IF you're an American, will you vote absentee, vote early, or wait until Election Day?

[crazyfingers]

My ballot will come in the mail. I'll fill it out and then take it to early voting at the town clerk office and have them put it in the box.

This is the first year that Massachusetts has sent out ballot applications to all registered voters although I could always vote early or get a mail in ballot if i wanted.

It has always horrified me to see the lines to vote that happen in some places around the country. I don't know how that can be considered legal.

It has never taken me more than 15 minutes from parking my car and getting back in my car to vote where I live.

 

[Elixir]

Colorado... there's a drop box within 10 minutes of my house. Ballot will arrive by mail (unless Louis gets his hands on it first) first week of October and will be in the drop box minutes later. For once, there's almost nothing to think about. I did read the whole 90 pages of propositions, amendments etc. but none of them seemed to need a lot of pondering*. So I marked the responses in the booklet and it should take less than 2 minutes to fill out the ballot.

* It's hard to tell in some cases whether the yes or the no means I think something should go forward or be rejected ... wording seems convoluted in many cases, even if the issues are simple.

 

[southernhybrid]

I just filled out my mail in ballot and signed my name. I practiced signing it for several minutes before I signed the ballot to make sure it looked like the signature on my driver's license. That's how concerned I am about this election. I will drop it in the drop in box that is about 3 miles from my home. I usually vote early, but due to the new voting machines, which take much longer to use since there is a paper back up. You have to wait a few minutes until the paper receipt prints out, then review it. It took me at least 20 minutes to vote in the first primary in March and there were only a few people in line. Early voting for president always takes a good 20 or 30 minutes, despite living in a fairly small county. The last time I voted on Election Day was in 2004 and due to the line, it took nearly an hour to vote. I can only imagine what Atlanta will be like on Election Day.

If I lived in a rural or exurban area, I might simply vote early in person, but I don't want to deal with waiting for over an hour to vote during a pandemic. I know there will be lots of careless people there without masks, crowding each other out. I think that's too risky for me, especially since COVID cases are rising again.

I'm not as concerned about Trump's bullshit claims as some are. I think he's just trying to make people think that their vote doesn't count, which he hopes will keep some from voting. I just hope that those of us who plan on voting absentee don't wait until the last minute. I also hope they will follow the instructions very carefully and have a friend or family member double check their ballots before placing them the mail or drop box.

 

[Elixir]

I'm not as concerned about Trump's bullshit claims as some are. I think he's just trying to make people think that their vote doesn't count, which he hopes will keep some from voting.

... and so he can claim “I told you it was rigged” after he loses.

 

[Treedbear]

In CT we have paper ballots. You walk in and show an ID and they cross your name off the printed voter list and they hand you a paper ballot. You walk over to one of about 20 easels which have a simple shield on 3 sides for privacy. There's a pen and a magnifying lens you can use. I'll bring my own pen. I might even bring a clip board so I don't need to touch the easel. You just fill in the little round bubbles next to your choices. I assume you can get a replacement if you make a mistake. You then walk to the exit door where you insert the paper ballot into a machine. You don't get a record of your vote but the original ballots get saved so there's an anonymous paper record that can be recounted if needed. No computer interface or internet connection involved (at least up to this point). It's as simple and low cost as possible. The only complications this year might be if they can't get enough poll workers to check people in. But I hear reports that a lot of young people are stepping up to fill in for the more vulnerable seniors. Also I assume a mask will be required, and maybe you'll need to remove it when you show your picture ID. Probably not. Also I assume they'll have hand sanitizer at the entrance and exit and maybe have an attendant opening the doors since otherwise everyone will be touching the door handles. And of course the elementary school kids won't be having their bake sale. Which is regrettable.

 

[Treedbear]

I just filled out my mail in ballot and signed my name. I practiced signing it for several minutes before I signed the ballot to make sure it looked like the signature on my driver's license. That's how concerned I am about this election. ...

I'm very concerned because my signature is embarrassingly inconsistent. It's never really been an issue but now there's no way to be sure my vote's been counted. Hopefully there will be but I'm not willing to chance it the first time around. And since probably most of the mail-in votes will be for Biden there's a better than even chance that this will turn into a bigger fiasco than the hanging chads were in 2000. Trump is reported to be planning to send squads of monitors to all the battleground precincts in order to influence the ballot checking process. Likely the aim will be to disqualify as many signatures as possible. This might become a huge nightmare.

 

[Worldtraveller]

I, once again, live in a state that does mostly mail in balloting. I will personally drive our ballots to a dropbox, but other than that, voting by 'mail'.

