I voted yesterday... No Political statements just asking about the method you chose on casting your ballot.

[JimMIA]

Holy cow Texas has already surpassed voter turnout in 2016. That is CRAZY.

Florida has had about 54% of our registered voters vote early (including mail) and we have 3 days left. In 2016, IIRC, we had 62% vote early.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Florida has had about 54% of our registered voters vote early (including mail) and we have 3 days left. In 2016, IIRC, we had 62% vote early.

That's great, but I was talking about Texas TOTAL turnout in 2016. They have surpassed it in early voting.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1322171866220474368

 

[Eeyore daily]

That's great, but I was talking about Texas TOTAL turnout in 2016. They have surpassed it in early voting.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1322171866220474368

Really good sign!

 

[easyas123]

If one good thing has come out of this election year, it's that so many people are voting. When I think about what those that forged the path for voting rights in American history - and when I think about those in other countries who are not allowed to vote or with corrupt regimes - well it's always shocking to me how many people don't vote for any good reason.

 

[NotUrsula]

Holy cow Texas has already surpassed voter turnout in 2016. That is CRAZY.

It is, but we also need to keep in mind that it doesn't take much to surpass 2016 voter turnout; it was one of the least-participated-in Presidential elections of US history.

According to US Elections Project (https://electproject.github.io/Early-Vote-2020G/index.html), as of now, Texas is the only state to have surpassed total 2016 turnout, but Montana is close behind them with 91.2%, followed by Washington, NM, Georgia, NC, Tenn, Oregon and Florida.
(Florida is led by 2 counties that are way out in front: Sumter with 73.3% (this would be most of The Villages), and Collier with 69.4%.)

Update, Saturday morning: WA has pulled ahead of Montana in the race to catch TX; stay tuned!

 

[NotUrsula]

And now another twist: this news story out of Brevard County, FL reports an Election Board office (and early voting site) being shut down today because the staff have tested positive for COVID:

https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/c...ter-election-workers-test-positive-for-covid-

 

[mmouse37]

We just voted this morning. We had been trying everyday since it started here on the 24th. Even in the pouring rain the wait was about 2 hours. Today we lucked out as it stopped raining so ran to our Town Hall. Waited exactly 42 minutes in a drizzle and cold wind. It did move pretty fast. Glad its done.

MJ

 

[mom2rtk]

My son lives in a town 2 hours away (same state, but registered at the home address still). He's back for the weekend and wanted to vote in person absentee so I went with him to the court house and voted with him. In line for 75 minutes. So glad I'm done! They're not giving out "I voted" stickers this year (because of Covid and the handling) but dug one up for my son when they found out he was a first time voter. Also gave him a big cheer. LOL.

 

[bcla]

Just did it at an early voting site - the one closest to home. I could do this at any site in my county. The line was short - only about five minutes. I gave my name and address, where my info was pulled up. I didn't need to bring in the ballot that was mailed to me. Then I signed on the same iPad (where my entry was located) using a stylus. My ballot type was written on a sheet of paper and a poll worker entered that into a touchscreen machine. Then I was able to vote. The machine warned me if I skipped a vote or voted for less than the maximum where it was “vote for 2/3”. I had a review screen where I could go back to any race to change a vote. The final step on the machine was to print out my selections to the attached printer. The sheet had the ballot type number and a serial number, but I believe it can’t be traced back to me. It had a big QR code and then human readable text of every vote I made.

There was a locked ballot box and I deposited the sheet there. When I asked a poll worker, I was told that’s what gets counted and the touchscreen machine doesn’t store anything except a record of what ballot type was cast with the serial number. I guess the ballots get transported to the county office at the end of the day for counting and archiving. I didn’t ask if was possible to have the sheet spoiled.

I was prepared for long lines, but it was pretty painless. A poll worker said the lines were longer when they opened but shorter by the time I got there.

I also checked my voter status. Nothing has changed, but I’m not sure if early voting or in person voting is noted.

I came in thinking it would be paper ballots. Maybe a huge selection of the nearby precincts or printed on the spot for anything else. But the touchscreen machines were programmed to pull up any voting precinct in the county.

