But you can avoid all of that and vote up to a couple of weeks early, or wait till election day proper, by taking your ballot to an official county elections drop box by the deadline (8 pm election night). The mailing thing is not required. Also, on radio and TV they’re always telling people to mail it by Thursday if they go that route (honestly probably overkill, because it only has to get to your county elections office by then, not across the state or anything).
Now prepaid postage? I agree completely.
This is all true, but — to at least some extent — the purpose of vote-by-mail is to accommodate the many people who can’t easily go to the polls to vote on Election Day, usually because of work obligations and/or child care obligations or infirmity. If you deliberately implement it in a way that still requires them to actually go to some physical location to exercise it, you’ve defeated that purpose. Sure early voting helps (but how many polling stations are there?) and sure you have more alternatives as to when you can go to the post office, but why not simply design it to suit the purpose? The question answers itself.
But you can always mail your vote in early if you want (basically as soon as you get it, about two weeks before election day or a bit more) and can’t drop it off. Now I agree with you on the postage paid envelope thing, where Oregon still falls down. I just think there’s a compelling public interest in getting the ballots in by election night.*
*I have no idea if the rules are different for “real” absentee ballots (overseas, military etc.).
Deleted now, what was hat about?
…by making a trip to the post office. It’s the trip they should be trying to eliminate.
Just the final senatorial vote count in Florida.
Florida is red. We’ll have to get used to that. As long as elections can be framed about whiteness, the Republicans will win statewide races in Florida.
No, by slapping a first class stamp on it and leaving it for your mail carrier to pick up (for now, till we get the law changed). I’ve been voting this way for 20 years and for the last few I’ve even signed up to get notification from the elections office when they receive my ballot (and always heard back). The concern of not having enough postage is overblown. Our longer ballots are maybe two pages and are still handled with a first class stamp. Also, it’s not illegal to have a trusted friend/family member/neighbor take your ballot to the (non-mail) drop boxes, and there are lots of volunteer organizations that do so as well.
Good luck with that in Florida.
In some Florida counties the postage is paid. In others, however, the postage varies. Readers have reported paying postage from 50 cents to $1.42.
Get ready for three days of stories about how this election was a “split decision”.
No, three days of Trump crowing about how they beat Democratic fake ballots in Florida because there were so many more Republican ones.
State of play:
So I’m seeing articles about how the Republican party in California is effectively dead, how it was just mauled and obliterated in this election, and is totally in disarray etc.
Yet Nunes is still around.
Sigh.
He’s persistent. He’s like a cockroach. No, a fossilized cockroach. He’s a fossilized cockroach’s piece of petrified dung.
He’s around, but a member of the House minority, and thus has no power and no committees.
Q: How can you tell the election season is over?
A: