Voting Lines are CRAP! We should all be voting by mail.

[eeyore]

I voted last week here in Oregon. My wife and I took our ballots to a nearby restaurant, had dinner, and discussed all of the various ballot measures. We brought along the local newspapers to read the various pro/con arguments, discussed and had some debates with each other. The waiters came by, asked us questions about issues, and we were able to provide some clarity for them. It was fantastic!

The next day I drove by our county elections office, dropped off the ballots, and now I can concentrate on harassing people to make sure they have their ballots and actually vote.

What exactly is the benefit of going to a polling place? Cookies from the old ladies at the Daughters of the American Revolution? Having done both, I would be a strong advocate for nationalizing vote by mail.

These 8-10 hour lines are bullshit and the whole process would be fixed by doing vote by mail.

[progressivebydesign]

1. I think most people CAN vote by mail, if they choose to..

but many are under the impression that absentee ballots are still restricted to people with doctor's notes. I vote absentee all the time now.

[Jersey Devil]

4. No one uses them in NJ though they are permitted

They changed the law last year to allow absentee ballots in NJ without any reason for it. Previously you had to be out of state or sick, etc. But I don't know a single person who has voted that way yet for two reasons I can think of. First, except at the peak voting hours of the day (after work) we have enough voting machines so that voting only takes a few minutes in most cases and second, people think absentee ballots are not counted until later on and thus their votes won't be included in those announced on election night (which is true in many cases).

[Eric J in MN]

6. In Minnesota, a person needs to be out of the precinct on Election Day...

...or have another excuse.

We don't have no-excuse absentee ballots here.

[eeyore]

7. But everyone here just gets a ballot in the mail

People have been throwing voting parties where friends get together and make sure they understand the issues. It's so mellow and easy. You shouldn't have to take a day off of work to go and vote. How many people just give up and go back to work?

[cali]

2. I like voting in person.

I could vote by absentee ballot, but I like the little old ladies and running into people at the polls. I like depositing my paper ballot into the hundred year old wooden balloting box. Each to their own- though I agree that 8 hour lines are bullshit.

[bigwillq]

9. Me too.

And I like voting on the national day! :)

[murphymom]

3. I LOVE vote by mail here in Oregon!

My husband and I got ours in a couple of days after we received our ballots - put them in an official drop box on the way back from the bank. Sat down in our home office with the voter handbook and got to take our time reading EVERYTHING. What I especially love about vote by mail is you have a chance to really think about all the little local races and measures that don't get a lot of press.

[eeyore]

8. Exactly!

I think it's really fun. And you're right about all of the local and state measure. You really get time to explore everything fully. You can take weeks to do it if you want to research things fully. Love it!

[kestrel91316]

5. I agree. I am a permanent absentee in CA for my personal convenience

due to my unpredictable work obligations (working an hour late with little advance notice is rather common). I can mail in the absentee ballot, or I can hand carry it to any polling place in the county to drop off, or I can go to my own polling place and vote normally (they do the provisional thing if you are technically absentee).

I like the OR system where you get your ballot in the mail and then either mail it in, or take it to any of a number of drop boxes.

[olegramps]

10. Given the chance of my vote being flipped, I vote by mail.

[eeyore]

12. Yup!

No more Diebold touch screen madness. Good old fashioned dots on a paper ballot. We've made voting way too complicated in this country.

[CK_John]

11. We are a republic of 50 states and we don't like conformity is the answer. n/t

[eeyore]

14. That's crap

We have Federal laws, we have the IRS, we have a standardized monetary system. Voting is the most precious resource this country has, and we are currently disenfranchising voters though making it a prohibitive process. Vote by mail is so simple and really quite tamper-proof.

We are way better than the voting process many states employ.

[CK_John]

15. You should check the constitution, re the rights of the states. n/t

[stolivodka]

13. Nationalization is the answer.

In-person. By mail. Over the telephone.

When the people can vote and all the votes are counted, Repukes will never have power again.