I voted absentee today, or "by mail" as we say now although I didn't mail it in. I don't know how many columns I wrote saying that's as a dumb idea.
It's a dumb idea because someone I voted for today may die before election day next Tuesday. One of them might be found in bed with a dead Girl Scout or a live Boy Scout. One of them may say something so incredibly stupid, between now and next Tuesday, that I'll never be able to show my face in society again.
But I did it. I didn't give my ballot to a ward heeler to deliver, which has become the default way to vote for little old Republican ladies. I personally went to the Elections Supervisor's office (which is kitty-corner from my church) and dropped it in the designated box. I could have mailed it -- the Election Supervisor provided a postage-paid envelope -- but it's The Don's Post Office these days. And I could do it without seriously interrupting my trip home.
I don't think anything will go wrong at the Election Supervisor's office, even if she was appointed by Gov. Fumbles as a punishment for the county voting for the wrong candidate for governor. She was on the ballot today, and I voted for her. I am more concerned about what will happen outside her office when the counting begins.
The other races were not overwhelmingly important. It was a primary, but we also had local offices that were decided today, like the supervisor. And the sheriff, who will be re-elected. The touchiest race was for school board.
So, as a maiden race, it wasn't too important. But I'd really rather vote with my friends and neighbors on an election Tuesday. I did it today because of Covid 19. But I fervently hope it is not habit-forming.
I will by God vote in person even if I have to stand among the maskless dimwits to do it because I want to see my ballot slide into he computer and know it has been registered. If I get COVID, I can say I went down fighting that Oozing Pustule in the Oval Office.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if the old ladies (older than me) who customarily are our polling place volunteers will feel safe enough to work there this time. I don't know if anyone else will come forward to take their place if they don't. So we will vote absentee and walk our ballots into the court house, same as we did for the primary. We'll do it as early as possible, because the only one we really care about this time is the president box.
ReplyDeleteI will volunteer to work if they need people.
DeleteI have a hard time working up a sentimental attachment to voting in person. I think most of my problem is aesthetic: my voting place is the gymnasium of the local grammar school. Because they\ school officials don't want the public walking through the school hallways while school is in session (which it may or may not be this November), they have us voters enter directly into the gym from outside through a metal service door. For school security reasons, the service door is without a doorknob or handle on the outside; it has to be propped open by a folding chair or brick or whatever is handy. Otherwise, if the door has closed, we voters have to pound on it until one of the judges lets us in. The gymnasium is at least 20 times as large as is necessary for voting during normal times, so the judges' table, the ballot boxes and so on are crammed into one corner. The proportions are all off - just a few people in this big,echo-y building. It's like when there is a tiny wedding in a large church. The judges are civil and almost neighborly, but I don't know any of them. I've lived here for nearly 30 years and vote regularly, and am reasonably active in the community, but I can think of only one time when I saw someone I knew at the polling place. It's about a three block walk from the house, and it is a pleasant enough walk - except that in Illinois the primaries are in the spring and the general elections are in November so more often than not it's raining or there is a cold biting wind or a foot of snow on the ground. All of which is to say: it's not something to actually look forward to.
ReplyDeleteTo make it even worse, a typical election here has many contests - way too many. There can be several dozen judicial races. I do actually know a few judges (that happens when one has attended a Catholic high school and Catholic college), but the ones on the ballot always are perfect strangers to me. Nor am I heavily invested in the representation on the water reclamation district. This year, I can't even muster any enthusiasm for the presidential race.
I'll vote from home if they make it easy enough for me. I'd love to vote online.
Giving up the community aspect of voting is another example of bowling alone, imo.
DeleteHowever, set sentiment and enthusiasm (or lack thereof) aside.
Trump's creature is in charge of the post office, and the mail is backed up which could invalidate ballots if delivered late. It is also unclear exactly how goofed up the widespread mail-in vote last week in Michigan was, and that involves far less voting volume than the November election will. Moreover, Trump talks so much about mail-in election fraud that it's hard to imagine he's not going to try to make is predictions come true.
The security of different methods of voting will vary by locale, of course, but I think my vote is most likely to be counted if I show up.
I have always enjoyed voting except twice. Once was 2000, when the butterfly wings enfolded me, and and I voted for Pat Buchanan (I am pretty sure).
