I voted yesterday... No Political statements just asking about the method you chose on casting your ballot.

[disney212]

Kentucky via email in but dropped it off in a official drop box, checked online that it was received in good order.

 

[JimMIA]

I think the key is that it would have to go into a provisional ballot envelope and can't simply be tossed into a ballot box where it will be counted.

That's another one of those details that probably varies greatly from state to state, and even from county to county.

For example, in my county, the mail ballot envelop has a barcode, and places for you to write your contact info in case there is a problem with the signature. The signature block itself crosses over the seal of the envelope. Inside there is a folder that the ballot goes into, and the ballot itself is an optical scan ballot -- in my case, four pages.

Something printed at home clearly would not work here. Whether it would work wherever you are, I have no idea.

If you lost your mail ballot, there is probably time to get a replacement, or vote early in-person, or vote in-person on election day.

 

[bcla]

That's another one of those details that probably varies greatly from state to state, and even from county to county.

For example, in my county, the mail ballot envelop has a barcode, and places for you to write your contact info in case there is a problem with the signature. The signature block itself crosses over the seal of the envelope. Inside there is a folder that the ballot goes into, and the ballot itself is an optical scan ballot -- in my case, four pages.

Something printed at home clearly would not work here. Whether it would work wherever you are, I have no idea.

If you lost your mail ballot, there is probably time to get a replacement, or vote early in-person, or vote in-person on election day.

That's more or less the way it works in my state with mail-in ballots. I don't think there's a privacy sleeve though. This is the best example I can find - I believe from San Diego County. It's obviously a sample and not a real ballot. The markings are from a party group as this photo was used for an example of how to fill out the envelope.

I don't know exactly what the rules were with the sample ballots being tossed into provisional envelopes. However, they were exact copies of the actual ballot other than being on blue paper, folded, and thinner than the thick paper (almost card stock) used for regular ballots. But it was pretty obvious they didn't just go into a machine to be counted. I could imagine that a complete list could be done the same way, but who knows. They just gave that opportunity to anyone with an official sample ballot. I was thinking a PDF could be printed out and then counted like they do overseas/military ballots that are emailed/FAX'ed.

We did have an interesting issue here in California where someone likely set a ballot box on fire in Los Angeles County. A few voters proactively called the registrar and arranged to get a new ballot and have theirs invalidated.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-10-20/ballot-box-fire-registrar-sorting-through-votes
I've been having a problem checking my registration so I called my county registrar. They could verify my registration even though the county website doesn't have any info. I was told there were technical issues but I was registered. I also asked about whether or not I needed my mail-in ballot if voting in person. I was told it was fine as they would check to see if my mail-in ballot was received. It it wasn't, they allow me to vote, then mark me down as having voted. If I did send in the mail-in ballot then I could be charged with a crime for voting twice.

We don't even need ID here in California. It would be stupid for anyone to impersonate another voter since these sites all have security cameras.

 

[MrsPete]

Until this year I've always slogged in with the masses on "the day", but -- having had a great experience this year -- I'll never do it again.

I ordered an absentee ballot, filled it out at home, and dropped it off in person at an early voting location (2 miles from my house). Early voting seems to be a little easier because you don't have to order the absentee ballot. Benefits:

- I walked right in /no waiting at all to turn in my envelope. I see that early voters had the same benefit - I went mid-day on a Saturday.
- I didn't have to "run the gauntlet" and get past the annoying people who want to tell me about their candidates.
- I took my time filling out my ballot /was able to research candidates at my leisure.
- If I were to be sick or somehow detained on "the day", I wouldn't miss my chance to vote.

I never thought of it this way before, but I see now that voting on "the day" is really kinda like "last chance to vote" day. As I said, I'll never vote on the actual election day again.

 

[TLSnell1981]

In person!

 

[aggiedog]

Texas has early voting at one location per county from Oct 14-30, and one monitored ballot drop box per county. On Nov 3, there will be one location per voting district in every county (our county has 5 I think?). So early voting has fewer options for locations, but more days available. Nov 3 voting has more locations, but just that one day.

 

[bcla]

Texas has early voting at one location per county from Oct 14-30, and one monitored ballot drop box per county. On Nov 3, there will be one location per voting district in every county (our county has 5 I think?). So early voting has fewer options for locations, but more days available. Nov 3 voting has more locations, but just that one day.

The one drop location per county has been in the news lately. I'll just leave it at that. Still - I understand that only a fraction of eligible voters qualify anyways for vote by mail.

