lots of taxpayer money spent and available for election reform and the Republicans go unchallenged in their many schemes to suppress our votes. I could scream or cry or fight back against these damn bullies, male and female.

Early voting is big in Florida, even republican voters love it. When I early vote, I see a lot of repug types, few Dem types, that is depressing, because I know Dems are waiting till the last minute when they don't have to. When I early vote and the machine accepts my ballot, I know that I have been counted. You can come up with claims that Russians will hack the early vote count or that the paper ballots of democrats will mysteriously go missing, but at some point, you need to realize that our voters create some of their own problems.

And I was so happy doing mail in voting in Florida. At least I fall into "old white guy" group so hopefully I am getting counted.

It is so easy. I spend maybe 10 minutes when I vote (I know who I will vote for, so most of the time is getting certed and marking the ballot).

Honestly, I don't understand why you mail in unless you are physically limited. Even if you don't drive, there likely is an early voting site really close to you, have a friend or relative drive you on one of the two Saturdays the early polls are open, or on one of the other 6 early voting days, they are open 8-8 each day.

I work a lot and have a lot of responsibilities. I like voting on my schedule when I have time. In the last election, I spent 45 minutes researching every low level judge and minor position. I am careful to check and sign all the documents.

I have every reason to believe my vote counts as much as everyone else’s.

I still vote in person early. I don't have to check online, I see my vote counted before my eyes. Early polls are open 8-8 daily, I have never been in one longer than 10 minutes.

You are a better person than me.

So now you can go on and berate everyone else in this thread.

I for one will encourage people to vote however they can

We have some good people on the ballot, they need every vote that we can give them. My dream on election night will be seeing Dems elected Governor, US Seanator, AG and Agriculture Commish in Florida. We have awesome people in each of those slots.

is to vote on Election Day. I definitely would not vote by absentee though - was always suspicious of that. Sad that one has to be so paranoid in this state.

Results for my county in 2016 came out about where I expected, in fact Hillary did better than I expected, getting into the 40's. I trust early voting.

If so, way past time to get angry.

Democratic voters set themselves up to get shortchanged, especially Black voters. They help republicans with their decisions to wait last minute to vote or do something like mail in a ballot. I early vote and I have yet to see a Black person voting. A very large percentage of the votes around me appear to be republican types. It is really distressing when I watch long lines of Black voters on Election Day who may get a chance to vote and I know that the polls were open since October 18 or 19. We make ourselves victims, we need to take responsibility for that and change it, don't help republicans shortchange us.

for a GE in the Atlanta area, a whole affluent black neighborhood supposed to vote where I was stationed was sent to the wrong precinct on election day, where poll workers let them stand in line for hours, only telling them one by one as they arrived to the front that they were in the wrong place. Just one of dozens and dozens of similar incidents. Poll workers where I was were entirely different, monitoring new arrivals and moving all who showed up (lots of them) to the front of what was also a very, very, very long line. Everyone was admirable for standing hours to vote, most having to call in to work, and it was an event to remember, but...as you say.

We enjoy the election day crowds in our precinct but also vote early specifically in case something goes wrong. A couple-three years ago I was kicked off the rolls for no reason.

Here in Georgia I note that once again early voting date information is confusing and incomplete, I'm sure no accident. There've been failed attempts this summer to stop Sunday voting (those notorious church buses full of election thieves of course) and to close dozens of precincts, mainly serving black areas.

At least here in Florida, is that lots and lots of republican voters like it. They did trim it some, but I don't see them messing with the current start date or the hours (12 hours, 8-8 daily up until the Saturday before Election Day).

is clear and helpful, not highly suspect for attempted vote suppression.

Like not having enough voting machines on specific locations, or purposely giving people the wrong poll information verbally. I honestly think that early voting is very effective for groups trying to take control of government, a vote is counted and secured. Can republicans play tricks with early voting vote count? Anything is possible, but when I check results for the state and my county, that does not appear to be happening now. Hillary got more that 40% in my red county, she lost the state by just over 100,000 votes out of around 8-9 million votes. I know people that were sure votes for her if they voted who did not vote, even after repeated pleas that they do.

