Voted today!

[Glenn2]

Ballots arrived in the mail last Friday. Drove to the nearest Supervisor of Elections office (15 minute drive) today and used the drive-thru mail ballot drop box. No waiting at all. Very easy and convenient. Once early in person voting starts on October 19, people can then also drop their mail ballots at any county library branch.

 

[klpca]

For the first time ever we will be dropping our ballots off at the County Registrar of Voters. We have been absentee voting for most of our lives. One thing that I want to do is make sure that my signature still matches. A lot happens over 30 years.

 

[wackymother]

In NJ, we are all voting by mail unless disabled. There's a county drop box less than a mile from us!

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

Spent $29 Cdn.to mail my ballot request to Missouri 2 weeks ago
My ballot was emailed to me with all confirmation documents.
I spent $ 6 Cdn. to fax it back with the official cover sheet document.

Done- so now I can skip < edited >

 

[DeniseM]

Let's not go down the "debate" rabbit hole - thank you!

 

[TTSDavid]

We are fortunate that we live in a not-too-big county here in O-H-I-O. Our board of elections is a 15 minute drive from our home. The line to get in took @15 minutes so we were home in under an hour! Weather was wonderful.

Voting Matters so please do whatever you need to cast your ballot!

Agreed! Voting Matters

 

[CPNY]

I never understood the need to announce “I voted” with a sticker. Congrats, you voted, what do you want ? A sticker or something? Oh wait......

 

[pianodinosaur]

We did our early voting in Texas, on October 14. Minimal line present. We are over 65. However, we had a local mail box broken into right in front of the post office. Numerous residents of Baytown had their credit card checks and property tax checks deposited into dummy accounts. We had to change our bank account and credit cards. Most of our bills are now paid directly online rather than via the mail. We feel much more comfortable voting in person.

 

[pianodinosaur]

Got our by-mail ballots yesterday and will put them into the drop-box at Town Hall this afternoon.

In Massachusetts every registered voter can vote early, in person, or by-mail (which is essentially absentee) and every registered voter was sent an application for mail-in ballots. If you send in your signed application they mail you the ballot/envelopes. Then you complete your anonymous ballot, seal it into the inner envelope with your name/address/repeat signature and barcode identifier on it, place that into the postage-paid return envelope and either mail it in or put it in a drop-box. When it's received they open the outer envelope and verify the name/address info and signature on the inner envelope, and either accept the ballot or set it aside if there are problems. Accepted ballot envelopes go into secure storage until they can be opened and the anonymous ballots counted with all others; if it kicks out they inform you that there's a problem requiring your attention. If you request a mail-in ballot you can still vote early/in-person as long as your mail-in vote hasn't been returned. Your first accepted ballot will generate an entry in the voter rolls that negates any subsequent ballots you try to submit. You can check the status of your ballot online anytime.

If this is the wave of the future for all states I think it's a great way to participate in the process.

My main concern is that someone has to open the ballot and therefore see how an individual voted. It is no longer a secret ballot.

 

[Sugarcubesea]

I voted on Thursday at my City Clerks Office... It took all of 10 minutes.

 

[Conan]

Or a limited number of other excuses...
-- you are disabled
-- you will be out of the county on Election Day and during the period for early voting
-- you are confined in jail, but otherwise eligible
Keeping a job is not listed.

.

Connecticut normally has a similar rule, and being >65 is not an excuse.

This year Connecticut changed the rule so anybody who asserts a concern about covid-19 is permitted to request an absentee ballot. Which is a good thing because if you check the "out of town on election day" box to obtain a ballot to vote absentee and are later caught in town on election day that's a potential felony.

The same dance of the envelopes - - having requested the ballot and received it by mail, mark your ballot A, seal it in envelope B, sign envelope B, seal it in envelope C.

 

[SueDonJ]

My main concern is that someone has to open the ballot and therefore see how an individual voted. It is no longer a secret ballot.

But that "someone" will be a poll worker or some other kind of Elections Commission representative who's already been vetted, and what they're doing is the exact same process as what's always been done with absentee ballots. The folks opening the envelopes for mail-in ballots aren't doing anything different! Also, poll workers on Election Day in-person voting see your party affiliation in the rolls, may have to ask registered-Independent voters which party ballot they want, and may see your actual ballot if you have problems and have to ask them for help. It's still as true now as it was when in-person voting on Election Day was the only game in town that there needs to be a certain level of trust for the Election Commission workers. There haven't been any verified reports that it's something I need to worry about in my precinct/state. <shrug>

I'm curious - in MA the workers responsible for tallying absentee/mail-in/early ballots are required to announce in the venue that they're submitting those types of ballots when they insert them into the machines on the floor on Election Day. Are there any other states? And has anyone actually heard it being done? I don't remember it any time I've voted but I tend to tune out all the background noise when I vote in person.

