2020 Election

Old Oct 13th 2020, 11:13 pm
  #4591  
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Default Re: 2020 Election

Originally Posted by HDWill
"U.S. Appeals Court Sides With Texas On One-Per-County Ballot Drop-Off"


Can someone help me understand why this is a big deal? With mail-in voting, you but the ballot in the mail, so there are thousands of "ballot drop-offs" in every county.

Is the issue that many counties do not send postage-paid envelopes with the ballots? So voters have to pay for postage?
People don’t trust the mails (especially after the recent machinations involving removing mail boxes) so they prefer to place their ballot in a box set up just for the purpose of receiving ballots. I used just such a box at my town hall to drop off my ballot.
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Old Oct 13th 2020, 11:21 pm
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Default Re: 2020 Election

Originally Posted by Nutmegger
People don’t trust the mails (especially after the recent machinations involving removing mail boxes) so they prefer to place their ballot in a box set up just for the purpose of receiving ballots. I used just such a box at my town hall to drop off my ballot.
As someone who worked as a postal clerk for a few months (in the US military), I know that the USPS is highly automated and efficient in sorting mail. Also the system has a ton of excess capacity, since first class mail volumes are way down from their peak fifteen years ago.

I did just realize however that a non-postal drop box would allow voters to drop off their ballots on election day, rather than 1-2 days prior.
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Old Oct 13th 2020, 11:40 pm
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Default Re: 2020 Election

Originally Posted by HDWill
As someone who worked as a postal clerk for a few months (in the US military), I know that the USPS is highly automated and efficient in sorting mail. Also the system has a ton of excess capacity, since first class mail volumes are way down from their peak fifteen years ago.

I did just realize however that a non-postal drop box would allow voters to drop off their ballots on election day, rather than 1-2 days prior.
Trump’s postmaster general has instituted changes that have created widespread delays and mailboxes have been removed in places where it could adversely affect less advantaged voters’ ability to utilize the mail in voting service.
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Old Oct 13th 2020, 11:54 pm
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Default Re: 2020 Election

Originally Posted by Nutmegger
Trump’s postmaster general has instituted changes that have created widespread delays and mailboxes have been removed in places where it could adversely affect less advantaged voters’ ability to utilize the mail in voting service.
I'm honestly not that sympathetic. Absentee voting obviously takes more planning and forethought than voting in person. No one can just wake up on election day and say, "I want to vote absentee."

USPS is not quite as fast as it was a decade ago, because some of the regional sorting centers have been shut down (mail volume is like 50% of what it was a decade ago). But mailed ballots are only going 50-100 miles, not across the country. If you can't get your act together to mail a ballot at least a couple days before election day, again I'm not that sympathetic.
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Old Oct 14th 2020, 12:09 am
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Default Re: 2020 Election

Originally Posted by HDWill
I'm honestly not that sympathetic. Absentee voting obviously takes more planning and forethought than voting in person. No one can just wake up on election day and say, "I want to vote absentee."

USPS is not quite as fast as it was a decade ago, because some of the regional sorting centers have been shut down (mail volume is like 50% of what it was a decade ago). But mailed ballots are only going 50-100 miles, not across the country. If you can't get your act together to mail a ballot at least a couple days before election day, again I'm not that sympathetic.
You are missing the point I suggest you google and read up on the topic.
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Old Oct 14th 2020, 1:40 am
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Default Re: 2020 Election

How many of your states/counties have tracking of your ballots?

My county in California, I can check online and it will tell be when the ballot is received, and if it was counted, I can also fax in my ballot which is what I did this year. Too many delays with Canada Post this year, and adding in 2 postal systems increases delays, it took 4 weeks for a card to get from BC to California, where normally it takes about 10-12 days.
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Old Oct 14th 2020, 2:03 am
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Default Re: 2020 Election

Originally Posted by Jsmth321
How many of your states/counties have tracking of your ballots?

My county in California, I can check online and it will tell be when the ballot is received, and if it was counted, I can also fax in my ballot which is what I did this year. Too many delays with Canada Post this year, and adding in 2 postal systems increases delays, it took 4 weeks for a card to get from BC to California, where normally it takes about 10-12 days.
AZ let's you track just about everything - mailed out to you; received from you; processed as valid; and ... finally ... counted. But - I still haven't received my ballot; they were supposed to send it out Thursday and it's being mailed to my place in northern CA. Eagerly looking out for it ...
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Old Oct 14th 2020, 2:28 am
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Default Re: 2020 Election

Originally Posted by Jsmth321
How many of your states/counties have tracking of your ballots?

My county in California, I can check online and it will tell be when the ballot is received, and if it was counted, I can also fax in my ballot which is what I did this year. Too many delays with Canada Post this year, and adding in 2 postal systems increases delays, it took 4 weeks for a card to get from BC to California, where normally it takes about 10-12 days.
I can go into our county's online voter system and pull up all sorts of info, marginally worrying in that all I need is my first and last name and DOB and confirm that I'm not a robot (with a very basic captcha that involves nothing more than checking a box to say that I'm not a robot!), so anyone can pretty much access anyone else's info with very little data about them.
Anyone accessing my info can see my address and party affiliation. If they go into the previous elections section they can see that I voted in person for the presidential preference primary, that I mailed in my 2020 primary election ballot, and that it shows as having been counted. And by clicking on 'upcoming elections' they can see that I have voted by mail with one ballot, a fancy little arrow type numbered bar shows that my ballot was requested, sent and received, and is awaiting the fourth bar to be highlighted as counted. It tells me below the indicator bar that my ballot was received (at the elections office, which is where I took it as early voting centers aren't open yet) on Wednesday 7th October.
There is a section of 'important dates'. As below...
Election Day
Tuesday, November 3, 2020
Registration Closes
Tuesday, October 6, 2020
Early Voting Begins
Monday, October 19, 2020
Early Voting Ends
Sunday, November 1, 2020

....and below that a lovely picture of my local polling station (should I have chosen to vote in person on election day) complete with the address and date of the election.

