Wondering how many are going to vote by absentee ballot

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JOhnH said:
Why do you think the lines will be longer this year, what with more people than every voting by mail? My wife screwed up her paper mail-in ballot, so she went to the early voting place, like has usually done. This year, the lines were shorter than ever. In and out in minutes. That included the time for her to explain why she was voting in person when she was mailed a ballot, and then signing a form that she wouldn't ALSO send in the mail-in ballot later.
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My state does not have early voting, so there is only one day when you can vote in person. I would imagine there will be social distancing requirements that will slow down how fast people will be moved through the process, and with how passionate people are about this upcoming vote, I would imagine there will be a higher than normal turnout.
 
flyingron said:
Nope. It used to be the case that only registered mail was approved, but toward the end of my career in the intelligence industry, we were starting to be able to use FedEx.

Classified mail was never left in such boxes.
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Missed the middle paragraph....didn’t intend to imply classified was left anywhere other than USPS.
 
Everskyward said:
No, it’s a dory trip down the Colorado River the length of the Canyon. :)
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Fun. My wife’s equine obsession got us on the mule trip a few years ago. It was pretty neat. I think if I go back I would like to fly it and try that out.
 
midlifeflyer said:
Secure drop boxes is a decent solution for the predicted post office issues.
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Don’t remember what State, or maybe it was city, the dude in charge of this stuff, Secretary of State or whatever nixed plans to get some of them Drop Boxes out there. Said they will only be accepted at City Hall I think it was.
 
midlifeflyer said:
In some states absentee ballots don't require actually being absent. And most (all) have alternatives to mail, typically drop off at election boards and polling places.
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Yeah, yeah, I know. But the so called difference between ‘mail in’ and ‘absentee’ is like front page nowadays
 
luvflyin said:
Yeah, yeah, I know. But the so called difference between ‘mail in’ and ‘absentee’ is like front page nowadays
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True. Even where the difference is only, "so called."
 
In person. I’ll mail my great great great grandfathers vote in
 
AKBill said:
Tami and I voted absentee for the primary election held on 8/18/20 here in AK. We will also vote absentee for the general election in November and the city election in October.

How may of you are planning to vote by absentee ballot?
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The state of Washington is 100% mail-in, although there is a drop box at the library which serves as the post office, eliminating the current political hoohah. My only concern lies with the possibility of the blank ballots getting lost/delayed between the county elections office and my mail box.
 
I really, really, hope the States pushing mail-in ballots this time around can get their act together.

I'm not getting my hopes up, though. Even with recent local elections, there's the problem with those mail-in ballots: They didn't get to the voter, they didn't get postmarked in time, they didn't get postmarked at all, they got postmarked in time but didn't get delivered in time...or at all, they weren't signed, the signatures didn't match... There may be no traceability - are they registered? Tracking numbers? I think the same potential for problems are there with absentee ballots, too, but they are normally a pretty small percentage of ballots cast.

And all those problems don't even touch on intentional interference.

As spiteful and cynical as both sides are against each other, if there isn't a clear and convincing winner by the end of the night on Election Day, there are going to be a whole lot of lawsuits and court involvement. Even more than just the one we had in Florida. And this is where allowing ballots to trickle in for days afterward are going to be a problem.
 
Matthew said:
I really, really, hope the States pushing mail-in ballots this time around can get their act together.

I'm not getting my hopes up, though. Even with recent local elections, there's the problem with those mail-in ballots: They didn't get to the voter, they didn't get postmarked in time, they didn't get postmarked at all, they got postmarked in time but didn't get delivered in time...or at all, they weren't signed, the signatures didn't match... There may be no traceability - are they registered? Tracking numbers? I think the same potential for problems are there with absentee ballots, too, but they are normally a pretty small percentage of ballots cast.

And all those problems don't even touch on intentional interference.

