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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMore than half of California voters voted by mail this year and it's changing elections
I'm a big fan of voting by mail. I spend more time on my ballot since I've been voting by mail (9 years now), researching and slowly filling in my choices. And once I turn it in, the campaigns don't have to use resources to make sure I turn out and can focus on voters who haven't yet.
Mail ballots alter California campaigns
Marisa Lagos
Published 10:27 p.m., Saturday, September 15, 2012
Election day is Nov. 6 this year, but for many of the growing number of Californians who prefer to weigh in by mail, voting will actually occur sometime in October.
The portion of California voters who cast ballots by mail in the 2008 presidential election topped 41 percent, up from 17 percent in 1992. The trend is drastically changing the political landscape in the Golden State, from the way candidates and their consultants run campaigns to when races are actually decided.
With voters able to weigh in up to 29 days before election day, and close races sometimes taking weeks to sort out, the days of last-minute campaign pushes, a flood of late direct mail and "October surprises" - as well as election night results - may be ending, some experts say.
The biggest increase in vote-by-mail ballots has occurred over the last 20 years, from the 17 percent in 1992 to 24 percent in 2000. In 2008, just over 41 percent of voters passed up polling places to vote at home.
More recently, in the June primary, 65 percent of voters cast ballots by mail, state records show.
...
Ace Smith, a longtime Democratic strategist, said early voting is "fundamentally changing the way campaigns are run," because "we now have 29 different election days." He called it a coup for grassroots campaigns.
"The advantage of it is that it's tremendously good for democracy. Instead of having to build a huge organization and army and go be in the field for one day, one event, we now have a much broader, longer opportunity to talk to people for a longer period of time," said Smith, who is working on several ballot measures this year.
"As people vote, we can cross them off our list and move on to the next people, instead of an old-fashioned blitz at the end," he said.
...
"A lot of people like to drop their ballots off at a polling place after they had them at home," she said. "It's fine, but it means that at the end of the night we have a giant stack of ballots, a huge amount of paper to process."
While Korp said he usually votes about a week after receiving his ballot - and never waits until the last minute - Jennifer Siverts-McGrady, a San Diego County lawyer who has voted by mail for five years, said she always holds on to her ballot until the last minute, though she usually fills it out earlier.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Mail-ballots-alter-California-campaigns-3869002.php#ixzz26ebGoKzz
abumbyanyothername
(2,711 posts)And see my separate thread on the topic. http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021355883
Riftaxe
(2,693 posts)you should know the election laws of your state as to whether it will be always be counted towards the final vote tally, or if they might be subject to be conditionally counted.
You also should be aware that only 27 states allow no excuse absentee voting by mail.
Personally I also much prefer voting by mail, the coffee is not nearly as stale as that of the local polling station
Brother Buzz
(36,407 posts)BUT absentee ballots are, indeed, counted and included in the Secretaries of states' certified election results.
Retrograde
(10,132 posts)Maybe it's because I live in California, where there are typically many, many races on each ballot that they don't pull this "only counted if the race is close" stuff - which I think is largely made up by the networks who want to be the first to announce a winner and resent these pesky mail-in ballots getting in the way of their scoops (or the county registrar is lying when they post on the website that my ballot has been counted). Vote by mail is changing the way elections are run and reported on, and big political and news organizations aren't changing with the times like they need to: how do you do exit polls, for example, when over half the voters vote at home? How do you target your advertising and polling? How can you report a winner at 8:01 PM Pacific time if over half the votes are yet to be counted?
I'm looking forward to getting my ballot in a few weeks, filling it out, and mailing it in well before the election.
CreekDog
(46,192 posts)In fact, absentee ballots are often the FIRST ballots cast.
Absentee ballots dropped off at the polls on election day are often among the last votes counted.
But registered voters submitting absentee ballots will have theirs counted.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)It's the way to turn out voters...
warrior1
(12,325 posts)I live in CA so it's all ready very blue. They say that the Republican party is basically dead in this state. Every major seat is held by a democrat.
It's all good.
mick063
(2,424 posts)It is so very convenient.
It will keep this state blue.