As for the nonvoters, hope they have guilty insomnia every night for all that's happened since.

But probably not. The hypocrisy is enormous. Every lost vote that could have been cast against the Republicans but wasn't is proven to have helped put evil people in power.

I know that I am going to get the "supposition" ninnies, let them post, I don't give a crap. People that were driven by hate and greed would not have missed out on voting for Trump, his vote could not have gotten higher by non voters coming in to vote. Hillary most likely had massive upside among non voters, enough to give her states like Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan and likely Wisconsin. I doubt she could have picked up enough non vote to take North Carolina, but it would have been close.

It is senseless to mail in ballots with the early voting option being open. At my early voting place, I see lots of repug types, few that look like Dems and NO Black voters and I vote at the county registrar early site. I once talked to a Black democrat and poll worker about what was happening at her site for early voting and she told me that almost no one was showing up to vote.

It is easy to become a victim when you help make yourself a victim.

You dont think that the likelyhood of your vote being counted particular if you are black is lower when voting with an absentee ballot is abnormal.?

Florida has always had issues. The hanging Chad's, locked ballot boxes bring found in cars after the final tally etc

I didn't say that republicans aren't trying tricks. I live in Florida, you don't, I see stuff with my eyes that tell me that people are setting things up so that it is easier for republicans to cheat them. I stand by that statement. A person can be an easier victim or make it very tough for assholes to victimize them, when it is tougher, the tricksters run more risk of being found out.

"It is easy to become a victim when you help make yourself a victim..."

Following established protocol does not make oneself a victim. And any established means and method of valid voting is by definition, established protocol.

Rather than pointing the finger and blaming those who follow the rules, why not instead, both criticize and works towards making sure the rules are adhered to (though I realize that often denies the satisfaction of self-righteous and empty criticisms)?



(BTW: Anecdotal stories about "when I voted..." is not evidence, and can not validly support a premise)

many underdeveloped nations and the difficulties people there face.

To put it mildly, you'd face an extremely steep learning curve if you were to be dropped into a new life in what you're calling a banana republic. Of course, without someone to explain the many painful and even dangerous lessons such a person might face, there's no telling how you'd interpret them. Maybe you'd decide there was no real difference from back in the states.

This is from the State Department's current travel advisory on Nicaragua, not daily reality for Nicaraguans who keep their heads down so to speak, which would be almost everyone, of course.

I either do the early voting thing, or just show up on election day. At least we went back to paper ballots after 2004 where I live.

Like you, I do in person early voting. I never wait until Election Day, so much can go wrong, I can have a crisis at my business, my oldest brother can be sick, just too many things can go wrong when I wait.

I will NEVER NEVER NEVER do a mailin vote in Florida.

Plus, when I early vote, I get instant notification that my vote has been counted. People can come up with fantastic stories about changed scanned numbers and lost ballots, but until we get people on our side making wise voting choices, we really can't attack that problem, because we make it easy for republicans to do a small amount of stuff that has a big impact, force them to have to make major changes that induce large risk of them being caught.

That’s what we should expect. It’s much easier to screw up an absentee ballot. You can’t fail to sign when you show up in person because they won’t give you the ballot until you sign. You can’t accidentally mail an empty envelope because there is no envelope. You can’t send it in too late (or rather, your vote won’t count, but also won’t hit this statistic). With absentee voting, a signature that doesn’t match will spoil the vote... but in person there’s no way to undo your ballot if they later find it.

People should be pushing for two things: Paper ballots and expansion of early voting nationwide for four weeks before election week. Early voters are people that have decided who they will vote for, they would not change that vote if they waited till election (well maybe if one of their choices did something bad). I don't understand why people that claim to be progressives mailin ballots or wait until Election Day when early voting is available, as it is in Florida.

they reject Democratic ballots, throw them out, etc.

the study confirms what we already knew.

