Voting By Mail

Voting by mail has caused a lot of confusion in the past and continues to be perceived as being complicated. It's not, not really. At its core, it's four steps: register to vote (has it's own set of steps, but we're talking about voting by mail here; so work with me), request a mail ballot, complete the ballot, and mail it back. Many states and counties decide to do things their own way, but the principles are the same. Some states, like Colorado, are doing all of their elections via mail. If you'd like to see a nitty-gritty breakdown on how the U.S.P.S. handles election mail, this PDF is pretty great. (Look at the special tags-oooooo.)

In the U.S., we are coming up on an election day. Sometimes, I see reports that are heartening, like teenagers putting together political postcard parties. Other times, I despair because studies show that college students don't bother to send in their ballots or registrations because they don't know where to buy a stamp and can't be bothered to find out. If that is you or someone you know, please spread the word about how easy stamps are to obtain! The grocery store often has stamps at the checkout for goodness sake. Some ATMs will dispense stamps.

I tell you all right now, if I were independently wealthy, I'd make a new branch of L.W.A. that was involved in college outreach for the teaching of simple mail practices. We'd travel around, showing students how to write letters, introducing them to the post office, and getting them registered to vote and explaining absentee voting. You can take little Suzie out of Sheboygan and let her experience the world and other people and ideas and she can still make a difference in the place where she lived her entire life up to the point where she went to school. It's her right to make her voice heard. If buying a stamp is the hurdle to accessing that power, I'd love to help young people conquer that obstacle.

Please vote on November 6th if you haven't already.

 

Comments

[Fatimah]

In the UK, we have postal voting too. Majority of people vote via post rather than head down to the polling station because of work commitments or generally being busy. If you vote via by post, the ballot come through a week before. It's also free to post back.

[Victoria]

I'd apply for that position about teaching college students mail practices! (I do this for free for co-workers who are sadly clueless about the mail.) I was talking with a clerk at my local PO a couple of months ago, and they have a real problem with college students (possibly others) leaving packages for UPS in the USPS boxes--they don't realize there's a different between the two!

[Eunice]

I always vote by mail. In the UK the envelopes to post the vote have postage on them. No one is required to actually buy postage. Or I should have written, what Fatimah said!

[Jennifer Jones]

I live in Oregon where we ONLY have vote by mail. I admit, I really miss the civic camaraderie of the the polling place but since we voted (ha) to have vote by mail, voter turn out has increased tremendously. I mean we have two weeks to sit with our ballot and consider the topics.
When you register you can include your phone number and I get a text that tells me my ballot has been received and then another telling me my vote has been counted!! It's the greatest!! I wish more states would adopt it.