What’s your voting plan?

[shakinros]

Hi WP’s. Brought to you by last night’s debate... who has already voted? Who’s planning to go to the polls on 11/3?

I’m in a state with full mail-in voting. DH and I put our ballots in the secure drop box a couple weeks ago and got our postcard that they’ve been received by the County Board of Elections. Nothing left for us to do but stress!

[mommyatty]

I am the only member of my family who hasn’t already voted. I plan to. I think I’m going to try to go on Sunday. According to our elections people, that’s historically the day with the shortest lines. Our county has a tool that shows anticipated wait times at each polling location, which is really nice.

[mustardseed2007]

I already voted. I'm in Texas and I voted in person.

ETA: It was very in and out. It was a Saturday afternoon. So glad I'm done. 

[waverly]

I did mail in voting this year. I dropped it off about 2 weeks ago, and 1 week ago got the email that it was received.

Early voting lines here have been pretty long. About 40 minutes where I live and 90 minutes where I work. Some places I heard people waited 4 hours. Lots of elderly people standing with their walkers. We feel bad for them but there is nothing we can do. It’s all up to the county election board.

[twinmomma]

I already voted. Got my absentee ballot and filled it out with the kids so we could talk through all the jobs. Instead of mailing it in I dropped it off at town hall. We have a big tent set up for absentee voting and drop off. We don't have official early voting, just absentee ballots with COVID concerns as a valid reason this year.

[k3am]

We voted a few weeks ago and it’s been received and counted. I wish there was a button I could press so I could stop having to watch and receive political advertising.

I think they should stop with the debates. There are exactly zero people who are on the fence about whether they should vote for Trump or Biden. Zero.

[librarychica]

I usually vote by mail and trust it but I feel ... twitchy ... this year. So I am going to vote early in person Monday morning. I’m in Florida.

[mae0111]

DH and I already voted. Our state has early voting and our town shut down more than 1/2 of the polling stations, so I wanted to get it done.

[polecat8]

I requested an absentee ballot since I'll be working the polls on election day. Instead of mailing it back, I dropped it off at one of the county election drop-off sites last weekend.

Now I just have to give DH some time this weekend to get his voting done. He'll have to go to one of the county satellite sites and register for a mail in ballot. He'll received the ballot there so he can fill it out and submit it immediately.

I'm nervous about working the polls on election day. I really hope people can be civil and complete their votes at my site without incident. We are already at a disadvantage with new voting machines and procedures.

[mrsGreeko]

I live in a state that has full mail in voting and has for years. I dropped my ballot off last night (I don’t usually mail it in because I live near like 4 drop boxes and I never know how many stamps it’s going to take so it is easier to drop off) because I think they stop bugging you via text/phone once your ballot is in and I was so freakin over the barrage of texts every day. Blocking all those numbers was getting irritating.

[sandandsea]

I voted by mail a couple of weeks ago and it’s been received and counted also. I’ve voted by mail since moving to CA in the early 2000s.

[mommyatty]

Re: political ads. I’m in Texas and I’m THRILLED at the wall to wall political ads because it proves we are in play. And I’m glad the NRCC is having to spend money here. We used to rarely see ads outside of Republican primary time. I know that’s weird, but my heart sang the first time I saw an ad that basically said “This asshole doesn’t support women’s rights. Screw him!” You wouldn’t have dreamed of seeing that 4 years ago.

[mellym]

mommyatty, love it! There is something about being in a swing state and I'm equally excited for Texas.

I'm voting next week when our in person early voting starts. We don't have mail in voting yet.

[twinmomma]

mommyatty, I feel the same way during primary season. It's really fun to see all the candidates come through our state.

[supertrooper1]

I plan on sitting down with my ballot this weekend. I'm in a full mail in state.

[sdlaura]

I already voted. I always vote by mail, but this year instead of mailing my ballot, I dropped it in the staffed drop box at the YMCA.