As spiteful and cynical as both sides are against each other, if there isn't a clear and convincing winner by the end of the night on Election Day, there are going to be a whole lot of lawsuits and court involvement. Even more than just the one we had in Florida. And this is where allowing ballots to trickle in for days afterward are going to be a problem.
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Yup. This gonna get ugly. Standby to stand the F by
 
Voting in person this year, just changed states, voting in NH where my vote will actually count for something. That said, last election I voted absentee, because I was absent on the day of the election. The only time I have done so.
 
I've voted absentee exclusively for the past 20 years. I can dig into the ballot issues in depth at home, complete my ballot without standing in line, and either drop it in the mail or deliver it in person at city hall. I can then track its progress online through authentication and acceptance.

My BIL who is a retired technical staff member at Sandia National Labs suggested a fix for eliminating fraud by embedding a hologram which could be read with a laser in absentee ballots with a unique identifier to eliminate fraud and duplicate ballots; it's done with event tickets today.
 
Up until this year in our state, mail-in voting was only open to those who could show a legit reason for not being able to vote in person. Now mail-in voting is open to all. The wife and I were planning to do mail-in just to be on the safe side considering the pandemic. Now we're planning to vote in person because we don't want to take any chances that our votes won't be counted.

As it gets closer, we may also consider doing an absentee ballot and dropping it off at the appropriate office if that seems the safest choice. But we've also both discussed taking the day off and volunteering at our local poling place if needed and possibly volunteering to drive people to poling places if needed.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I normally drive a tractor to the polls and bring one of my kids with me. Not sure how they’ll feel about that this year (the workers that is; given the likely restrictions on distancing).
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Why? Because of the tractor? Because you have one of your kids with you? Not seeing how either one would prevent responsible distancing. :confused2:
 
Juliet Hotel said:
Why? Because of the tractor? Because you have one of your kids with you? Not seeing how either one would prevent responsible distancing. :confused2:
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Bringing a kid. I live in the middle of nowhere in Kansas so it should be fine, but you never know.
 
luvflyin said:
Oregon was one of the places where they were going around and removing mail drop boxes.
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Everyone seems to think this is some sort of plot. Knowing how fast the postal service moves(one of my parents used to work for them) they probably scheduled those for removal 4 years ago or so and are just now getting around to doing it. Most seemed to be in locations where there were already multiple boxes anyway.
 
Plan to vote in person, early, as long as the virus is no worse than now. If a second higher wave comes in our area by mid-October, I may reconsider. Our part of town traditionally has highest voter participation rate, so lines are really long on Election Day, and just long during early voting.

Voted by mail for 20 years In the military without any problem. Kid goes off to college and tries to vote in his first election in 2016 and ballot showed up two weeks after the election. The final deliverer, the RA in the dorm, put it wrong mailbox and other kid only checked his mail once a month.

if I could write the election law, there would be no election “day.” There would be an election period of one-two continuous weeks to replace the combined early voting and Election Day. Makes no sense to me to have to stop the early voting period the Friday-Monday before Election Day.
 
Van Johnston said:
Plan to vote in person, early, as long as the virus is no worse than now. If a second higher wave comes in our area by mid-October, I may reconsider. Our part of town traditionally has highest voter participation rate, so lines are really long on Election Day, and just long during early voting.

Voted by mail for 20 years In the military without any problem. Kid goes off to college and tries to vote in his first election in 2016 and ballot showed up two weeks after the election. The final deliverer, the RA in the dorm, put it wrong mailbox and other kid only checked his mail once a month.

if I could write the election law, there would be no election “day.” There would be an election period of one-two continuous weeks to replace the combined early voting and Election Day. Makes no sense to me to have to stop the early voting period the Friday-Monday before Election Day.
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Depending on how this election goes, much if what you suggest may happen.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1/text
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Bringing a kid. I live in the middle of nowhere in Kansas so it should be fine, but you never know.
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Ah I think you should be fine. If they're going to let strangers in the building, they oughta be just fine with allowing strangers and their kid assuming you're both wearing masks and your kid is willing to stick close to you during the event (which oughta be the case in a voting situation no matter what).

