I Voted

[38Chevy454]

Well, earlier I stated that DW and I were going to vote on election day. But yesterday we were out on errands and near the county board of elections office and decided to do the early voting. Everyone was keeping the 6 ft or so distance, everybody I saw in line had a mask on, even for the line portion outside before entering the building. Approx 30 minutes, process was pretty well organized and seemed to work well. Here in OH in my county, you get a paper ballot where you fill in the desired ovals with a pen. Then place the ballot into the machine, where it reads it, and then displays if it was accepted. Not any different than the voting on election day.

 

[pj.mask]

8/18 mail in ballot requested
9/28 county mailed ballot to me
10/9 received ballot
10/12 mailed ballot back
10/19 county received ballot
10/22 ballot (signature) approved.

The 2 week wait to get my ballot was rather bothersome. I know there will be complaints about “fraudulent” mailed in ballots but it was not worth the risk to vote in person like I/we have done every election since age 18

Friends have had good luck in the city voting early. My elderly mother was too worried about voting by mail (no recourse in her rural county if denied and concerned about partisan shenanigans based on her registered party affiliation) she went to vote early. They had marks and guidelines for social distancing - that was not followed by the majority of voters. She said only about 30% were wearing a mask. Process took about 30 min.

 

[Mr Gadget]

Received my mail in ballot, filled it out, and took it in (first time) to an early drop off location. Received both an email and text that it was being signature verified and then confirmed. I've been voting by mail for decades (military) so this isn't any real change for me.

 

[TrvlBug]

Dropped off DH's and my absentee ballot at a 'vote here' location today. Will go online to check its progress through the system. DH and I have been voting absentee for decades ever since he had to go on an emergency biz trip and was unable to vote in a presidential election.

 

[harllee]

Good job all you Texans--I just read that more people have already voted in Texas than voted in the entire 2016 election. My state of North Carolina the total votes so far are 86% of the total votes in 2016.

 

[braumeister]

This is making me feel good because it confirms the prediction I made around the time of the 2016 elections.

I said that feelings were running so high (in both parties) that we were likely to see the percentage of voters actually casting ballots increase greatly. Or at least that was my hope. Seems to be coming true, so perhaps the momentum will continue.

My two biggest complaints about politics in the last few decades have been the low voter turnouts and the high proportion of single-issue voters.

 

[Midpack]

Good job all you Texans--I just read that more people have already voted in Texas than voted in the entire 2016 election. My state of North Carolina the total votes so far are 86% of the total votes in 2016.

Several states have already exceeded their 2016 final counts, here's a link that shows each state.

As of yesterday nationally, voters have cast 62.2% of the total votes counted in the 2016 general election.

https://electproject.github.io/Early-Vote-2020G/index.html

 

[Tiger8693]

Several states have already exceeded their 2016 final counts, here's a link that shows each state.

As of yesterday nationally, voters have cast 62.2% of the total votes counted in the 2016 general election.

https://electproject.github.io/Early-Vote-2020G/index.html

One can only hope they are "informed" voters, not just "emotional" voters.

 

[Markola]

One can only hope they are "informed" voters, not just "emotional" voters.

The Constitution says nothing about that. In this country, uninformed people, emotional people, stupid people, insane people, philanderers, tax cheats, lying hypocrites, people lost down a dark web rabbit hole and drunk and stoned people all get representation! [emoji12]

 

[Midpack]

One can only hope they are "informed" voters, not just "emotional" voters.

Please don’t get the thread closed with coded political comments. There are informed and emotional voters on all sides.

 

[Tiger8693]

Please don’t get the thread closed with coded political comments. There are informed and emotional voters on all sides.

I certainly am not stating a political preference, just one of hopefully good intention. I am thrilled that more people are "interested" in determining the outcome of our political process.

 

[MichaelB]

The thread topic is interesting enough and there’s still more to come. Are people voting or not, and if so, how are they doing it.

Intentions? Everyone has them - good, bad, well-informed, mis-informed. That’s better left for a different thread and another time.

 

[Car-Guy]

Intentions? Everyone has them - good, bad, well-informed, mis-informed.

Unfortunately [-]most[/-] many people probably feel that:

Good and well-informed means/equals you agree with them

Bad and mis-informed means/equals you don't agree with them

 

[Midpack]

Unfortunately [-]most[/-] many people probably feel that:

Good and well-informed means/equals you agree with them

Bad and mis-informed means/equals you don't agree with them

Exactly.

