this is not surprising. Further, as that Registrar noted, they don't know the difference between their official residence address and the address of the place they live.

Their address is their email address, as far as they know. This needs to be explained simply and clearly on the ballot request forms, but is probably not.

The people who run the system know nothing about people of college age, really. They forget that the things they grew up with don't even exist any longer in many people's minds.

There's a terrifically funny ad I say on television, where a group of late-teen or 20-somethings are trying to figure out how to use a rotary dial phone. They never do figure it out. It's funny, because we oldsters grew up with those phones. We can't imagine why they'd be confusing to anyone.

it can't be that hard to figure out. Cell phones have a dial pad with numbers. The rotary phone has a wheel with numbers. Simple common sense would imply that it has the same function.

then turning the dial to its stop and releasing it to finally transmit the number is far from intuitive. We don't give it a though, because we've done it thousands of times.

Obviously, it's clear that you stick your finger in the hole with the number you want to transmit, but what to do next is not clear at all.

Why would anyone suppose they had to do those two other steps? Touching the number, or a button with a number on it is intuitive. Rotating and releasing a dial is not.

Further, before you dial a rotary dial phone, you have to first lift the handpiece to open the connection. Those kids didn't get that, either. They have always had cell phones, where you punch in the numbers and then tap Send.

I have an old oak wall phone at my house. You know with the separate earpiece and a microphone mounted on the box. It has no dial at all. Now, I can dial a number on it by operating the handset cradle the appropriate number of times, but that's not how those phones were designed to work.

Instead, you picked up the handpiece, then turned a crank to send a bell signal to an operator, who asked you for the phone number you wanted to call. When I grew up, that system was still in place, although we had nice black phones with no dials on them. By that time, you simply picked up the handset and waited for the operator to ask for the number. That was the system in my small town until 1963, when dial phone service was established.

Incidentally, that old wall phone still works. I sometimes answer it when the landline rings, just for fun. Once, a friend was over and the phone rang while I was busy and had wet hands. I pointed to the phone and my friend picked up the earpiece. However, he didn't talk into the microphone, so the person who called couldn't hear him. The concept was too foreign for him.

And don’t make a mistake at any point or you have to start the cumbersome dialling process all over again!

If you ask a young person today what a dial tone is they would have no idea. Why would they?

and then dialing the number. It works that way, too. I also learned that you don't have to put a 1 in to call a different area code. That took a while to learn, too, since the phone went ahead and dialed correctly if I used the 1 prefix.

I'm old, see...stuck in my ways...

For work reasons I got a cell phone pretty early on. I think I got my current number in 1996 or so.

I used to push sent to hear the dial tone and then the number, later I also had to remember about the area codes.

A bit younger than college-age kids, but it does illustrate the point: there is a learning curve. It may be short, but if you don't have any experience using them you can be left wandering around a bit. A little orientation session to connect it to what you already know works wonders, but learning those basics isn't routine anymore.

Same thing with stamps. Or checks, for that matter.

“Free stamps for completed absentee ballot envelopes”!

I can't remember ever having to stamp one.

OR we could drop them in a locked box scattered around the county.

are also stamped.

No postmark needed if voting. Vote and drop anywhere.

I've never understood why it should cost money to send in a ballot.

Before I left home for college my parents - mostly my Mom - made sure I was set to get absentee ballots and that I understood how to fill it out and return it. Mom had been a poll worker for many, many years by that time and there was no way any of her daughters was not going to be a voter.

Unfortunately, my first ballot was for George McGovern so i felt as though my vote didn't count.

free, and I have two girls in college in Canada and they will be voting in this mid term, even if it has to go by courier mail they will vote.

Have free postage.

I don't know about an absentee application though.

and anyway you can buy stamps online.

This actually sounds like a bit of an urban legend, and another way for old people to feel smug and superior to the younger generation.

but I'm pretty sure that the campus bookstore would sell them. they always did when I was in college.

The students register locally and skew our elections. This is allowed in Texas. They are considered local residents even though most will move on in a few years after they have changed the direction of local politics. Oh and they do vote, RED!

Last edited Tue Sep 18, 2018, 12:41 PM - Edit history (1)

According to the article in the OP, "An absentee ballot also can be requested online."