 

[Ralph Sir Edward]

I voted yesterday - day 3 of early voting in Texas. I went to an obscure polling place, hoping to get no line. At 10 AM on a Thursday, overcast and drizzle, there was a line.

Real turnout here. . .

 

[louisianab]

Dropped DH and my absentee/mailing ballots off at the Dropbox when I paid my sewer bill at the next Dropbox. Easy peasy. Michigan passed "anyone can absentee as long as they send in the application" a while ago and it has worked well for us.

 

[davidvel]

I have never voted early. I always have concern that new information may come up after voting. Not a huge issue really, but I've always been a person who wants all the facts before making an important decision.

 

[DaveNV]

We received our Nevada mail-in ballots last week. Filled them out and dropped them in the receiving ballot box at the local courthouse this past Monday. Just checked, and the Registrar of Voters reports our ballots have been received. It's all we can do. So now we wait...

Dave

 

[PigsDad]

We did our early voting in Texas, on October 14. Minimal line present. We are over 65. However, we had a local mail box broken into right in front of the post office. Numerous residents of Baytown had their credit card checks and property tax checks deposited into dummy accounts. We had to change our bank account and credit cards. Most of our bills are now paid directly online rather than via the mail. We feel much more comfortable voting in person.

I received my ballot in the mail on Monday, and dropped it off on Tuesday. No issues with security here. The physical drop off box was probably 3x the size of the typical standing blue post office boxes, plus it was constructed with a much thicker gauge of steel. The legs were probably 3x3 steel and bolted to a concrete pad. I was impressed! Plus, this one was right outside the city police headquarters. I think it was pretty safe.

Kurt

 

[DrQ]

Voted with a mail-in ballot and dropped it off at the county hand delivery site today. Had to present a photo ID to verify I was the one casting my vote prior to putting it in the box.

 

[Luanne]

I dropped off absentee ballots for dh and I a few days ago. I signed the back of dh's envelope saying I was the one dropping it off. I don't know why that was required as I dropped both of them in the same box and no one was checking. I went to the state website to track our ballots and they showed as being received that same day.

 

[DrQ]

I dropped off absentee ballots for dh and I a few days ago. I signed the back of dh's envelope saying I was the one dropping it off. I don't know why that was required as I dropped both of them in the same box and no one was checking. I went to the state website to track our ballots and they showed as being received that same day.

In my case, I had to check in just like in-person voting and present the ballot envelope and sign a roll sheet prior to putting my ballot in the box.

 

[isisdave]

Voted AND got flu shots today, so we have TWO stickers (well, one's a bandaid).
Dropped our California ballots at the City Hall drop box, which was attended by a person who looked (without touching) at the outside of the envelope to be sure we had signed and put residence address correctly. Then we put them in the big blue box, which was nearly full.

 

[Krteczech]

Done!

 

[DrQ]

So essentially a two party system where bad and worse are the options. 1 vote should count for 1 vote even if its not a popular vote election. How many states actually matter when it comes to the outcome? I prefer the Canadian systems where you vote in your riding and the popular vote wins that riding. Margin of victory in the riding does not matter. The way your system is set up is other parties cannot make progress.

Response removed - I don't feed trolls

 

[DeniseM]

am1 - you are way off topic - let it go.

Back to the actual topic: Yesterday, we deposited our ballots in an official box, just inside the door of our nearby supermarket. Wore gloves and masks. It was the first time I’ve been in a store of any kind since February. Be careful if you use one of these boxes, because fake boxes have been found in some areas - 3 in our town.


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[pianodinosaur]

Back to the actual topic: We deposited our ballots in an official box, just inside the door of our nearby supermarket. Wore gloves and masks. It was the first time I’ve been in a store of any kind since February. Be careful if you use one of these boxes, because fake boxes have been found in some areas - 3 in our town.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Fake ballot boxes seem like a very good way to disenfranchise an unsuspecting voter and to alter the integrity of the election process. I hope they can find the perpetrators of this crime and prosecute them to the full measure of the law. Glad we did early voting in person. If there are three fake ballot boxes in your town alone, how many are there nationwide? Scary!