AGBF|1478251115|4093579 said:I voted by absentee ballot a few weeks ago in Virginia. I helped my housebound father to vote by absentee ballot here in Connecticut a couple of weeks ago. Until this year he always managed to go to a polling place himself. I also helped our live-in African-American CNA register to vote in his own town in Connecticut city and get an absentee ballot in time to vote. He had not known if he was registered to vote or not, and together we looked up his name in the city's voting records.I did not ask him if he had ever voted before because I did not want to embarrass him, but I would not be shocked if he had not. He is over 45. In this household, only my 24 year-old daughter has yet to vote, and she will do so on Election Day. Connecticut has no early voting except by absentee ballot for cause (which my father meets by being housebound and our aide meets by being away from home on work).
I was a little shocked by some of the questions our aide asked me, but was very careful to answer them in a tactful way. He is a very intelligent man who knows a great deal about health and medicine, and I depend upon to make difficult decisions about my father's care. That he has gaps in his political knowledge is not his fault. But it pointed out to me that many people "out there " are probably similarly handicapped. He asked me, for instance, if each state had a president (to which I answered that each state had a governor). And he asked if the United States had sovereignty (he didn't use that word) over other countries like Russia (to which I answered no). This was a bit worrisome to me as a former history teacher, because our aide is a high school graduate and very bright. Something is wrong in our schools.
Deb/AGBF
Gypsy|1478242693|4093566 said:I sent my mail in ballot in. I don't know why I haven't done mail in before. So much easier. Especially since there were a TON of propositions this year and they were TRICKY and MISLEADING.
There were TWO death penalty propositions. And one bad, and the other worse.
Two grocery bag propositions. One that was TOTALLY misleading.
Every time I read these damned things I want to volunteer to write these things. So many of them are just BADLY written/thought out.
VRBeauty|1478276467|4093684 said:Gypsy|1478242693|4093566 said:I sent my mail in ballot in. I don't know why I haven't done mail in before. So much easier. Especially since there were a TON of propositions this year and they were TRICKY and MISLEADING.
There were TWO death penalty propositions. And one bad, and the other worse.
Two grocery bag propositions. One that was TOTALLY misleading.
Every time I read these damned things I want to volunteer to write these things. So many of them are just BADLY written/thought out.
I hear you!
For the benefit of those who don't live in California, there were something like SIXTEEN propositions on this year's ballot... some of them contradicting each other. The official voter's "pamphlet" was the size of a medium-length novel - the Sacramento Bee estimated that it fell somewhere between "Grapes of Wrath" and "Crime and Punishment" in length. Fortunately for me, there were only three local measures on top of that in area.
Someone who attends my church works for the one of the legislative analysts offices and usually offers an independent overview of the statewide propositions prior to each election, including background on how/why some of the measures are on the ballot that isn't generally publicized, and HANDOUTS. This year his proposition overview was so popular that he offered it three times! I had never attended one of his sessions before but I'm definitely going to be taking advantage of them in the future. If nothing else, it helped me figure out how I wanted to vote on the "easy" ones and freed that mental energy for the ballot measures I was somewhat conflicted about. (Lest anyone is concerned, he's very careful not to discuss his preference on the measures.) I also found a guide to the propositions prepared by the California League of Women Voters at my local library that also provided a nice plain English synopsis of each statewide ballot measure.
It's generous of you to offer your services, but let's face it - some of those measures are meant to be tricky and misleading!
As an aside, I wonder how most voters faced with these propositions are making up their minds? The state's major newspapers usually do a good job of providing the opposing viewpoints on each measure, and of course their own editorial board's recommendations, it seems that so few people are reading newspapers anymore, and the paid advertisements seem to consist mostly of fear mongering.
ksinger|1478287535|4093770 said:Well, this would be the first year I've tried for early voting. No cigar. I tried yesterday, and the line was to Alaska, with the same today. I had to pass because standing that long in a line that snakes out of the building, around the building, and into the trees...
Dakota|1478295029|4093828 said:I think I will wait until the big day. That way, I'll be sure about what I want and I won't have any buyers remorse.
lovedogs|1478285059|4093750 said:VRBeauty|1478276467|4093684 said:Gypsy|1478242693|4093566 said:I sent my mail in ballot in. I don't know why I haven't done mail in before. So much easier. Especially since there were a TON of propositions this year and they were TRICKY and MISLEADING.
There were TWO death penalty propositions. And one bad, and the other worse.
Two grocery bag propositions. One that was TOTALLY misleading.
Every time I read these damned things I want to volunteer to write these things. So many of them are just BADLY written/thought out.
I hear you!
For the benefit of those who don't live in California, there were something like SIXTEEN propositions on this year's ballot... some of them contradicting each other. The official voter's "pamphlet" was the size of a medium-length novel - the Sacramento Bee estimated that it fell somewhere between "Grapes of Wrath" and "Crime and Punishment" in length. Fortunately for me, there were only three local measures on top of that in area.
Someone who attends my church works for the one of the legislative analysts offices and usually offers an independent overview of the statewide propositions prior to each election, including background on how/why some of the measures are on the ballot that isn't generally publicized, and HANDOUTS. This year his proposition overview was so popular that he offered it three times! I had never attended one of his sessions before but I'm definitely going to be taking advantage of them in the future. If nothing else, it helped me figure out how I wanted to vote on the "easy" ones and freed that mental energy for the ballot measures I was somewhat conflicted about. (Lest anyone is concerned, he's very careful not to discuss his preference on the measures.) I also found a guide to the propositions prepared by the California League of Women Voters at my local library that also provided a nice plain English synopsis of each statewide ballot measure.
It's generous of you to offer your services, but let's face it - some of those measures are meant to be tricky and misleading!
As an aside, I wonder how most voters faced with these propositions are making up their minds? The state's major newspapers usually do a good job of providing the opposing viewpoints on each measure, and of course their own editorial board's recommendations, it seems that so few people are reading newspapers anymore, and the paid advertisements seem to consist mostly of fear mongering.
I live in CA, and just mailed in my ballot yesterday. The propositions were horribly worded, and some were misleading (at best). I eventually found the "KBPS voter guide" that breaks down both sides of the argument for the given propositions, as well as showing who/what groups have funded them. Unfortunately I had already voted for a few of them without reading that guide, and am particularly regretful about one that I voted for without realizing how misleading the wording was. But without that guide I would have been 100% lost.
AnnaH|1478628548|4095265 said:However, this is my country, and I am not going anywhere!
Kaleigh|1478629641|4095274 said:I voted this morning. PA doesn't have the option of early voting, wish it did!!!