Our county has been held up as an example as to how an elections office in Florida should be run, they even managed to successfully avoid the Florida fiasco of 2000 and had the rest of Florida taken note of the Supervisor's recommendations in 1999 they too could have avoided the mess that followed.
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Old Oct 14th 2020, 9:38 am
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Default Re: 2020 Election

Originally Posted by Nutmegger
You are missing the point I suggest you google and read up on the topic.
I read that Trump's postmaster has eliminated overtime for postal workers. The article also mentioned mail volume is down due to the economic slowdown. Even a big surge in mail-in ballots (spread out over several weeks) is a tiny percentage of what the USPS handles on a daily basis in terms of first-class and junk mail. Could mail be slower by one day in many cases? Sure.
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Old Oct 14th 2020, 10:50 am
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Default Re: 2020 Election

Long queues for early voting in places. 7 - 11 hours noted. Why? Part of it must be a lack of actual booths when you get inside. Voting for the President, plus a Senator or Congress rep or two if they're up this year doesn't take long. If you have to vote for judges it can take quite a while. I had pages of them and if you do any background work on them at all you do have a lot of names to wade through in larger areas anyway. Still, there's no excuse for such long waits.

https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54532189


https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...box=1602591858

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Old Oct 14th 2020, 11:04 am
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Default Re: 2020 Election

Originally Posted by Lion in Winter
Long queues for early voting in places. 7 - 11 hours noted. Why? Part of it must be a lack of actual booths when you get inside. Voting for the President, plus a Senator or Congress rep or two if they're up this year doesn't take long. If you have to vote for judges it can take quite a while. I had pages of them and if you do any background work on them at all you do have a lot of names to wade through in larger areas anyway. Still, there's no excuse for such long waits.
I'm guessing there's often only one location to vote early in person, even in large counties. So if thousands of people decide to do it on the first day, I can imagine the queues.
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Old Oct 14th 2020, 11:36 am
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Default Re: 2020 Election

Originally Posted by zzrmark
I can go into our county's online voter system and pull up all sorts of info, marginally worrying in that all I need is my first and last name and DOB and confirm that I'm not a robot (with a very basic captcha that involves nothing more than checking a box to say that I'm not a robot!), so anyone can pretty much access anyone else's info with very little data about them.
Anyone accessing my info can see my address and party affiliation. If they go into the previous elections section they can see that I voted in person for the presidential preference primary, that I mailed in my 2020 primary election ballot, and that it shows as having been counted. And by clicking on 'upcoming elections' they can see that I have voted by mail with one ballot, a fancy little arrow type numbered bar shows that my ballot was requested, sent and received, and is awaiting the fourth bar to be highlighted as counted. It tells me below the indicator bar that my ballot was received (at the elections office, which is where I took it as early voting centers aren't open yet) on Wednesday 7th October.
There is a section of 'important dates'. As below...
Election Day
Tuesday, November 3, 2020
Registration Closes
Tuesday, October 6, 2020
Early Voting Begins
Monday, October 19, 2020
Early Voting Ends
Sunday, November 1, 2020

....and below that a lovely picture of my local polling station (should I have chosen to vote in person on election day) complete with the address and date of the election.

Our county has been held up as an example as to how an elections office in Florida should be run, they even managed to successfully avoid the Florida fiasco of 2000 and had the rest of Florida taken note of the Supervisor's recommendations in 1999 they too could have avoided the mess that followed.
Exactly the same system here. Next door county so not a big surprise.
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Old Oct 14th 2020, 12:44 pm
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Default Re: 2020 Election

My small county of 20,000 people has gone from 5 polling places to 1 this year. Delays will abundant if this is true everywhere. I shall be heading over after work on Thursday to vote early.

In GA we are becoming know for poorly managed election days.
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Old Oct 14th 2020, 12:58 pm
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Default Re: 2020 Election

Originally Posted by civilservant
My small county of 20,000 people has gone from 5 polling places to 1 this year. Delays will abundant if this is true everywhere. I shall be heading over after work on Thursday to vote early.

In GA we are becoming know for poorly managed election days.
I suppose the main point of early voting in person is to benefit people who have inflexible jobs etc who just can't get away to vote on election day. So if you vote early just because you're really eager to vote, you could potentially make it harder for others (by adding to a long queue) who really need to vote early. But maybe there are some places where voting early is usually faster than voting on election day?
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Old Oct 14th 2020, 1:01 pm
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Default Re: 2020 Election

Personally I think if you can vote early you should. What happens if your car breaks down on election day? Or your kid is sick? Or a tropical storm is coming through? Or a pipe bursts?

Leaving voting to one day only is limiting the franchise IMO.

Here is GA it's 2 weeks of M-F and one Saturday. Plenty of time.
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