Warning: If You Vote By Mail TAKE YOUR BALLOT TO A POST OFFICE!

[eeyore]

I am in Oregon where we vote by mail, and I like the system on the whole. I have always, just as a precaution, taken my ballot to a post office. I don't trust putting any mail in my mailbox for my letter carrier to pick up as someone could so easily steal my outgoing mail right off of my porch.

So today I got mail mail in my mailbox, and my letter carrier had accidentally put in my mailbox my neighbor's ballot that she had just picked up from my neighbor's porch. I immediately took the ballot back to my neighbor, and told her to take the damn thing to a post office. Yikes! I don't care which way you vote, that just sucks. As an aside, she is a hardcore Dem.

Just a cautionary tale for the Halloween season...

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

1. I take all my outgoing mail to the post office.

There's been a lot of mail theft in my neighborhood. Mostly drug addicts I guess.

[eeyore]

3. Identity theft.

It's a very common tactic, especially with the credit card offers.

[Suich]

2. I just took mine to the Post Office today!

I put it in the slot inside instead of the box in front outside.

Paranoid???? Nah.....

[Rainscents]

7. I do the same!

I trust no one!

[badgerpup]

11. Me too...or me neither...

Saw a cable show a few years ago on check washing... the original payee and amount of the check can be 'washed' away, leaving only the signature...and then look out.

I take any checks I'm mailing to the post office. INSIDE.

Paranoid? You betcha!

[meldroc]

4. Make sure you have enough postage!!!

In my county, the county clerk sent out absentee ballots that were big enough they required $0.63 of postage to mail, but left absolutely no indication that this is the case, meaning that most voters will simply stick a first class stamp on the envelope, drop it in the mailbox, and think they're good, when in reality, the ballot will be returned to sender for insufficient postage.

[satya]

5. I always drop mine at the polling place on Election Day. No postage required. nt

[me b zola]

10. We do the same!

It ensures that our ballot arrives, plus the added bonus of feeling like we voted on election day.

[eridani]

6. Why don't you use one of the dropoff centers instead?

I drop my ballot off at my polling place. This also has the advantage of avoiding storing the ballot under unknown conditions of temperature and humidity and then running it through a cancelling machine. This can result in ink being transferred from your marks to a spot on the ballot not authorized for marking, and cause the machine to reject it. Duplicating it at a central vote tabulation site is an expensive and timeconsuming process.

BTW, anybody have any idea how many ballots in Oregon have to be duplicated?

[VPStoltz]

8. Here in Seattle

the ballot is so long that it costs 63 cents to mail. There is a message with the ballot in English and Chinese - huh? It will not be mailed without the proper postage. I wonder how many "others" will be disenfranchised by this little trick.

[uppityperson]

9. Seattle paper (PI or Times) said precincts would pick up extra cost,

if ballots mailed with only 1 stamp since last time many were disenfranchised. Still best to put on enough postage though. Or drop them off at somewhere (courthouse here in rural WA county)

[blogslut]

12. You sure it's Chinese?

Could be Japanese. After all, the island is just across the Pacific.

[TahitiNut]

13. It's just barely possible it could be both.

Assuming the kanji are the same.

[blogslut]

15. I have no idea

I would have to ask Blogslut Jr. - who is the expert in my house. While I've never been to Washington state, I have been to Portland Oregon and all the hotel literature and stuff had similar characters. The concierge told me it was a courtesy for Japanese customers.

[Pastiche423]

14. I've always taken mine to the library

Certainly that's safe, right?

[eeyore]

16. Kick for the morning crowd....

n/t