Do not put your return address on the envelope if you live in a minority neighborhood. It may be thrown directly into the trash for fear of it being a democratic vote. And if your first name is for instance Willie or Rosalinda do not write it in your return address. Just sayin.

And once you get the ballot, they don't know who you are.

We help make ourselves victims, we need to stop doing that.

many people less apt to go to polls and stand in line.

It appears the main reason mail in ballots were rejected is people forgetting to sign the outside of the envelope. That can be corrected by education. Another article cited a large number of rejections because the ballots arrived late. The possibility of discrimination in rejecting ballots does need to be corrected by review of rejected ballots.

I have never stood in a line longer that 3 people. I typically have my vote counted in less than 10 minutes.

is a valuable option, even if a small percentage get rejected because people didn’t sign the envelope as clearly instructed, or mail it in early enough to all but ensure delivery in time.

Why must WE lead the way on damn near everything?

I vote the new US capital to be in Sacramento!

by saying, “these socialists want to turn us into California.”

Our success!

Fifth largest economy in the world in spite of Dump!

live in a cave, drive on dirt roads, and eat cow feed if they can keep from paying taxes that might help a minority. Damn disgusting.

Very convenient but I could see how some voters would either forget to sign the envelope, or screw up the signature.

Mostly I was very surprised that the required signature is on the outside, and therefore exposed to everything.

I checked today and my vote was counted.

This is that link:

https://registration.elections.myflorida.com/CheckVoterStatus

***

Nevada early voting was so widespread and convenient and easy I got spoiled. It is not too bad here in Miami but the contrast to Clark County caused me to apply for mail ballots this time. And the request carries 2 years all the way to 2020. I didn't ask for that. It must have been the default.

Early voting in Florida will start October 18 or 19. That is plenty of time for a person to go do in person early voting before early voting closes the end of the Friday before Election Day. The early voting sites are open from 8am-8pm each early voting day, my county has something like 15 sites spread across a county of around 360,000 people. To me early voting makes sense, when the machine accepts your ballot, you are done, no rejection because something was illegible, no problem on Election Day that keeps me from voting.

lack of chain of custody is another reason for ballot not counting when trying to VBM

I did this when my husband was sick ... found out you could walk the ballot in. I could see right then it is checked off as done. Worried they would reject his signature because it had changed with illness. Decided I felt better about walking the ballot through. I take it to a Democratic side of town where they won’t F with me.

I think I'll do the same. Thanks for letting me know it is possible.

Early voting is not bad here but there are some problems, ones not covered by the poster in this thread who has posted multiple times. The parking lot at the library on Coral Way in Miami where I have early voted in the past is absolutely jammed with Republican surrogates. There are at least 10-20 at all times, swarming anyone who parks and gets out of their car obviously to vote. They try to hand out brochures, voting guides, stickers and countless other material in favor of their candidates and party. If you refuse often they'll try to hand it to you anyway. Then sometimes an insult in Spanish if you decline again. They'll follow you for dozens of yards smack to the limit of what is allowed.

In short, it is uncomfortable as hell. Contrast to Las Vegas where I could park in a huge shopping mall lot and have a very relaxing experience walking to the tranquil polling place in the middle of the mall.

I know I’m paranoid but I didn’t like the idea of losing my ballot in the mail.

Good luck!!

I used to walk up and down the Strip every day in Las Vegas, hitting one sportsbook after another. Now I'm too much of a potatoe, to use the Quayle spelling.

That library is convenient to me. As long as I show up as a walker I can pick my route and avoid the parking lot goons.

I don't like the idea of something going wrong in the mail, either. But I do prefer taking my time and filling out the ballot at home. One time during early voting I started to fill in the wrong circle and spoiled the ballot. I had to call someone over and start again with a new ballot. Took them forever to authorize it. This solution should help in all respects.

Thanks again

I live in Broward County and make quite a few trips to the polls bringing relatives & neighbors but there are also many elderly people who can't really travel to the polls and the mail in ballots are ideal for them, this is very bad news to hear that perhaps their votes aren't being counted.