DeleteThe other time was when we had a rare line and I noticed a woman staring and immobile at the voting station There was a long and complicated referendum question, and if you didn't know it was coming, you'd never figure out what it was about from what was printed there. (You were not supposed to.) When I realized she was trying to decipher what was not meant to be deciphered, I looked at the clock in the town hall. Five full minutes later, an eyelid flickered and she gave up.
Otherwise it's hi and hello and how are you and an "I Voted" sticker.
Our polling place used to be at a school, but they quit doing that when security got tight. The past several years it has been at the Eagles Club. There is a big sign over the bar stating that it is closed during polling hours (dang!)
DeleteA couple of parishioners are among the volunteers. I think the rules are that there has to be someone from both parties (don't know if that is just a state or local thing). When I was a kid my mom was a Republican volunteer and my grandma was a Democratic one. That was back when Ds and Rs could still speak to each other.
Nowadays I wonder (only half facetiously) if I would be refused Communion if it was known that I voted for Biden.
DeleteI saw two separate mentions today (one was in the NY Times opinion page, can't remember where the 2nd one was) that ballots didn't arrive in the mail by election day. Not that the filled-in ballot wasn't delivered to the judges on time; but rather that the blank ballot didn't make it to the voter on time. One woman said that hers never arrived but her partner's did. I don't know how to discern whether that unreliability is malice or incompetence, but I feel less trusting than I did yesterday that vote by mail is bullet-proof. I'm going to vote in person again.
DeleteThe diocesan voters guide will be interesting this year, though I expect our bishop in his introduction to continue emphasizing abortion and gay marriage as the premiere issues for Catholics. There was no voters guide for the midterm election, but feeling among white Catholics in the diocese has been pretty anti-Trump on south-of-the-border immigration is concerned.
DeleteRambling off topic now: Before the pandemic, the local parish priest had an outreach going to Latino dairy farm and construction workers. Most of them are green card holders who speak little English and send money ome. I was pleasantly surprised when my fellow parishioners raised no objections to his activities. They weren't encouraging, exactly, but we have enough ethnic Latino families that nobody wanted to make waves about it, either. OK, that's my cue to stop thinking bad thoughts about the bishop and to message Father to see if he wants mittens or anything for these guys as winter approaches.
People are anti-immigrant until they get to thinking, "wait a minute, how are we going to get our produce and meat without them?"
DeleteJim said:
ReplyDelete"I have a hard time working up a sentimental attachment to voting in person... To make it even worse, a typical election here has many contests - way too many"
This is a good argument for voting online. I always find enough information online for all the obscure candidates; so why not just cast the vote right then and there instead of sending in a mail ballot or voting early at the courthouse or in person?
I have been reluctant to do a lot of things on line, e.g. banking because of security. This year for the first time I filed my federal and state income tax return electronically. Seemed much easier and quicker than mailing them. I got notification within hours that both had been accepted.
As for Tom's concerns about early voting, this year Covid could nullify the election even after election day. Pence or Harris could end up being president. Who knows what will happen if Covid nullifies either Biden or Trump or both before election day?
All I know is that I voted for Bernie early in the primary. I put up three Sanders signs on my corner lot. I took them down after primary day (the original one not the extended one) but I am keeping them. Some time after the inauguration depending upon circumstance I may just want to put them out again to remind everyone that there was another choice.
Well, one of my concerns came true. After I voted for his re-election, the sheriff made the front page by leasing (apparently with confiscated drug money) several thousand high-end feet in a high-end office building for several hundred thousand dollars to serve as his offices during a temporary remodeling of his offices at Trump Thirteenth Hole. The "temporary" remodeling seem to be planned to take four years.
DeleteI still would have voted for him. As I always said, he will do anything our community organization wants except talk to us. But still.
I live in Northern California and we have had the ability to vote by mail for many years now. In the beginning we had to have a reason to do so. But now, you can apply for ongoing mail-in ballots and I have voted that way for many years now as well. I live across the street from my voting place and still choose to vote by mail.
ReplyDeleteWell, having vowed to vote in person, applications for mail-in ballots arrived in the mail for all voters in our household. So I filled mine in and dropped it in the outgoing mail. It required nothing more than checking two boxes and signing it. We will see whether it arrives in plenty of time.
ReplyDelete