How do you Vote?
Credit to Maya for sending me the image above. If you live in the US, and if you did not vote early, today is your chance. In California, all registered voters receive their ballots in the mail, and you can decide how to return them – secure ballot boxes, through the mail, or you can not use that ballot and go vote in person. I used to really enjoy voting in person…it felt like a community event, and seemed old fashioned and charming somehow. Now, I’ve been seduced by the ease and convenience of early voting. I used to vote by mail, but now that there are ballot boxes at the libraries and city hall, I drop my ballot there instead.
At the federal level, I’m so sick of our current administration. SO SICK OF ALL OF IT. I am hoping that elections for the Senate and the House will curb the Executive branch’s power. Beyond that, we have a lot of state offices, county judges, school board members, and then about 16 propositions, some of which are bonds for schools and housing and so on. Some have to do with election rules, funding, who gets to vote, and so on. I’ll tell you, it’s exhausting. I missed voting once, when I was in college because I was tired and didn’t want to go to my local voting place before work. It was a small election, June, just primaries and local stuff, but the guilt of not having voted really got to me, so I never made that mistake again.
Don’t be like young J, get out there and have your say.
21 Comments
nance
Upon retirement, I discovered the ease of Early Voting In Person. I go to our county’s Board of Elections about 10 minutes away and vote there, often within the first few days of Early Voting. Before then, I went to vote immediately after school, kids in tow. I cannot remember the last time I didn’t/wasn’t able to vote. Voting feels empowering to me, always.
Ohio is so horrifically gerrymandered that we have almost no hope of truly electing the politicians we vote for. This state has become so corrupt and so ignorant that I almost cannot stand it. When Texas looks better by comparison, you know it’s bad here.
There is a terrific column in today’s New York Times written by Ken Burns. It describes just how far we’ve fallen as a country, and it identifies this moment as one of four major crises in our history. Here is a link, which supposedly anyone can read, thanks to my subscription: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/11/03/opinion/midterm-elections-politics-ken-burns.html?unlocked_article_code=1.NlE.EJqd.CyiGBd6OLE2y&smid=url-share
J
Thanks for the link, I saw that article this morning and am looking forward to reading it. I agree with you, voting feels empowering, and it is truly our greatest power in this country.
StephLove
We get our municipal ballots separately. They get mailed to everyone and you can mail them back or put them in a drop box. (I used the drop box about a week ago.)
For everything else, I usually vote in person on Election Day. I do like the community feeling you get from doing it that way. I am dressed all in blue today (blue turtleneck, demin skirt and blue socks) for luck. Fingers crossed!
J
I generally vote early, as I said. But there are risks both ways. If something happens to your candidate in the days prior to the election, and it’s a close race, you won’t have your say. If you wait to vote on Election Day and you are too sick or something, then you won’t have your say.
AC
Voting here is not onerous. The lines are not long, and they move quickly. Of course, our votes just require one X in one spot. We make our X and move on.
J
Wait, ONE X? You don’t vote for a whole bunch of things all at once? We have SO MANY things to vote on, and they sometimes contradict each other. So we might get a measure to support project X, and another measure to PAY for project X, and thus we can get unfunded projects, which is DUMB. California is DUMB.
ccr in MA
One thing Florida does right is that anyone can request a mail-in ballot, you don’t have to give a reason. I get them for both of us for every election, in case Mom is having a health issue that makes it hard to go in person. Once we’ve figured out our votes, I drop them in the box at early voting. It’s sad that I don’t trust the Post Office anymore for this, but I don’t! I already got the email that my vote has been counted, which is a relief. Two sets of votes for all blue.
J
I trust our postal service, but at the same time, it’s just as convenient to drop ballots in the ballot box, so I just do that. I love that it is so much easier to vote than it used to be!
NGS
There is NOTHING I love more than Election Day at the polls. I was there at 7:30 this morning voting in person. I am almost gleeful when I go in there. There were very short lines and I was in and out in seven minutes. I even had time to stop and get an iced coffee on the way to work.
Here’s a story. I lived in MInnesota when Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash. He was the incumbent US Senator and would have won reelection in a landslide. Well, everyone who voted early for Wellstone? Their votes didn’t count. I know refuse to vote early or absentee unless there is no other choice (and I do understand that there is no other choice for many people – I voted absentee in the height of the pandemic).
I mean, I love GOING to the polls, too, so it’s not a hardship for me.
J
Yeah, I think about that, about losing my vote because of someone dying or whatever. On the other side, I think about what if I were to get really sick and couldn’t make it? So I tend to vote early, but not super early. That’s how I try to balance it for myself.
I love how much you love going to the polls!
Steve
What? You get all your ballots my mail? That’s… that’s… oh, the scandal! Why you’re… you’re… you’re just copying you’re stylish and progressive neighbors to the north, that’s what it is! Going and making voting easy, accessible and convenient for people. Pfffff.
Copycats.
But seriously, vote.
However you do it, however you have to, for whomever you see fit, just let your voice be heard, it’s too important not to.
Steve
*your* neighbors. Frell.
J
I hate a typo when I am commenting on someone else’s blog. We’ve all done it, when our fingers are faster than our brains, or when stupid autocorrect messes us up. No judgement.
J
I am more than happy to copy any good idea out there! Or out their! 😉
Sarah
I am a day-of voter– it;s so lovely and gives me that America feeling. All 3 other voting mebers of my house did early in person, which is not as festive.
J
I think if I’m going to do in person, I want it to be day of! But really, I love that there are so many options, so people can do what works for them.
Michelle G.
I voted by mail, and I love being able to vote that way. We also have options to drop off our completed ballots at the courthouse, or to go to the polls in-person. I always got nervous at the polls, feeling like people were waiting for me to finish, worrying that I’d make a mistake and mark the wrong circle – like I was taking a test! Yet there is something powerful about showing up to vote in person.
J
Voting in person feels more REAL somehow. I mean, I don’t do it, but it does feel more solid for some reason.
DB Stewart
That image says it all! 10/10 votes for Maya (and for the change you seek).
J
AMEN.
Suzanne
We voted early, as is our tendency of late. The polling location for our current house is kind of far away, and not on the way to anything, so it would be a real challenge slash pain in the ass to get to on election day. Plus, when we go early, we can take our daughter. I love that she gets to be part of the voting experience, and I hope it sticks with her when she’s old enough to cast her own vote.