Why doesn't Ohio send out mail-in ballots to all registered voters. Wouldn't that be the real

[still_one]

solution?

[Cha]

1. EXACTLY instead of just Cancelling.

Thank you!

[still_one]

17. If they really want people to vote Cha

[Cha]

18. Right.. instead of forever having

the disenfranchisement of Millions of voters on their record.

If he can defy a court order he can do that.

[still_one]

19. The judge is right, there is no certainty that things will be better on June 2

[Cha]

20. Precisely.. we hope they will but

it can't be guaranteed.

[fierywoman]

2. How hard could they be to print?

[still_one]

12. They send it to all registered voters who haven't already voted. It may require the Ohio

legislature to approve this though

[Maeve]

3. We send the option for absentee ballots only for presidential contests

And so far that has been the extent of it. Yes, it would be a solution, but we do have in-person early voting and on-request absentee balloting, so we're trying!

Poll worker here who can't sleep after being told we're having the election, no, we're not, yes we are, no we're not, yes, no! too many times in the past 12 hours....

[still_one]

6. I understand the bouncing around they are doing to the poll workers and voters, and the frustration

it is causing, but what I am saying is because there is no certainty that this situation will be resolved by June 2, they should just send out mail-in ballots to all registered voters who haven't already voted early, setting a date when those ballots need to be received to be counted.

That seems to be the easy way to solve the issue. Yes, it would put an additional expense, but the whole situation is causing an additional expense, and that is just the way it is

[Maeve]

8. Oh, I'm not arguing with what might be the better choice

But I think that would also take the legislature to approve and they are....less than useful in this state. Let's just say they are as functional as the US Senate.

[still_one]

10. I suspect you are right

[PoliticAverse]

4. Other states do vote by mail. Excellent time for states like Ohio to adopt the procedure. n/t

[still_one]

9. If they are extending the election to June 2, plenty of time to mail those mail-in ballots out to

all registered voters who haven't done early voting

[erlewyne]

5. It is 3:19 A and I don't know if I'm voting

Just got up and am getting mixed messages.
They keep changing. Well, I will walk the quarter-mile
to the voter booth and find out.

It still interrupts my schedule even though it will be
on my morning hiking route.

[still_one]

7. Bear in mind I am not from Ohio, but I would think calling the register of voters, or going to the

website for the Secretary of State should indicate the status of the primary

From what I have heard the Governor of Ohio ordered all the polls closed until June 2, but people in Ohio will need to confirm

[Maeve]

11. Poll workers were told to stay home

The final word seems to be from the Dept of Health shutting all polling places.

There is going to be a fight over this, but I suspect we won't have a final primary until June 2.

[LisaL]

43. Here is a detailed article describing timeline of how election was cancelled.

Interestingly, DeWine's son is on the OH Supreme court although he had to excuse himself from participation.

"Three of the seven did not participate: Justice Judith French and Justice Sharon Kennedy are on the ballot this primary. Justice Pat DeWine is the son of Gov. DeWine and his sister, Alice, is running for county prosecutor."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/03/17/coronavirus-canceled-ohios-primary-heres-how-mike-dewine-state-leaders-decided/5069658002/

[Recursion]

13. Because a ton of people don't keep their registration address up-to-date

It would be an absolute fiasco

[still_one]

14. I don't know how voting is done in Ohio, but in California registered voters are sent voter

information pamphlets, containing the issues being voted upon, along with their polling information

and when people go to the polls they have to verify their identity and address

California also allows same day registration at the polls, online registration, and registration at various places throughout the state.

It sounds to me in Ohio that if a voter does not update their proper address, then they would not receive their ballot information, and if they wanted to vote, would have to update that information

[True Blue American]

15. New update

judge ruled against them but the Health Department closed the polls.

65 and older should stay home. But promise they will be allowed to vote from home.

So get those ballots out to us, Mike!

[still_one]

16. That is the way to do it, and they have until June 2 so there is plenty of time

[MineralMan]

21. Republicans HATE That Idea

They fear widespread voting, because they lose when it takes place.

[LisaL]

22. OH has absentee voting.

You have to request an absentee ballot. I didn't want to vote absentee because OH disqualifies those ballots for any little errors.
Obviously it was too late to send everybody an absentee ballot a day before the election.

[Demsrule86]

26. They could send them now...this is political and shows why DeWine is a bad guy...he had me

fooled for a nanosecond.

[BidenBacker]

23. Was just thinking of this

right before seeing your thread.

I had already concluded that ALL states should automatically send mail-in ballots out to ALL voters...they shouldn't have to request it. And while they're at it ALL people should be automatically registered to vote when they reach voting age. Mark them as "Independent" or maybe "Unspecified"..and then if they want to indicate a party affiliation they can fill out a form or go online to do so. Can't do everything for 'em.

It might cost states a few extra bucks upfront to provide mail-in ballots to everybody, many of whom won't use them. But they'd probably save more than the initial cost (and lots of election day headaches!) on the back end not having to have so many polling stations and machines and workers. Voter participation would likely go up if they just made it as easy and painless as possible for folks...especially lazy-ass ones like me.

This data shows the states that have more than 50% of their votes cast by mail...

https://www.eac.gov/documents/2017/10/17/eavs-deep-dive-early-absentee-and-mail-voting-data-statutory-overview

As you can see, the vast majority of them are here out West, with a few in the South. Time for the East and Midwest to join the fun! Democracy doesn't have to be that difficult.