Our early voting locations are rather limited. However, we've had pretty high vote by mail numbers historically and of course this years it's vote by mail ballots sent to every active registered voter.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Texas has early voting at one location per county from Oct 14-30, and one monitored ballot drop box per county. On Nov 3, there will be one location per voting district in every county (our county has 5 I think?). So early voting has fewer options for locations, but more days available. Nov 3 voting has more locations, but just that one day.

One drop box per county is correct, but the counties may have multiple early voting locations. Harris County has tripled early voting sites this year to 122 early voting locations and 10 of them are drive up voting. In Texas, you need an excuse to use the mail voting. And excuses are being over 65, being disabled or ill, being in jail but not convicted of a felony, or being out of the county.

 

[aggiedog]

That makes sense. We live in a small, rural county. But I'd say that there are more election day polling places in all counties?

 

[goofyernmost]

I wish there were a way to stop the political ads and phone calls as soon as we vote. That would guarantee everyone votes early!

FWIW, DH and I have voted by mail for years and years.

I'd vote for that!!!!

 

[JimMIA]

So far in Miami-Dade County, more than 85,000 people voted early...on Monday and Tuesday alone. Today's numbers have not been posted yet.

 

[cleverclovers]

Ohio. Took my 90 year old parents over to the Board of Elections and we all voted in person. Last Spring the polls were closed down the night before voting. Not taking that chance again.

 

[KayMichigan]

Michigan. Filled out my absentee ballot and drove to the clerk's office just up the street and dropped it into the slot in the wall for election materials. Checked online and it's been marked as received. So I'm all set!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Oh good, I'm glad you're a Florida voter because I have a question. I don't know how it is for you in your area of FL, but on our ballot in my area are questions about FL Supreme Court judges and District Court of Appeal judges. They're usually "Should Judge (name) be retained in office?"
Now I don't know about you, but when I get to this part of the ballot, I'm always like " I guess?"
Is there a way to determine if these judges should be retained or not? I figure if they're not in the news they must be doing an okay job?
I never know how to vote for these so I just select 'yes' for all of them.

Here (Illinois/Cook County) there are several judge rating organizations. Most judges are a retain-yes/no vote. A few others are running against an opponent. There were 79 entries to deal with this voting period. Of the yes/no ones, there were about 5 no's. I know nothing about any of the judges but do rely on these evaluating bodies. Most of them agree on most of the judges. Each voting time, there are a few discrepancies between the evaluations. I then go with the majority. I do put time in to make an 'assisted' vote on the many judges.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Email received earlier today........

DANIEL MURPHY: We have received your voted ballot. However, no ballots are counted until Election Day when all ballot types are tallied. Thank you for participating in our democracy. If you wish to vote by mail in a future election, please apply at cookcountyclerk.com/votebymail Sincerely,
Cook County Clerk's Office Mail Ballot Team

 

[crazylady]

We voted by mail for the first time. I prefer to vote on election day so I will go back to that next year.

My mom is almost 80. She just told me that when she was a little girl, her basement was a polling place. She said it was her favorite day of the year. She liked waking up to the coffee brewing and hearing the volunteers in the basement and she like all the activity at the house all day. She said at the end of the the day she and her dad would just pick up the ballet bags and throw them in the car to drive them to city hall to be counted. It's crazy to me to think that's how they used to do things.

 

[low-key]

I am a game day voter

 

[kymom99]

We voted by mail for the first time. I prefer to vote on election day so I will go back to that next year.

My mom is almost 80. She just told me that when she was a little girl, her basement was a polling place. She said it was her favorite day of the year. She liked waking up to the coffee brewing and hearing the volunteers in the basement and she like all the activity at the house all day. She said at the end of the the day she and her dad would just pick up the ballet bags and throw them in the car to drive them to city hall to be counted. It's crazy to me to think that's how they used to do things.

Back in the early 90s I voted in someone’s basement.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

That's more or less the way it works in my state with mail-in ballots. I don't think there's a privacy sleeve though. This is the best example I can find - I believe from San Diego County. It's obviously a sample and not a real ballot. The markings are from a party group as this photo was used for an example of how to fill out the envelope.

in Florida, all that is vertical on the back of the envelope, so when you sign your signature, it goes over the envelope and the flap; I guess so that if it's tampered with, it is noticeable (supposedly).

 

[violina]

California, mail-in and dropped it off at an official ballot box.

Though my county (state, even?) switched entirely to mail in for this election. I had applied to be mail-in permanently last year.