 

[Chuckanut]

I like a good strong turn out because it gives credibility to the results whether they are what voted for or not. It's a lot easier to accept defeat if a large majority votes, even in a close race. What bothers me is when only 25% of the voters vote and the other side wins by by barely getting over 50% of the total votes. It's all to easy for a small minority of well organized fringe people to get their way. Not so good.

 

[Car-Guy]

What bothers me is when only 25% of the voters vote and the other side wins by by barely getting over 50% of the total votes.

Well in the US presidential elections, as we all know, it's not always who gets over 50% of the popular vote that is elected...

It's all to easy for a small minority of well organized fringe people to get their way. Not so good.

Amen to that!

 

[harllee]

An issue that has arisen in my area that involves people who want to vote in person (too late to vote absentee) but have recently tested positive for Covid or have recently been exposed to Covid and told to quarantine. The election officials are trying to figure out how to let these people vote. Handicapped people can vote curbside and the officials are trying to figure out if these people can vote curbside. That is one reason I voted absentee--I did not want a positive Covid test to prevent me from voting.

 

[Chuckanut]

Well in the US presidential elections, as we all know, it's not always who gets over 50% of the popular vote that is elected...

True. In the 2016 Presidential race nobody got over 50% of the popular vote.

 

[jollystomper]

DW and I voted a couple of days ago, in the rain from the remnants of Zeta. Even with the steady rain the line outside was long; it took about 90 minutes from joining the line to turning in my ballot.

People on line social distanced, but more than a few did not put on masks until they were near the building entrance. Inside they did a fairly good job of distancing, though a times the workers moving back and forth were brushing against folks and talking to people at close range.

We had a choice of using a touch screen or filling gout a paper ballot, I chose to use paper. It was faster, once your information was verified it only took a minute for a paper ballot station to open up. There was a 10-15 minute wait for the touch screen stations.

All in all, a smooth process. Now I can enjoy golfing on election day.

 

[harllee]

For any of you Forum members who have not voted tomorrow is your last chance! Please vote.

This has been a great thread. Many Forum members have already voted and it is interesting to me to see all the ways people vote in the different states. Thank you!

 

[Car-Guy]

For any of you Forum members who have not voted tomorrow is your last chance! Please vote.

This has been a great thread. Many Forum members have already voted and it is interesting to me to see all the ways people vote in the different states. Thank you!

+1

 

[P.S.]

Requested mail-in ballots 1 mo ago. We witnessed each other and not trusting any boxes, I went to the central registrar a few days ago. Line was long, parking full, but someone just pulled out from a front row spot. Directed right in, dropped off ballots, and collected my two stickers on the way out.

 

[W2R]

We are voting in person on Election Day (tomorrow) because that is what we always do and wanted to do this time as well.

I remember having to wait almost a half hour to vote in 2008. I don't think we had to wait in 2012 or 2016 or any other election. But anyway, we expect that there could be long lines and a long wait this time. I am hearing of over 5 hour waits for early voters at some locations here, and everyone says the wait should be longer on Election Day. We'll see. I'm taking my walker (which I never use any more) for a place to sit while we wait. Frank is taking a camp chair.

Our voting location is at a branch library, so we went by there yesterday to make sure that it still has power and will be open for voting tomorrow despite the hurricane.

We are pretty excited about voting this time, and I think it will be quite a memorable experience.

 

[harllee]

W2R give us a report on how your voting goes tomorrow. I am interested to hear how voting on the actual election day goes.

 

[W2R]

W2R give us a report on how your voting goes tomorrow. I am interested to hear how voting on the actual election day goes.

Will do! We drove by the branch library where we vote, again today. It's open and functioning as a library today, so I think we will be able to vote there tomorrow, yay!

Then we came home and put my walker (for me) and the camp chair (for him), inside my SUV so that we will have them when we get there tomorrow. We are taking these to sit on in case there are long lines. Yes we are old.

“I grow old … I grow old …
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled."
(and take something to sit on when I vote).

Ahem. Moving on.... Frank checked my tire pressure again, since one of my tires was half flat yesterday and he put air in it for me. The air is holding so I don't have to get the tire fixed today in order to get us to the polling place tomorrow.

I can hardly wait to cast my vote. We haven't yet decided what time of day would be ideal, so we'll figure that out this evening.