[Telly]

On a similar topic, I'm really looking forward to turning 65 in a couple of months so I'll quit getting bombarded with Medicare calls and mailings.

Ha ha ha dream on! Two years later, the mail volume has decreased, but insurance offices and brokers still send Medicare stuff, insurance companies still send MA advertisements. The call volume is lower than the period from 6 months before age 65 to maybe 4 months afterward, but it still exists. Medigap advertising post-65 is about zero, as chasing an existing Original Medicare person to change to company XXX's Medigap Plan will require a medical review of some level minimum, and can end with a big NO! But changing from a MA plan, to another MA plan, or from Original Medicare to an MA plan, is worth chasing people for, as there is no real impediment to change, if one can be convinced to do so, therefore, advertising.

Oh, since this is the "I Voted" thread, I better say something relevant. I mailed my request for ballot back in late August or first few days of September. Still no ballot. Starting to worry that it's not coming, and if it doesn't, what happens if I try to Early Vote to salvage? Called county office today. They have record of a label being made for my ballot package, but they have no way of knowing if it's actually been mailed yet. Wanted me to wait a week and call back if not there. When I asked, they haltingly said I could still vote in-person if the ballot doesn't show up... I'm doubting that response. Now I wish I never decided to vote by mail for the first time.

 

[foxfirev5]

We just received our absentee ballots yesterday. Mailed out on 9/25. I'll drop them off at the clerks office today. I'm so over this election.

 

[DrRoy]

Yep, done. Dropped off.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

We dropped our "mail-in" ballots (the official language has changed, they are no longer "absentee" ballots...?) in a drop box this past Sunday. There was no one around, even in the parking lot! Plus we got to talk out our votes on the ballot questions and the school board race while we filled them out. The boxes all have 24-hour surveillance, I saw the camera, and the ballots are collected twice per day. Our "kid" just turned 18, and just sent off their registration, so they won't registered in time to request a mail-in ballot, we'll take them to Early Voting, which should still be fairly sparse, considering a lot of us in this area are voting by "mail".


#PlanYourVote

 

[Markola]

Called county office today. They have record of a label being made for my ballot package, but they have no way of knowing if it's actually been mailed yet. Wanted me to wait a week and call back if not there. When I asked, they haltingly said I could still vote in-person if the ballot doesn't show up... I'm doubting that response.

Smells either fishy or incompetent. I’d look up at the Secretary of State or local elections website where and when they are having early in-person voting and get down there. We voted early in-person this year in the primary and general for the first time ever. Easy-peasy and I’ll never vote by mail or on Election Day again.

 

[MichaelB]

On a similar topic, I'm really looking forward to turning 65 in a couple of months so I'll quit getting bombarded with Medicare calls and mailings.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but that’s not gonna happen. The volume will reduce some but you still have annual open enrollment for Medicare Advantage and the selling will continue.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

We dropped off our absentee ballots just now. I had heard the early polling place in my county was cramped with no social distancing so I wanted to mail them in, but DW insisted on hand delivering them. She confirmed what I had heard. Glad we didn't actually vote early in person and all she had to do was run in and run out.

 

[Freedom56]

We received our mail-in ballots yesterday and will drop them off this week. There are too many items on the ballots we received. They cram too many races and propositions into these ballots. We will keep it simple by skipping most of it and focus only on the important issues.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Has anyone gone to vote with a mail in ballot in hand, not filled out, that they chose not to use, and converted it so they could vote in person?

 

[Walt34]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but that’s not gonna happen. The volume will reduce some but you still have annual open enrollment for Medicare Advantage and the selling will continue.

Yup, I'll confirm it. The deluge starts up again every July or so and steadily increases until the open enrollment period ends. Doesn't matter if you're perfectly happy with the plan you already have.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

The deluge starts up again every July or so and steadily increases until the open enrollment period ends.

I am sure the money they spend paying celebrities to do ads on TV would fund healthcare for a small army.

 

[harllee]

Has anyone gone to vote with a mail in ballot in hand, not filled out, that they chose not to use, and converted it so they could vote in person?

Not sure I understand. Here in NC you can request an absentee ballot and so long as you have not mailed it back you can still vote in person. You don't have to convert it or take it to the voting site. Maybe it would help if you told us what state you are in.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Not sure I understand. Here in NC you can request an absentee ballot and so long as you have not mailed it back you can still vote in person. You don't have to convert it or take it to the voting site. Maybe it would help if you told us what state you are in.

