Tell me your preferred way to vote. Please include your state. If you plan on voting a different way than before, you can include that also.
Michigan. Always voted in person before the pandemic.
During the pandemic, the laws in Michigan were different, a new law is in place since then.
Tried to vote by mail, I wasn’t sent the forms. You had to request a mail in ballot for each election if you were under 65 I think, not sure of the age except that I wasn’t it. Complained. I ended up voting early at my polling station which had a very limited number of times to vote. Also complained about that lol!
Now, Michigan has changed and has made voting early easier. I voted early in person for this past election and for the primary. Now we have a county wide place to vote with weekends and extra hours. The interesting thing is that the place to vote was changed. The last place was difficult to find but we did! Map apps work!
For the upcoming election, I will vote early in person.
I am also in Michigan. It used to be that you had to have a “valid reason” to get a mail-in ballot, but that changed & we can request a an absentee ballot for any reason. I started voting absentee, although I didn’t mail it in - I used the drop box at the township offices.
A citizen-led ballot initiative passed in November 2022, allowing early voting in-person in addition to no-reason absentee voting. I love early in-person voting! That is how I vote now.
Receive ballot in the mail*. Mark ballot at home, put it in the ballot box before the deadline. Receive Ballot Trax ( https://ballottrax.com/ ) messages indicating ballot being received.
*Now done for everyone in this state. If the USPS stops delivering ballots by mail, there will have to be some other way of getting a ballot.
I live in Maryland. I’ve always voted in person. I have to drive by our voting location to get out of my neighborhood, so it couldn’t be easier. I’ve never tried to do a mail in ballot.
My kids have all gone to college out of state and at least three of them have voted via absentee ballot.
I have been happily voting by mail for many years in Colorado. We tend to have many of amendments/propositions (state and local) on each ballot, which can go on for several pages. Typically it takes me many passes to fill everything in, each time researching a little more. I often refer to “the blue book” from League of Women’s Voters that lists arguments for/against each issues. Very different from NY, and after our first election we learned to bring a cheat sheet with Yes/No answers (even if you know how you feel on a topic, sometimes the wording of the statement can be confusing).
FYI - 2024 example of CO Ammendments/Propositions (there are also local-specific ones not shown) - Amendments and Propositions on the 2024 Ballot
When done, we drop our completed ballots at one of the drop box locations set up around town. We get a text messages after ballot is received at election center and another after it has been processed. I feel very good about the whole system. I do miss seeing neighbors in line at the in-person voting location.. but it later years of my career it would have been harder for to get there.
Only in person and usually the day of election - I like the vibe of going on Election Day! I have voted early a couple of times. A few days ago I received a hard copy letter in the mail with an invite to request an absentee ballot. But I will not submit for one.
The ability to choose how to vote coincided with the need to run to Georgia at the drop of a hat to be with my elderly in laws. It’s nice to be able to vote even if I’m not in town on Election Day.
We have early voting for almost a whole week before elections. I usually go on a weekday after lunch when it’s not busy. I wouldn’t do a mail in ballot, as I don’t trust USPS, sorry to say.
A voting poll is practically in my backyard at the clubhouse. I can see the parking lot and typically just go over and vote late morning, mid afternoon when no one is there.
We are in California where every registered voter receives a mail in ballot. H used to love to vote in person so that’s what we did. Now our polling place is very busy on election day because they have consolidated polling places in our area. We now fill out our mail in ballots and walk to our polling place to drop them off.
Became a citizen in late 2019 so have only been able to vote since then. First one voted in person because it was a milestone for me. Then covid and CA mails ballots automatically. I have voted another once in person since then I think but usually put my ballot in the ballot drop box at city hall.
When I lived in NYC, I loved walking down the block to the local elementary school and voting. It was one of those big machines with levers and the big lever to open and close the curtains. I had done this with my parents as a child also.
When I lived in NJ, I drove not far to the local firehouse where we still had a big machine only it was computerized. Instead of levers, you pressed buttons, including the final button to submit your vote. One election during the pandemic, the state only had mail in voting, so I did it then (special ballet submission box on the curb of the public library). During Superstorm Sandy, we voted in the public library that had a generator (instead of the fire house).
Now I am in MA and I hate the way I vote here. Piece of paper where you ink in circles (which you do at a little table with sides that don’t go up very far. You then take your paper to a electronic counting machine where you submit your vote. It just doesn’t feel like voting to me without a curtain around a booth (I guess I should put this also into the why I feel old today thread - I feel old because there is no curtain around me when I vote now.)
I know you were saying this tongue in cheek but I want to remind everyone (not that I need to) that voting in this country is confidential and a tenant of our democracy.
I have a few older friends who told me that they let their husbands decide who they vote for, because the husband reads the paper and knows the issues. Always sets my teeth on edge!
I have always voted the way I want to and sometimes different than others in my family. As is my right to.
Since moving to TN 4 years ago, I have early voted in every election. We get clear directions in a brochure shortly before early voting starts about hours, days & locations. I’ll be glad when the library near me completes renovations and re-opens so I can go back to voting there.
Minnesota, virtually always always in person on election day. One year I randomly decided to do “early in-person” voting at our county office building, and I was so glad I did as I ended up being very sick on election day to the point I could hardly get out of bed!
In my state (Ga) we vote early. There used to be a drop box outside of the early voting area, which we used once or twice, but it is no longer there. (first it was covered and taped up, then it was gone).