 

[Terrell]

I've done all 3 over my adult life. Mostly early in person.

 

[southernhybrid]

I just filled out my mail in ballot and signed my name. I practiced signing it for several minutes before I signed the ballot to make sure it looked like the signature on my driver's license. That's how concerned I am about this election. ...

I'm very concerned because my signature is embarrassingly inconsistent. It's never really been an issue but now there's no way to be sure my vote's been counted. Hopefully there will be but I'm not willing to chance it the first time around. And since probably most of the mail-in votes will be for Biden there's a better than even chance that this will turn into a bigger fiasco than the hanging chads were in 2000. Trump is reported to be planning to send squads of monitors to all the battleground precincts in order to influence the ballot checking process. Likely the aim will be to disqualify as many signatures as possible. This might become a huge nightmare.

That is why I practiced my signature before I signed the ballot. I had an old driver's license and my current one, so I tried to match the one that looked more like how my signature looks whenever I vote. I think it looks pretty good. I might drive to the drop off box later this afternoon and put it in. My husband is still considering voting in person during early voting. I'm going to try to talk into using his absentee ballot. He has asthma and mild hypertension. We are both over 65, so I don't think it's a good idea for us to stand in line. Still, I'd crawl through glass if that's what it took to vote Trump out of office.

 

[Gun Nut]

Uhm, I live in Oregon, we only do vote by mail/drop box...like for forever. Hard to believe that so few other states haven't converted before this... No concerns as it works great. We have a drop box at the local library, about a mile away. It will be there, within 24 hours of when we get our ballot in the mail.

Same in Colorado... will get my ballot in 10 days and there are like 3 ways to submit it... will be doing it immediately.

I like to remind people: The ballots have tracking numbers on them you tare off before mailing.. use the number to track the status of your vote so you can confirm it was counted... unlike voting in person (like a neanderthal) where all you can do is "pull and pray" the lever.

 

[Gun Nut]

I dropped off my application at City Hall a week ago when I was paying my property taxes. They'll have a drop box there. I can still vote in person instead, and I'm leaning in that direction. I have a very inconsistent signature so I'm worried it might get disqualified. On election day I'll swing by the school I normally vote at and see what's going on. It's normally very easy to social distance there and I don't see how it could be any more dangerous than grocery shopping. If I have any doubts I'll run across town and use the drop box. There's also the idea that the fewer mail in votes that need to be counted the quicker the final results will be in, so less time for post election mayhem.

The county clerk sent me a letter once because my signature didn't match - and it was understandable due to... circumstances. I signed the affidavit that stated I did indeed send in a ballot and it was then counted.

 

[Gun Nut]

Colorado... there's a drop box within 10 minutes of my house. Ballot will arrive by mail (unless Louis gets his hands on it first) first week of October and will be in the drop box minutes later. For once, there's almost nothing to think about. I did read the whole 90 pages of propositions, amendments etc. but none of them seemed to need a lot of pondering*. So I marked the responses in the booklet and it should take less than 2 minutes to fill out the ballot.

* It's hard to tell in some cases whether the yes or the no means I think something should go forward or be rejected ... wording seems convoluted in many cases, even if the issues are simple.

totally... remember the "abolish slavery language" in our state constitution thing? We re-voted on that last year or so after it failed because they asked if we shouldn't not reject the objection for prop whatever.. or something.

 

[starwater]

Also voting in Colorado. We have had mail in voting for years. It's the only way to go IMO. Family sits around the table discusses the issues, we read the blue book (90 pages this time), look up things on the internet, and then we fill out our ballots (not everyone votes the same). We drop off the ballot down the street in a ballot drop off box. We usually vote weeks ahead of Nov.

 

[ZiprHead]

Dropped ours in the drop box this morning.

 

[southernhybrid]

Dropped ours in the drop box this morning.

We did the same thing yesterday. And while I'm not too hopeful about Biden winning in Georgia, much to my delight I'm beginning to see more Biden signs in my mostly white side of town. I even saw one that read: "Republicans for Biden". That was nice to see.

 

[Worldtraveller]

Just checked with the UT state site, and our ballots are being mailed out to us the week of OCT 13. We will be filling ours out and I'll be delivering them to the county dropbox.

 

[TV and credit cards]

Dropped ours in the drop box this morning.

We did the same thing yesterday. And while I'm not too hopeful about Biden winning in Georgia, much to my delight I'm beginning to see more Biden signs in my mostly white side of town. I even saw one that read: "Republicans for Biden". That was nice to see.