[Blue_true]

27. How would the state know that a person has reached voting age.

In Florida, a person can get a drivers' license at 16 and not have to renew for something like 8 years. During that time Florida would have to actively track a person's birthdate to determine when they turn 18 and then automatically register them.

Surprisingly, for a republican dominated state, Florida makes registering to vote fairly easy. People can register at the DMV, libraries, at at county registrars' offices. One thing the state can do better is publicize how people can register, but I don't see republicans allowing that to happen as long as they hold the balance of power.

[BidenBacker]

30. Can't imagine it's all that difficult

They already got all the info somewhere in big databases anyway. They sure knew when I hit 18 and had to register for Selective Service not long after Vietnam ended...and that was back before they had computers and spreadsheets!

My elderly father lives in Florida and you're right about making it pretty easy to register/vote there. They're one of the states on that link I provided that have a relatively high mail-in % rate.

Even if folks don't mail their ballots in it's sure a helluva lot easier to fill one out at home and then just drive to a location and drop or hand it off.

[Blue_true]

32. I turned 18 when Selective Service registration was still active, as was the Draft.

I had to go to the local Post Office and identify myself. I remember that there was a person from the military that took my information and confirmed that I was who I said I was (there was actually an office for them in the Post Office). I didn't get a notice to appear, but during that time, there were notifications posted all around my town about registering for Selective Service and the Draft upon turning 18.

[BidenBacker]

33. I remember when I was a kid

looking at those lotteries they had every year and seeing what number my birthday was. It was a lot scarier for the guys who were a few years older than me and eligible for the draft.

[Blue_true]

35. The only scary part for me was getting drafted and having

to delay college. Nixon had bailed out of Nam, the North was taking over the entirety of Vietnam, but it was certain that Nixon was not going back in.

My Mom really, really wanted me to go to college instead of into the military. Once my name was in, I just waited for what happened next as I prepared for college, one day the letter came from the Department of Defense arrived, giving the Draft number that I had drawn and explaining what the number meant. I had drawn a high number and wouldn't have to report for military service, but the letter explained that I needed to keep my Draft card that came with the letter because I could still be called up, I kept the card until the Draft was ended a few years later.

[BidenBacker]

36. Sounds like we are about the exact same age

since we both had identical fears and experiences at that time.

I ended up spending a decent chunk of my career working on military programs developing and testing weapons systems so there are different ways of serving one's country other than be handed a rifle and dropped off a helicopter in a steamy jungle somewhere...whether you wanted to be there or not.

Not too many did back then, if I recall correctly.

[Blue_true]

37. One of the things about me is that I was an exceptional student.

Local recruiters knew that because they were always hounding me about signing up. They promised that because of my academic abilities, I was unlikely to end up in combat unless that was what I wanted. My Mom was not sold on their claims, because she had two sons before me who ended up on the front line, one as a paratrooper and one was a Marine artilleryman, so she chased their asses away from me and told them not to bother me at school (I have no idea how she planned to enforce that demand).

[BidenBacker]

40. Same here again

The military needs more than just grunts to do their thing. All them fancy weapons systems that help protect our troops and that taxpayers pay dearly for don't exactly grow on trees so they're always looking for guys who can do that for them. I figured I could help them develop their missiles and rockets and lasers but I'd much rather do it without somebody shooting bullets or lobbing mortars at me at the same time if at all possible...LOL.

Much safer being a civilian engineer than a combat one...and the pay's a little better too! No free food or clothing or housing though so they got that going for them, as Bill Murray would say. I almost ended up in northern Israel if we had deployed a weapons system we worked on that President Clinton started back in the 90s...they woulda had to buck up bigtime if I was gonna let Hezbollah fire Katyushas at me from Lebanon. But the program ended up getting mothballed and I avoided having to decide what to do.

[Blue_true]

42. My guess is that if we had gotten drafted, we wouldn't have ended up in combat.

Like you point out, the military has many within the wire functions that it needs done, it's not going to put kids that have low aptitude performing those functions. I am sure that a lot of bright kids that wanted it ended up in combat units at some point, though

[Demsrule86]

24. We have to send them in with pics of our ID

[BidenBacker]

25. Forgot to add

Happy St Joe's Day, everybody.

Erin Go Biden!

[Meadowoak]

28. Ohio, and every state that hasn't voted yet. They should just send ballots to every registered

Voter.

[Iamaartist]

29. Absentee voting for all now in Michigan ...Simple

Yes we voted in Mich.with absentee ballots.. our ballots had only Dem candidates on it... it was very simple instead of mailing we walked in to city clerk office,,, and turned them in...

[clm0805]

31. I called my Board of Elections

I live in Ohio and called my counties board of elections and the lady that I talked to said she'd send out an application for an absentee ballot that we can mail back in. So for any of you fellow Ohioans out there that didn't get to vote today that's an option. She also let me give her my husbands and daughters names so they didn't have to call in separately.

[still_one]

34. +++

[LongtimeAZDem]

38. Because they want to help Trump's favorite candidate

[grossproffit]

39. In Arizona we check a box for absentee ballots on our registrations card...

You can still vote in person if you choose to do so but having the absentee ballot is awesome.

[still_one]

41. +++