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US Elections Voting stories

ygolo

My termites win
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Aug 6, 2007
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Could you vote early without an excuse?

How long did you, will you have to stand in line?

Did people pay attention to COVID-19 concerns?

In California, my wife and I were both able to track our ballots and see that they were received.
 

Tater

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I sent my ballot in via mail. Zero problems. I even had a change of address and they automatically populated a ballot for me the moment I informed the MVD.
 

Lexicon

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Could you vote early without an excuse?

Yep; absentee ballot.

How long did you, will you have to stand in line?

Due to Covid-19 risks, I sent mine through the mail— just dropped it in standard blue USPS box near a local pharmacy I was at. No line.

Did people pay attention to COVID-19 concerns?

No idea what other people are doing. I don’t pay attention/engage/leave my house much.

In California, my wife and I were both able to track our ballots and see that they were received.

Same for me in NH. No problems at all.
 

Totenkindly

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Maryland, in the county outside of Baltimore City.

Anyone can vote early, there are multiple places in the county where you can just show up randomly the week before November 3 from 7am-8pm or so, in order to vote. You can pick any location on the list. (Also, anyone who wanted could submit for a mail ballot some weeks ago, up until Oct 20.)

I went to the place where I normally vote early (a community center on its own pocket of land). The line stretched visibly a far distance, but mainly due to COVID distancing, so it moved more quickly than it might have looked. People all wore masks and stood about 6' between groups on their own. Distancing was more officially enforced (with floor markings) in the actual building. THe clerks all wore gloves. We entered through one door and exited through a different one.

There was also a huge official drop off box outside the building for people delivering their mail ballot by hand. For people who have not seen them, at least in my state they are huge -- they reminded me of the size of the mall photo-booths you could pile into with your friends to get a 4-shot strip of photos. So it's not like they are getting stolen.

We could choose paper or electronic voting once we checked in. Electronic voting allowed you to review on the touchscreen + printed a paper ballot with all of your choices clearly listed, to confirm the proper vote was registered.

I got through the entire process (joining the line, exiting the building) in about 40 minutes, which is reasonable and typical of the non-COVID process. Others reported the same. Someone who went close to closing time last night reported no line, but it was drizzly all day and colder than earlier in the week.

I have friends who did mail in ballots and they were all able to use an online page to track the receipt of their ballots.




It was no comparison to the issues I saw in Georgia for early vote, with people in line for hours depending on location.
 

tinker683

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St. Augustine, FL

The day my wife and I got our ballots in the mail, we filled them out, put them in the envelope, and drove them down to hand deliver them to the Supervisor of Elections office. Checked online a few days later, saw that the ballots had been received and counted.

For my part, completely painless and effortless.
 

ceecee

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Could you vote early without an excuse? Yes, absentee

How long did you, will you have to stand in line? Didn't.

Did people pay attention to COVID-19 concerns? Everyone at the township hall was masked.

In Michigan, county west of Lansing. We got our ballots on 9/20, filled them out and handed them directly to the clerk. I checked online and the ballot was received and recorded as of 9/21.

As a state delegate, I used an app called Votez. It was very secure and very easy - I had to enter a 6 digit pin for each step I made. I hope this is the future of voting.
 

The Cat

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Absentee Ballot. Went down to hand deliver on the first day of early voting.
 

Jaguar

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I mailed my ballot Oct 7 (no excuse needed) and I got an email confirming its receipt in under 24 hours.
 

Stigmata

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Could you vote early without an excuse??

Yep. Process was very easy. Walked in, scanned my license, and directed me to a booth.

How long did you, will you have to stand in line?

There was no line. I waited until a week after the start of early voting to let the crowds die down a bit first.

Did people pay attention to COVID-19 concerns?

Yes. There were enforced social distancing measure in-place, as well as a mask requirement to enter.
 

Red Memories

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Could you vote early without an excuse?: Yes.

How long did you, will you have to stand in line?: I did early voting, and I am glad I arrived early because a lot of people showed up and there was a line. They had a lot of people though and a lot of electronic polling stations.

Did people pay attention to COVID-19 concerns?: I'm gonna say 50/50. I did what I needed to do. I even shared my hand sanitizer with someone, considering I carry it around all the time, because the sanitizer wasn't in a super obvious place... *sigh* but my county has fought a lot of the restrictions and didn't place many to begin with.

both my mom and grandpa mailed in their ballots. I don't think they tracked theirs. If they did have tracking, they didn't make it obvious how to search for it. Keep in mind Idaho is super red.
 

ceecee

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Could you vote early without an excuse?: Yes.

How long did you, will you have to stand in line?: I did early voting, and I am glad I arrived early because a lot of people showed up and there was a line. They had a lot of people though and a lot of electronic polling stations.

Did people pay attention to COVID-19 concerns?: I'm gonna say 50/50. I did what I needed to do. I even shared my hand sanitizer with someone, considering I carry it around all the time, because the sanitizer wasn't in a super obvious place... *sigh* but my county has fought a lot of the restrictions and didn't place many to begin with.

both my mom and grandpa mailed in their ballots. I don't think they tracked theirs. If they did have tracking, they didn't make it obvious how to search for it. Keep in mind Idaho is super red.

Search for My Voter Record
 

Coriolis

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Could you vote early without an excuse?

How long did you, will you have to stand in line?

Did people pay attention to COVID-19 concerns?

In California, my wife and I were both able to track our ballots and see that they were received.
In my state, we have always been able to vote absentee without excuse. I did so this year - requested an absentee ballot, and returned the completed ballot in person to the dropbox at my county board of elections. I would have done this even if we were not in a pandemic situation because I usually volunteer on election day, and prefer not to have to fit in my own voting on that day.
 

chickpea

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i was going to vote in person on election day like i always do (my polling place is usually pretty dead, plus i'm around people all day so i'm not too concerned about exposure), but i got a ballot in the mail so i figured why not. i just dropped it off today at a designated vote drop box. i've seen people get confirmation when their ballot is processed so we'll see how long it takes.
 

Lexicon

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In case the OP is curious how it’s going state by state, I can also make a note for Massachusetts.

I popped my grandmother’s absentee ballot in a USPS blue mailbox last night for her when I was leaving her town in MA. I checked her ballot status online & it’s already been accepted. Surprised it got over there that fast.
 

SD45T-2

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Could you vote early without an excuse?
Yep.

How long did you, will you have to stand in line?
No line really, just walked in, got pointed to the box, and dropped the ballot in.

Did people pay attention to COVID-19 concerns?
As far as I could tell. There were mostly just workers at the polling place. :shrug:

In California, my wife and I were both able to track our ballots and see that they were received.
I'm in California too. My mom and I decided to go in person to put our mail in ballots in the blue bag. They're being taken to the county election office tonight.
 

ygolo

My termites win
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I'm glad things are generally going well so far.

My nightmare scenario was lots of shenanigans messing with people's confidence in the election system, and having a civil war start in a couple days.

I have no contingency plan for this scenario, just vague notions of crossing the border into Canada (I guess it would be illegal), and asking for refugee status. :cry:
 

ceecee

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thank you XD I'll have to pass this on to them, especially since my mom has been paranoid about whether or not hers got there (she's always like that though. Like when she mails her welfare papers she's worries they get lost and etc.)

It's kind of like - all politicians are thieves and sociopaths! which is something I hear frequently. That's simply not true just like living in a red state isn't a guarantee that basic adherence to public information laws is going to be ignored. Food for thought.
 

chickpea

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my vote hasn’t been tracked yet, now i’m regretting not voting in person! maybe they threw it in the trash!!! :cry:
 
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