Pie, coffee and getting ballots ready to mail on Friday, Oct. 18, 2024.
The 2024 general election is supposed to be on Nov. 5. But for the two of us in this household, Election Day was this afternoon.
The ballots came in the mail early in the day. Then it took about five minutes to fill in the little ovals on the form, sign the back of the envelopes and seal them.
I took the unnecessary and extra step of putting stamps on the envelopes. We don’t need or want the state to pay the postage so we can vote. It’s an insult, kind of.
The campaign mail will keep coming, adding to the wasted money the various candidates and their committees have already spent.
Campaigning after the ballots have been mailed to voters like us is one of the ways that Oregon’s voting through the mail makes campaigning both more expensive and less useful at the same time.
Some candidates like to invoke democracy and wanting to save it. Well, democracy was pretty safe when elections were held on a fixed date and most of us took them seriously. We trooped to the polling place, said hi to the neighbors and then stayed up that night to get reports of the results.
Now casting a ballot has been made effortless, but in Benton County at least they’ve added ranked-choice voting so that counting the votes is more complicated and takes longer.
But no matter, we mailed our ballots back the day we got them. No sense letting them clutter up the counter or the desk. (hh)
I urge people to do three things: take a picture of your filled out ballot; deliver to the courthouse if at all possible, don’t mail it; and check it online to make sure you voted and it was counted.
Only the paranoid survive eh?
I print a hard copy of my taxes. Is that being paranoid?
Considering today’s technology, yes it is. But if it eases your mind, good on you.
Why? You think the USPO is going to steal it?
The USPS union endorsed a candidate. I don’t think that should be allowed. Like it or not, they are a third party.
What is the reasoning for taking a photo?
I’ve been taking a picture for many years, Oscar. I just consider it a very important document. What other proof do I have if my vote was lost or not counted? And there’s nothing easier in the world than to take a picture.
You can go online and verify whether or not it has been received and counted.
I would love in person voting again
no no no! a lot of folks who vote left will not cast a vote. too much trouble to go out and cast a vote. on the flip side, those who vote right, for the most part, will be more than happy to wait in line out in the cold rain to cast a vote. so- no chance we will return to in person voting in a blue state. aint gonna happen.
It goes without saying that people who are willing to stand out in the rain are more patriotic than others. People willing to stand out in the rain in order to vote are more concerned with the future of the nation, the State and the County. People willing to stand out in the rain in order to vote are more “American” than those who vote at their dining room table. The notion that one side morally superior because they are willing to stand in-line in the rain to vote is as despicable as it is stupid.
Wrong.
https://sos.oregon.gov/elections/Documents/registration/2024-october.pdf
Maybe we should have an Oregon electoral college so all the state get represented and not just the cities around Portland deciding our elections.
A “lot of folks who vote left will not cast a vote. too much trouble to go out and cast a vote.”
What basis do you have to support this assertion?
Well, Hasso, you and your right-wing buddies want less people to vote, I guess. Because with mail-in voting, more people are able to vote. People don’t have to take time off work to vote, or get an expensive babysitter in order to go to the polls. I think election day is now a holiday, but I don’t think everyone gets off work for that day.
Both Republicans and Democrats at the Linn County Clerk’s office (the election managers work under the County Clerk) are very supportive of mail-in voting. It is efficient and safe and accurate and saves money. Who in hell are you going to get to man the very dangerous atmosphere at polling places nowadays. You want to go backward in time.
Since retiring, I worked a few years on the elections at the courthouse, and they were all mail-in voting (or drop box voting or take your ballot to the courthouse). Elections in Oregon are very secure and safe and very well run. Everyone is on camera all the time who is working with ballots, and the computer room is very secure and separate from the workers who are sorting in a different room. People who disparage mail-in voting are welcome to go to the County Clerk’s office and ask to observe the process. They will be happy to let you do that. Of course, you will have a county employee with you, as you can’t just stomp through a ballot sorting process. That would be suspicious and stupid.
Oregon invented mail-in voting and was the first state to implement it. And, Hasso, it is not an insult to people to not have to pay the postage to send their ballot in. If you as a Libertarian right-winger, want to put a stamp on your envelope, fine. But, do not assume to speak for people who have a tough time paying all their bills. Not having to use a stamp makes a difference to them, even though it doesn’t to a retired, long-time editor of a newspaper.
Yes, that comment about no postage necessary being insulting was pretty rich!
Hering is insulted because he has to “pay” to vote because he has to buy a stamp. Wouldn’t it be cheaper and more patriotic for eveyone to jump in their cars and drive over to the polling place. Heck, at $3.00 + a gallon, it might cost you a dollar to drive to vote and back home again. A stamp looks pretty inexpensive by comparison. And hey, remember that it was the Last president who appointed the DeJoy buffoon to Postmaster General. DeJoy is the single most responsible person for the degradation of the USPS. DeJoy is a Republican and trickle-down enthusiast, so you know he has America’s interests at heart. Hasso – buy the stamp, take the ride.
Talk about a failure to communicate.
In Oregon there is no excuse not to vote. Mail in voting is a God send. Now the excuse is “I don’t know who to vote for” as people are, I believe, inherently lazy unless there is a ballot measure that directly effects them or their family. Also finding a news source you feel is balanced and reliable (or practice fact checking) remains an issue. Let’s try not to romanticize the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and their blatant discriminations.
Mail in or in person voting. Does either have a higher rate of persons who vote? From my recollection there isn’t much difference in the percentage of those registered no matter which method is used.
When you compare the percentage of those who vote with those registered the number is indicative of a general lack of care/interest in the process. Sad!!!
The best thing about Mail-In voting is that never again do I have to stand in line and listen to a gaggle of Right Wingers drone on about election interference.
I assume that if one disparages either right or left, you won’t let that comment through. However, I think this is one of the most important elections ever. Just because you are of a certain party doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t consider who is trying to be elected and what they promised to do after taking office. People that vote the party line because they “belong“ to that party, means that they do not take democracy seriously.
I am very glad to vote by mail and yes, I agree with all the other comments. It is very safe and secure and if every state did it just like we do in Oregon there would be no contest afterwards. We would know exactly who won and exactly who lost. Those that do not believe in voting by mail have not lived in Oregon and experienced how trouble free it is. It is a right guaranteed by the constitution that every person should have their vote.
I just want it over, and done with… not a fan of either candidate myself.
I was feeling this way when Drump ran against Hersterical… didn’t vote, and regretted it…
I’m so tired of the bashing by both sides!
Some people have to work and can’t get to a voting place. So online or mail-by voting is the best. Glad Oregon has it, all US states should have this option. Then more people vote.
kamala has had plenty of time to convince america she could be our leader. and she chose to play hide-n-seek from americans asking her questions. bret asked her 4 questions, she did not answer a single one. she has proven to be a world class lip dancer. america will chose a new leader nov. 5th. let the chips fall where they fall.