The Daily Background

The Wall Street Journal today notes that absentee ballots are growing more popular, with more voters casting them this year than ever before. In fact, they say, 1 out of every four Americans are expected to have cast absentee ballots instead of actually visiting the polling booth this year.

This year (my first time eligible to vote), I used an absentee ballot to vote (link comes complete with photo of me looking goofy holding my ballot up) from college in a state about 1,000 miles away from the one which I’m registered to vote in. It was extremely cool, and extremely convenient. I was able to look up a few things I didn’t understand online (like elected positions that are unique to my state), and I was able to take my time. Plus, there was no obviously no need for paranoia about voting machines, or the like.

After placing my ballot in the nifty little dual-layer free envelope it came with, I put it in the mail and felt as though there was a burden lifted from my chest. Even with a week to go until the election, I’ve already voted and done my part. Which is a really sweet feeling.

Anyways, I’d totally suggest voting via absentee ballot, even if you think you can make it to the polling booth on November 7th, just because you never know how long the line to vote will be, and so forth. We all know how long the lines were in Ohio in 2004 for example– in some places voters were turned away or the polls had to stay open late and people waited hours into the night to be able to exercise their right to participate in democracy. Plus you get this great feeling of a burden lifted off your chest.

The Wall Street Journal item I mentioned earlier is actually an editorial, and written by conservative WSJ regular John Fund, who comes out squarely against absentee ballots (and apparently seems to think they’re the greatest threat to democracy ever, or something). Anyways, if you’re super interested in reading it, you can check it out here.

Filed under: oh six midterm Elections, Z-TDB Blog