Stepmoms / Bio Moms Debate

<<<Then why can't every single one of us eligible-to-vote Americans vote by mail when it's convenient for us to fill in the bubble, lick the envelope and slap the .42 stamp on it?

From what I understand (and again, it's only from my stepfather being out of the country this week), absentee ballots are supposed to only be for special circumstances. We all have jobs, families, schedules, etc. >>>

Absentee ballot rules are determined by state. Just like poll opening and closing is determined by state. My state opens at 6:30 and closes at 7:30. One state opens at 6 and closes at 6.

Ohio doesn't even call early voting absentee voting. True absentee voting is when a person requests a ballot by mail and returns their vote by mail. In Ohio, anyone could early vote starting on September 30. From the Ohio Secretary of State at http://www.sos.state.oh.us/SOS/PressReleases/2008%20Press%20Releases/20080709.aspx.
"Ohio law permits one early voting location, which may be at the board of elections or at an alternate site. Directive 2008-50, issued late Tuesday, ensures Ohio’s voters will be able to vote early at an accessible, convenient location in their county. "

brc

Not to be a pain, but just adding:

Civic groups and political parties in Oregon have grown to love the Vote By Mail program because it gives them an opportunity to organize Get-Out-The-Vote (GOTV) over a multi-week period. Rather than focusing on a 12-14 hour period to contact and mobilize voters, organizations can systematically canvass their members by phone or door-to-door to encourage their participation and can track those who vote, and then refocus repeat communication only with those voters who have not yet returned their ballots.

In Switzerland, voting by mail has increased turnout 4.1 percent for the years 1970 to 2005.⁷

The state of Washington provides an excellent laboratory as counties have independently been shifting to VBM elections over the past several years. This creates many opportunities to measure VBM turnout in some counties compared to polling place turnout in other counties during the same election. Gronke finds a 4.5 percent increase in voter turnout in Washington as a result of VBM balloting from 1960 to 2006.⁶

Seal Beach, California, held a local VBM election in March 2006 and saw a turnout of 35 percent, eight points higher than the previous comparable election. California’s Contra Costa County held its first VBM election in June 2004 to adopt a school parcel tax. Turnout was 52.9 percent, higher than the two previous school parcel tax elections which saw 23.2 percent turnout (March 2002) and 52.4 percent in March 2004 (also a presidential primary election.)

The first mail election was held in California in 1977. Oregon began using Vote By Mail (VBM) for local and special elections in the early 1980s and expanded the program to cover all of its elections in 1998. However, even in Oregon, some voters can and do cast ballots in person by hand-delivering ballots to drop box locations or voting in-person at an election office or through other voter assistance programs.

You Rock!

If you ever need a job as a librarian...see me :)

brc