But given the day and age and the amount of uncertainty that folks can sometimes base policy on, I wouldn't be surprised if they frown on it. Still I'd try it anyway, just be ready for having the kid stay with the tractor just in case. :cornut:
 
Van Johnston said:
if I could write the election law, there would be no election “day.” There would be an election period of one-two continuous weeks to replace the combined early voting and Election Day. Makes no sense to me to have to stop the early voting period the Friday-Monday before Election Day.
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Other than the break (which is used to consolidate lists of who has already voted so the voting on Tuesday can be most accurate), isn't this really close to what we already have? Each state is different, you can influence the voting laws in your state if you feel strongly enough about them.

I usually vote early and will do the same this year. Typically have been traveling for work and therefore I vote on an early weekend, not absentee. In NC at least the absentee vote is only counted if it could make a difference in the election.
 
Our poling place is the school gym. Wondering how that's going to work this year.
 
I sometimes wonder about any voting process. When I was in Alaska we were still flying ballot boxes in from the villages for the state elections. The winners were already being announced before all the boxes got there.

I am pretty sure they were going by percentages instead of actual count. But a village with 5000 votes could still make a difference.
 
Zeldman said:
When I was in Alaska we were still flying ballot boxes in from the villages for the state elections. The winners were already being announced before all the boxes got there.
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I flew an airplane like that once, too.

(you know you put yourself wide open to that one, ba-da-boomp)
 
Wondering how many are going to vote by absentee ballot

I've decided for whom.
And how.
All that's left is, how many times?
 
The county where I live is very good about providing early voting, and that's what I'm going to do. I'm also volunteering as a poll worker this year.

I did vote the primary via an absentee ballot,and I'm still not sure that my vote got counted. The state of Georgia has a new voting system that has paper ballots that then get scanned, but they didn't get enough scanners, and I anticipate a mess on election day.
 
Are we counting the dead people’s votes, or just our own?
 
Van Johnston said:
if I could write the election law, there would be no election “day.” There would be an election period of one-two continuous weeks to replace the combined early voting and Election Day.
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How would you feel about letting jurors cast their votes early before the end of the trial?
 
Southpaw said:
Our poling place is the school gym. Wondering how that's going to work this year.
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Our school district moved the student holiday/teacher workday on Columbus Day to Election Day this year so at least the kids will not be at school that day.
 
Van Johnston said:
I would not agree with that. But I don’t see the connection to this topic.
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I see the connection, but not the logic. I have always thought that election day should be a national holiday so that many people will not have to take time off work, which many cannot afford. Either that or make election day a Saturday. But making it a school holiday may well make it harder for parents, especially single parents to vote. They will be tied up taking care of their kids.
 
dtuuri said:
How would you feel about letting jurors cast their votes early before the end of the trial?
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What was proposed was a two-week voting period as opposed to a single voting day. It is not at all unheard of for juries to take several days before deciding on a verdict. So I think a better question is how would you feel about limiting a jury to only one day of deliberation before deciding if you're guilty or not?
 
Juliet Hotel said:
What was proposed was a two-week voting period as opposed to a single voting day. It is not at all unheard of for juries to take several days before deciding on a verdict. So I think a better question is how would you feel about limiting a jury to only one day of deliberation before deciding if you're guilty or not?
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Believe it or not, I actually changed my opinion based on an internet post. Good point @Juliet Hotel But I would prefer limiting voting to 2 or 3 days, including a Saturday and/or Sunday. That would ensure that almost everyone can get some time off. And we could still have absentee ballots for people that just can't make it to the polls due to geography or health.
 
We're moving in October so I'll have to vote absentee in the place we're moving from and in person at the place we are moving to.
 
I can hit the voting location with a 6 iron from my driveway, so I'll just walk down there and write myself in like I have in the past.
 
JOhnH said:
Believe it or not, I actually changed my opinion based on an internet post. Good point @Juliet Hotel But I would prefer limiting voting to 2 or 3 days, including a Saturday and/or Sunday. That would ensure that almost everyone can get some time off. And we could still have absentee ballots for people that just can't make it to the polls due to geography or health.
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Another proposal out there is making voting day a National Holiday so more people can get out and do it without waiting until after work.
 
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