Same here (all I have is a white side). No fewer Trump signs but many competing Biden signs. I have scant hope for Ohio flipping. I think the Biden signs are more a result of what has happened to the country these past four years rather than an increase in Dem support. The Biden signs might as well say, "Holy Fuck" on them as they do "Biden Harris".

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Dropped ours in the drop box this morning.

We did the same thing yesterday. And while I'm not too hopeful about Biden winning in Georgia, much to my delight I'm beginning to see more Biden signs in my mostly white side of town. I even saw one that read: "Republicans for Biden". That was nice to see.

Same here (all I have is a white side). No fewer Trump signs but many competing Biden signs. I have scant hope for Ohio flipping. I think the Biden signs are more a result of what has happened to the country these past four years rather than an increase in Dem support. The Biden signs might as well say, "Holy Fuck" on them as they do "Biden Harris".

How are the signs over in Medina? Generally a red county, but not blood red like Huron County.

Akron is pretty blue, even my precinct which is a mix of millionaires and people on food stamps. Most support Biden. Cuyahoga (Caucasian) Falls, it falls to 3 to 2 Trump from what I've seen. Could level out to even, but that isn't good enough. Out east in Lake county, closer to 2 to 1 for Trump. It is incredible the virus Trump is. I'll be curious about the general Youngstown rust belt area that didn't see a resurgence in jobs. Oddly, they saw a resurgence during the Obama Admin when fracking was going crazy and metal pipe production was big... as well as the local fracking. Of course, the small energy companies consolidated like crazy and with that, the job losses.

 

[southernhybrid]

Dropped ours in the drop box this morning.

We did the same thing yesterday. And while I'm not too hopeful about Biden winning in Georgia, much to my delight I'm beginning to see more Biden signs in my mostly white side of town. I even saw one that read: "Republicans for Biden". That was nice to see.

Same here (all I have is a white side). No fewer Trump signs but many competing Biden signs. I have scant hope for Ohio flipping. I think the Biden signs are more a result of what has happened to the country these past four years rather than an increase in Dem support. The Biden signs might as well say, "Holy Fuck" on them as they do "Biden Harris".

To some extent, I think the same thing is happening in Georgia, especially since I've seen Biden signs on a street that has traditionally been very Republican. None of my Black neighbors have signs out, but from speaking to some of them, I know they support Biden. About 95% of the Black folks in my city are Democrats but we have always had a problem with both voter apathy in Georgia, and at least in recent years, voter suppression.

Two of my closest Black friends haven't decided if they are going to vote in person or absentee. One other has already dropped her ballot in the ballot box, but she has two grown children who have never voted and say they never will. That's always been a problem here for some reason that I will never understand. At least my friend's granddaughter is planning on voting, so maybe Gen Z will be different from Gen X and the millennials who refuse to vote. I think older black women are consistent voters in the South because they grew up during the Jim Crow era and they consider the vote extremely important. I'm relieved that Biden is pretty far ahead in the polls among white women too. How any woman can support that man is beyond me.

I just hope that all of those who vote absentee will be very careful about following the instructions. This morning my 74 year old neighbor called me to ask where she signs her name. I'm not sure she would have figured it out if I didn't give her very careful instructions. It made me wonder how many other people will have trouble filling out their absentee ballots. It's not that hard, but some people find it confusing.

 

[TV and credit cards]

Same here (all I have is a white side). No fewer Trump signs but many competing Biden signs. I have scant hope for Ohio flipping. I think the Biden signs are more a result of what has happened to the country these past four years rather than an increase in Dem support. The Biden signs might as well say, "Holy Fuck" on them as they do "Biden Harris".

How are the signs over in Medina? Generally a red county, but not blood red like Huron County.

Akron is pretty blue, even my precinct which is a mix of millionaires and people on food stamps. Most support Biden. Cuyahoga (Caucasian) Falls, it falls to 3 to 2 Trump from what I've seen. Could level out to even, but that isn't good enough. Out east in Lake county, closer to 2 to 1 for Trump. It is incredible the virus Trump is. I'll be curious about the general Youngstown rust belt area that didn't see a resurgence in jobs. Oddly, they saw a resurgence during the Obama Admin when fracking was going crazy and metal pipe production was big... as well as the local fracking. Of course, the small energy companies consolidated like crazy and with that, the job losses.

2 to 1 Trump in Medina. It's pretty easy to gauge from the city center to the rural outskirts. With density of housing comes more Biden signs. The Trumpkins are more boisterous. It's not just signs. It's banners and flags.