It seems a little odd that a college student wouldn't know where to buy postage stamps, but it seems really odd that it wouldn't occur to them to Google it.

You can find the form online and print it out. But I know in my state (NJ) they need the physical form to process the application.

I buy mine at Publix. WalMart sells them. Heck you can buy them in a vending machine on most campuses!

This is a little lazy if you ask me.

There were no stamps in vending machines in my dorm on a huge state university - and that was back before email. I imagine the demand would be even less now.

Calling someone who has to jump through a hoop to simply vote "lazy" is something that I don't expect to see on DU.

for five years. When I needed a stamp I walked myself to the post office. Once I had a car I would get lazy and maybe drive to the post office. I could have gotten them from the student union, but that was further than the PO. Now I order them online. and they get sent to my door.

I guess those don’t require jumping through hoops. But going on line and ordering a stamp does.

Sure some will take advantage of this but even if its just 10% effective it could make the difference.

Students live in a city 9 months out of a year, they should be able to vote locally on campus. One issue is that local governments do all they can to prevent students from having a say, nearly all issues are decided and voted on during the Summer for small college towns so the students will not be on campus to have a say.

Those that don't, often sell them at the bookstore.

I'm sensing a certain lack of self-reliance.

It sounds like a bit of a lame excuse, though there is one party working its butt off to disenfranchise as many voters as possible. Back in the dark ages when I went to college and had to dodge mastodons to get to class, we had what was called the Student Public Interest Research Group, which had all kinds of information about political and civic issues (where can I vote, do I have to register for the draft, what does this jury summons mean). If these groups have become moribund, maybe it's time to reactivate them for a new generation of college students who have a world of information at their fingertips and a paucity of experience using it.

First of all, every town has a post office. Second, you can get stamps on the Internet through the postal service's web site. You know, the way you can buy anything these days? That's where I get my stamps. Couldn't be easier.

If they can't figure this out, maybe they shouldn't be voting.

I might also add that registering to vote for the average person has never been easier and I live in PA, not exactly the bastion of government innovation. Forms to register are everywhere, including online. Plus, back in the day if you skipped too many elections you got thrown off the list and had to re-register. How are people going to do jobs if they can't figure out how to mail a letter? I've worked in a variety of industries in my 38 working years, and NONE of them, at any time, have been within a major league pitcher's throw of the technological cutting edge. Most people have better technology in their homes than I've ever had at a job.

Maybe they could inquire of the almighty Google or whatever search engine is trending on social media. And I hear that in these modern days it's even possible to get postage online.

I'm not going to talk (much) about Ye Olde Days, when we had to physically present ourselves at a county office to register to vote, and how we fought to be allowed to vote at 18 in the first place. It seems to me, though, that if people want to do something they'll find a way: it they don't want to do it they'll find an excuse.

and the House would be 300 dems to 135 cons.

There would never be a time when the GOP would have power again, ever.

so all that needs be done is mark the ballot and drop in a mailbox by the deadline.

99.9 pct of post-WW2 stamps are only worth face value now. Quite often you can get them for 75 percent or less of the face value from the shop or on eBay. I got them for 60 percent of face value. You then relearn basic math to get to 50 cents and soon find that the post office every so can be mathematically challenged as well.

Kids home on weekends, city hall not open
Early voting rarely on weekends

not that it should be up to the parents, but if they've raised a kid that's going off to college and is still so uninformed, an intervention needs to take place.

If worse comes to worse, stamps can be a great addition to student's Christmas stocking - complete with instructions on how to use them!

(How will these kids accomplish doing their own laundry, or are they the ones who save it up and bring it home for Mom to do during their vacation periods? Reminds me of when I was in college and earning $1/blouse ironing for the kids who didn't know how b/c they had moms or maids to do it at home.)

the Bobtown Post Office, I always stopped at the post office on my way home from school for lunch,
our box number was 225 but the post mistress knew me and just handed the mail to me, I couldn't see over the counter.

I also did all the shopping at the company store, when I bought something I just gave the clerk my Dad's check number, us kids had bragging rights on who's Dad had the lowest check number.