I’ve always mostly voted for one party, but this year I diverged a bit by voting for school board members in favor of fully reopening schools, rather then voting more by party. Technically all school board members are nonpartisan but it’s clear how they lean.

[shakinros]

Way to get it done, WP’s!

The only thing I miss about living in a swing state is the feeling that my vote really matters. There were no competitive races on my NJ ballot. However, we live outside Philly, so all I have to do is turn on the TV to be reminded how much it stinks to be bombarded with political ads! DD has learned a lot this year about how all political ads are full of lies lol.

[mommyatty]

I voted today while it was suddenly cold and rainy. In and out in 11 minutes!

[waverly]

shakinros maybe there were some local issues that were of importance. We had a school referendum on ours. They paid off a bond and want to get a new one.

[callmekd]

We voted via absentee/in person yesterday. We waited about 20 minutes.

[k3am]

I saw my first pro-Trump poster locally today. The first in either election.

[vasc]

I voted in person last Monday. Stood in line three hours to do it. 😡😡

[k3am]

I would really appreciate if Biden could put out an ad that lists a SINGLE reason people should vote for him besides the fact that he’s not Trump.

[waverly]

Oct 25, 2020 12:04:20 GMT -5 k3am said:

I would really appreciate if Biden could put out an ad that lists a SINGLE reason people should vote for him besides the fact that he’s not Trump.

The best part of the election being over is the political ads being over with. Since I normally stream I don’t see them as much but watching some of the other channels it was vote yes for (state) tax change followed by vote no then yes again. Of course neither ad actually explains the tax question.

That being said do the ads actually change how people vote? I guess maybe....

I feel like some people have written off CA and other states since they are not swing states.

[k3am]

Oct 25, 2020 13:24:53 GMT -5 waverly said:

Oct 25, 2020 12:04:20 GMT -5 k3am said:

I would really appreciate if Biden could put out an ad that lists a SINGLE reason people should vote for him besides the fact that he’s not Trump.

The best part of the election being over is the political ads being over with. Since I normally stream I don’t see them as much but watching some of the other channels it was vote yes for (state) tax change followed by vote no then yes again. Of course neither ad actually explains the tax question.

That being said do the ads actually change how people vote? I guess maybe....

I feel like some people have written off CA and other states since they are not swing states.

I’m in CA and my vote does not count for the presidential race. So I did not feel bad about not voting for Biden and voted for for neither of the contenders, since I am not on board with either of them. It was actually nice to not feel like voting for a 3rd candidate was the same as a vote for Trump - if we were a swing state, it may have changed how I voted.

[waverly]

That makes me wonder if we got rid of the electoral college would more people vote for 3rd party since it would be less a take away from the 2 major parties? Probably never going to happen though.

There are many countries that have 3 major parties instead of 2. It would be interesting to see more of a third party in congress too. I’m not sure if their systems are better or worse. A lot of times other countries seem better but that’s just looking at their pros instead of their cons.

[mustardseed2007]

If more states switched from the winner take all method of assigning electorates, the states could do it. We're pretty far off from that happening too. There was a great podcast by the daily that was a nice bite on the subject.

[mommyatty]

We have tons of “third parties.” They are generally crazy. They haven’t caught on not because of a two-party system but because they don’t offer a great alternative. I don’t know of any country who has only 3 major parties. There are some with a vast number of parties that have singular focus. DH’s family is from Finland. Finland has multiple parties. The difference is mostly that they have a Parliamentary system that lends itself to coalition governments. We don’t have that and I don’t think it’s a real possibility without overhauling the Constitution.

I think the Electoral College is crap. It should have been phased out in Roosevelt’s time after the Industrial Revolution and after the Depression.

[campermom]

Mail in ballot to a secure drop box.

m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=4ALyRkkUOMI I am aware that in person is probably the best but I will have my kids w me on Election Day and not about to bring little one to stand in line for hours. That video was informative.

[vasc]

If any of you will have to stand in line, my suggestion is bring a chair, a snack, a book, and a portable phone charger. Sunscreen also if you’re outside.