If you live somewhere that offers no-questions-asked mail-in voting, and your election commission gives you the option to automatically get mail ballots with each election, I would highly recommend doing this.
Earlier in the year a ballot just showed up in the mail. It was for the very local elections like school board, parks commissioner, stuff like that.
I almost certainly wouldn't have realized the election was even happening, but having the ballot in-hand made sure I voted in it.
@TechConnectify I love hearing how well people respond to this. As an Oregonian I've never voted any other way and seeing the alternatives I can't say I would ever want to.
@TechConnectify that’s how it works in Colorado, and I consider every state that doesn’t do this to be disenfranchising its citizens. Probably intentionally.
@TechConnectify pretty sure both myself and my wife have signed up to always mail us election ballots. I've been voting that way since the start of the pandemic, and it's a lot less stressful than having to go stand in line at a local school. We even save the postage by driving to the local election board site to drop off our ballots in the 24/7 monitored drop box, which is fairly close to home.
Toying with the idea of volunteering to be an election judge in the future, too.
@TechConnectify Although there certainly are people who argue against mail in voting because easier voting makes it harder to suppress certain voters there are also very legitimate arguments against it. In particular it weakens the secrecy of the ballot and the protection that provides against voter coercion. If you can't fix accessibility of in person voting (Including location, time off, identification, etc), then you are stuck with a trade off between coercion and suppression.
@TechConnectify its why I love living in Colorado. Though I only got a ballot because I am a registered voter. It’s not like they send ballots to every mailing address
@TechConnectify I love voting by mail and wouldn't object to it becoming universal, despite the fact that doing so would make my job as a poll worker obsolete. Regardless, I find it a sad state of affairs in this country that many citizens don't realize that elections happen annually (twice for those who vote in primaries). Anything to correct this lack of awareness and get citizens more involved is a plus in my book.
@TechConnectify Here in Oregon, mail voting is the only way to vote. They send you a ballot, and you fill it out. Then, you mail it in or drop it off at a drop-off site.
The other thing to keep in mind in today’s climate is to make sure you stay registered! Keeping voter registration is a complicated problem (e.g. preventing registration in another district while maintaining state and county autonomy), and no simple solution exists. Some level of purging is required (e.g. for deceased, etc) but lots of stories circulate about improper removals.
If you’re a mail-in voter you should check periodically to make sure you stay registered!
@TechConnectify same thing happened to me in east-central Florida. Learned about a contested town council seat via my automatic vote by mail, led to some interesting research on the candidates.
@TechConnectify In GA you have to submit an absentee application for EVERY election, and they've made it so you must print the PDF, sign it vs using a digital sig, then scan it and email it or mail it in, then wait weeks for processing.
Obvs, the GOP assholes running GA do NOT want people voting by mail, but I do it every time. No, they'd rather force you to wait in hours-long lines, in the sun, and they've made it a fucking crime to give anyone in line water or a snack.
Yes! I love vote by mail. Oregon was one of the first states to have automatic vote by mail, aka, vote at home. It happens automatically for all registered voters, no need to request a ballot sent by mail.
But there are now 8 states in the USA, plus Washington, DC, that have this kind of system.
Here's a good resource that shows which states in the US are more or less "vote-at-home friendly" -
@TechConnectify
Over here in Washington state, we all mail our votes in. That's the way we do it. It works very well.
Our elections aren't compromised, and we vote from the comfort of our homes.
The election pamphlets are mailed out shortly before the ballots. I gather any and all info about each candidate, with the ability to access my computer while I vote.
I can mail my ballot or use a drop box convenient to my house. I never wait in line.
“How can we overcome the difficulties presented by Illinois voting laws that vary by county to make sure all our voices are heard? Well, through the magic of voting twice …”
@TechConnectify@siracusa We had a library election this year where people who have generously run and served unopposed for years were suddenly faced with an organized attempt by a local extreme fundamentalist group to overturn the board and librarian.
Automatically receiving ballots is SO important if you live where it’s possible to set up.
@TechConnectify We do this here in California. You can never know whether you will be sick, or have a last minute business trip, or have a relative or friend with an emergency, etc. on the day of the election. Having an absentee ballot gives you the option of mailing it in at the last moment, or, if everything is ok and you want to, you can hand deliver it to your voting place on the day of the election. It gives you options. Great to have options!
@TechConnectify Interesting, over here in Austria everyone who is in the vote register gets a letter telling them they're in it and informing them of the election. In this letter there is a little letter one can send (and nowadays also a code to do it online) to register for mail-in voting and only then you get the mail-in ballot.
@TechConnectify Colorado has 100% mail in voting, and easy ballot drop off. I once messed up my signature and had to go through the verification steps, which were thorough but also not onerous.
@TechConnectify@drahardja I’ve had that happen several times here in Washington where all votes are by mail. But there are a few small elections (watershed board or something) that I needed to go request ballots for, which seemed weird.
@TechConnectify Really appreciate how Washington State does this. They even provide a pamphlet of candidate/issue statements that can give you a starting point of info to vote with. How this isn’t typical across the US is a disappointment to be reminded of when elections come around.
@TechConnectify living in California has spoiled me for voting. I get a thing in the mail. I have a month to fill it out. I’ve never felt better informed when making election decisions since I can now research every person and issue as I fill it out
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