More Election Considerations
Aug. 16th, 2020 03:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
potofsoupAll of the Vote by Mail!!!! guides that I'm seeing are not taking into consideration:
1) When the ballot actually gets mailed out by the local election office (the time range goes from 20 days to 45 days), which you should subtract another 14 days from, due to post office shenanigans.
2) Whether the ballot requires extra verification -- some states require a notary, which will be super easy to find during this pandemic, right?
3) Whether there is a safe drop-off location that won't be vandalized -- some places have early voting open 10 days before, and others actually specify that the mail-in ballot has to be dropped off 1 day BEFORE election day.
So, for example, in California, the ballots get mailed out 30 days before election day, which means that I'll probably be getting my ballot ~2 weeks before election day. In-person early voting and ballot drop-off opens 4 weeks before election day, so I'll be able to deposit the ballot as soon as I get it.
Alabama, on the other hand, mails out the ballot 45 days in advance, but requires either 1 notary or 2 adult witnesses to sign the ballot, and does not have early voting. The ballots are due at the local election office by NOON on election day, and can only be mailed or hand-delivered. So if you have easy access to 2 adults who can sign your ballot, you'll probably get the ballot ~Oct 1, and if you mail it by Oct 10 or so, it'll probably arrive to the election office in time, but you can also hand deliver it any time before Election day.
Anyways, in addition to my Vote comic, I also made a spreadsheet with some of this information. I still need to go through it state-by-state to see whether there are any major changes to when the ballots get mailed out, but it's a good place to start.
1) When the ballot actually gets mailed out by the local election office (the time range goes from 20 days to 45 days), which you should subtract another 14 days from, due to post office shenanigans.
2) Whether the ballot requires extra verification -- some states require a notary, which will be super easy to find during this pandemic, right?
3) Whether there is a safe drop-off location that won't be vandalized -- some places have early voting open 10 days before, and others actually specify that the mail-in ballot has to be dropped off 1 day BEFORE election day.
So, for example, in California, the ballots get mailed out 30 days before election day, which means that I'll probably be getting my ballot ~2 weeks before election day. In-person early voting and ballot drop-off opens 4 weeks before election day, so I'll be able to deposit the ballot as soon as I get it.
Alabama, on the other hand, mails out the ballot 45 days in advance, but requires either 1 notary or 2 adult witnesses to sign the ballot, and does not have early voting. The ballots are due at the local election office by NOON on election day, and can only be mailed or hand-delivered. So if you have easy access to 2 adults who can sign your ballot, you'll probably get the ballot ~Oct 1, and if you mail it by Oct 10 or so, it'll probably arrive to the election office in time, but you can also hand deliver it any time before Election day.
Anyways, in addition to my Vote comic, I also made a spreadsheet with some of this information. I still need to go through it state-by-state to see whether there are any major changes to when the ballots get mailed out, but it's a good place to start.
