I voted

[Mike]

Early voting opened in Nebraska at 8:30am. I happened to be in the courthouse at 8:45, so I took 5 minutes out to vote in person. Damn it feels good.

I don't think Nebraska will be a contentious region for mail-in voting, but I don't want to risk it either. And I don't want to wait til election day and then wind up in quarantine with COVID and miss my chance. I am lucky to have the mobility and job flexibility to vote early in person. So I took advantage of it.

It really was 5 minutes for me, too. No line. I signed an early voting request form (name, address, signature... no ID required). Got and completed my ballot. Done.

Share your own voting plans and experiences.

[FlameBlade]

I already voted this morning. Filled out ballot, then dropped it off at ballot dropbox just a mere mile from me. Damn, it felt good.

[Tahlvin]

Already voted two weeks ago. We received our mail in ballots on Saturday, Sep 19, completed them that Sunday, then turned them in at the drop box at our clerks office on Monday, Sep 21. We have a website where you can track the status of your ballot, and I have confirmed that they have received it. Now we just have to wait for them to count it on election day.

[Eliahad]

Colorado is all mail in ballots, and ours are being sent on the 9th. We'll probably be dropping them in the drop-off boxes the same day we get them.

[Kyle]

I'll report back next week when early voting opens.

[Mike]

I did some research on Nebraska, because I was under the impression that we didn't have ballot drop-boxes. But I was wrong. My own county is very rural and only has two places to drop off ballots: the courthouse in the county seat, and then a drop box at the city building of the largest town in the county. But Lincoln and Omaha each have a dozen or more. That surprised me.

Nebraska is a no-excuse state for absentee voting. Every registered voter gets an absentee ballot request form in the mail. You can also submit your ballot request online. People I work with have theirs already and are mailing them in this week. Drop-boxes are available, if not widely so. In-person voting seems to be in the county election office only (one location per county).

No ID required except when you first register to vote, you need something to prove residence.

It would be nice if all the mail stuff was postage-paid. It would be nice if there were more places to do in-person early voting (say... public libraries?). It would be nice to have more drop-off locations (say... public libraries again?). Nebraska isn't perfect on this stuff, but it's far better than I was expecting for such a reliably red state.

[Phoebe]

Once more have executed the sacred duty. It's always a great pleasure. Was horrified to realize that a particularly important local office involved some typical stooge running unopposed. I would have done something about this had I known, by getting someone to run. But anyway, here's hoping it all works out the way it should!

Supreme Court let Texas get a free pass for enforcement of the voting rights, and then it turned out they went right back to screwing with people's voting rights. Apparently there are numerous legal challenges underway and I hope they prevail. Like their brethren around the country, their Republicans are eager to restrict access to the franchise. Are changes being applied across the board due to some threat to the integrity of the election? Ok, If so okay, but generally they want to grant the same privilege to one group of people to increase their ballot access while take it away from another? Actually evil.

[Phoebe]

[Mike]

[Phoebe]

It could indeed, it could indeed. The basic respect for protecting voting rights is very encouraging; these voting solutions seem more common in the more remote western states, if we may include Nebraska there. Maybe some of it is a function of needing to reach a dispersed population, perhaps under difficult weather conditions, but there's also a genuinely progressive streak going all the way back to Wyoming leading the charge on women's voting. Need some type of movement to make these red states great again, lol.

[Mike]

I'm not worried about problems with in-person voting in my area, but like I said above, I worried about missing out if I had to be in quarantine on election day.

I mentioned this to my kids, and now Jacob is planning to vote on his way home from work today. I think I can get Aidan to do it too, but I'll probably have to drive him there and buy him lunch, because he's worried about the timing on his midday break. It's worth it.

[poorpete]

Didn't think about the worry of quarantining on election day, good point, so now I've made note of NY's earliest early voting day (Oct 24) and hope to go in the first few days, preferably in the morning.

Now that I think about it, every errand in this era is "preferably in the morning," usually less people around, and no lots of recent customers leaving behind a cloud of covid (scientific proof of "cloud of covid" to be determined).

[Phoebe]

I have discovered I can go to the grocery store if I shop at about 7:00 a.m., because the main exposure is to employees who are careful to stay distanced and are all wearing their masks.

[Eliahad]

Voted! This is the most excited to vote I've been in ages!

[Phoebe]