Florida

 

[RunningBum]

My Virginia absentee ballot came with a big NOTE on one of the instruction pages, to return the envelope unopened if you decide not to vote absentee. In smaller letters it says to contact your general registrar before election day for further instructions. I thought I had read before to just bring it unopened to the polls.

So apparently it varies from state to state.

 

[Aerides]

Florida early voting doesn't open until 10/19, so no one has done that in FL yet. And every state is gonna have different odd election protocols.

But I would doubt the in-person locations are setup to handle the mail-in ballots as the ballots are not the same, so if you with to absentee/mail then do that, or go in person instead, not try to mix the two and confuse the poll workers.

Has anyone gone to vote with a mail in ballot in hand, not filled out, that they chose not to use, and converted it so they could vote in person?

 

[cathy63]

Florida early voting doesn't open until 10/19, so no one has done that in FL yet. And every state is gonna have different odd election protocols.

But I would doubt the in-person locations are setup to handle the mail-in ballots as the ballots are not the same, so if you with to absentee/mail then do that, or go in person instead, not try to mix the two and confuse the poll workers.

It shouldn't be that confusing to the poll workers. They get training on what to do in this situation, and the FL Division of Elections specifically says you can take your mail-in ballot to the poll if you change your mind and want to vote in person.

https://dos.myflorida.com/elections/for-voters/voting/vote-by-mail/

How to Vote a Vote-by-Mail Ballot
Instructions are included with the vote-by-mail ballot. If the voter decides to go to the polls to vote, the voter should bring the vote-by-mail ballot (marked or not). The vote-by-mail ballot will be canceled and the voter can vote a regular ballot at the polls. If the voter comes to the polls without the vote-by-mail ballot, the voter can vote a regular ballot if the supervisor of elections' office can confirm that it has not received the voter's vote-by-mail ballot. If it is confirmed that the supervisor of elections office has already received the voted vote-by-mail ballot or it cannot be determined, the voter cannot vote a regular ballot at the polls. However, if a voter believes that he or she has not already voted, he or she shall be allowed to vote a provisional ballot.

I found the FL info above linked from FiveThirtyEight's guide to voting in every state: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/how-to-vote-2020/ It's a cool resource that I've recommended to a few people. They keep it very up-to-date, and they already have a note about the issues FL had with their voter registration site today.

 

[Aerides]

^
Good to know, thanks! I just figured since most poll workers are volunteers, and this year many might be on their first go around (ok it's paid but it's paltry), probably best not to burden them with anything but get in, vote, get out.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Has anyone gone to vote with a mail in ballot in hand, not filled out, that they chose not to use, and converted it so they could vote in person?

In Maryland, if you requested a mail-in ballot you can still vote provisionally at the polls, but that is much more work for the county to verify and tabulate, otherwise I was considering doing that. Then they can make sure you only submitted the one ballot. But our county collects twice a day from the drop boxes, and is already tabulating the mail in ballots, so that they hope they won't be too far behind on Election Day.

 

[Markola]

An excellent, simple guide for how to vote early in every state:


http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/how-to-vote-2020/

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

FWIW, in my locale in Wisconsin, my municipal clerk advised me that if you got an absentee ballot, then decided you would prefer to vote in person, they wanted us to "return the un-voted absentee ballot back to them to destroy," and then they could remove us from the absentee ballot list.

So it could be done, but not trivial.

 

[Badger]

I spent a few hours this morning researching all the judges for the District Court of Appeals. I have researched all those running for our local City Commissioners and I have researched and read all the Constitutional Amendments. I have my PPE and ready for going to the polls as soon as they open for early voting in person. NOTE: DO NOT rely on the sample ballots in order to understand the states Constitutional Amendments. Some are ambiguous or leave out important information. They can sound like something they are not. I found a few that made me reconsider my vote.

Read any and all of your state Constitutional Amendments so you don't regret it later.


Cheers!

 

[foxfirev5]

^Exactly. Please do your research on each candidate and issue. Personally I wouldn't make an issue about how I'm voting or changing from mail in to in person to make a point. But I'll stop now.��

 

[Freedom56]

We dropped of our ballots today at the nearest collection box.