 

[SM1992]

Massachusetts --Wife and I voted yesterday at Town Hall. We live in a small town so no lines, were in and done in about ten minutes.
Checked online today and our votes have been accepted!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

They're not giving out "I voted" stickers this year (because of Covid and the handling) but dug one up for my son when they found out he was a first time voter. Also gave him a big cheer. LOL.

Aww that's nice of them to get one for him and to cheer for him, congrats for him

From what my husband's dad said (they just voted in person) they are giving out stickers at the poll in our county but if you voted by mail (which we did) they included the sticker on the 'what to do with your ballot' postcard that was in the envelope the ballot. Apparently they are using stylus pens (that you keep) for usage on the polling machines so you don't actually have to touch the machine if you're voting in person.

Everyone gotta be different I guess

 

[NYCgrrl]

Son lives in a town 2 hours away (same state, but registered at the home address still). He's back for the weekend and wanted to vote in person absentee so I went with him to the court house and voted with him. In line for 75 minutes. So glad I'm done! They're not giving out "I voted" stickers this year (because of Covid and the handling) but dug one up for my son when they found out he was a first time voter. Also gave him a big cheer. LOL.

This is the first year in my decades of voting I received an “I Voted” sticker. Now ya got me scared I’m contaminated .

 

[bcla]

I got an "I voted sticker". They were placed on the table for the voter to pick up. Many of the poll workers were wearing PPE including face shields and gloves. There was also ample hand sanitizer everywhere. Where I was, it was all touchscreen machines for voting. I guess it was to handle any precinct in the county. They were wiping those down after each voter.

 

[mom2rtk]

This is the first year in my decades of voting I received an “I Voted” sticker. Now ya got me scared I’m contaminated .

Yeah, I thought it was kind of dopey.

 

[Hikergirl]

My ds just came home for the weekend from school so he could vote in his first Presidential election. I was going to wait until Election day but I think I'll go with him. I'm hoping the line isn't too long.

 

[bcla]

We used these:

This doesn't show it, but each one of these in my county has a keypad and headphones where vision impaired voters can cast their votes. I found this photo:

We have a list of all the systems that are used in my state for this election.

https://votingsystems.cdn.sos.ca.gov/oversight/county-vsys/vot-tech-by-counties-2020-11.pdf
Some counties have ballots printed on demand at the polling place, some have ballots printed on demand at the elections office, but some don't list any at all. I read somewhere that if paper ballots are exhausted, they're supposed to be able to deliver paper ballots within 2 hours.

Quite a few counties list the polling place/vote center tabulation as "Same as Vote-by-Mail (Central Tabulation)". So some counties are still doing it the old fashioned way where paper ballots are dropped into a box, not checked for correctness (just like a mail-in ballot) onsite, and then transported to a central counting facility. I was under the impression that most polling places these days had them counted onsite so that poll workers could report precinct totals at the end of the day. But even large counties like Los Angeles and San Diego County do it the old fashioned way.

 

[mom2rtk]

Aww that's nice of them to get one for him and to cheer for him, congrats for him

From what my husband's dad said (they just voted in person) they are giving out stickers at the poll in our county but if you voted by mail (which we did) they included the sticker on the 'what to do with your ballot' postcard that was in the envelope the ballot. Apparently they are using stylus pens (that you keep) for usage on the polling machines so you don't actually have to touch the machine if you're voting in person.

Everyone gotta be different I guess

They gave out the stylus pens to use on our machines as well.

The cheer was cute.

 

[dina444444]

We used these:

This doesn't show it, but each one of these in my county has a keypad and headphones where vision impaired voters can cast their votes. I found this photo:

We have a list of all the systems that are used in my state for this election.

https://votingsystems.cdn.sos.ca.gov/oversight/county-vsys/vot-tech-by-counties-2020-11.pdf
Some counties have ballots printed on demand at the polling place, some have ballots printed on demand at the elections office, but some don't list any at all. I read somewhere that if paper ballots are exhausted, they're supposed to be able to deliver paper ballots within 2 hours.

Quite a few counties list the polling place/vote center tabulation as "Same as Vote-by-Mail (Central Tabulation)". So some counties are still doing it the old fashioned way where paper ballots are dropped into a box, not checked for correctness (just like a mail-in ballot) onsite, and then transported to a central counting facility. I was under the impression that most polling places these days had them counted onsite so that poll workers could report precinct totals at the end of the day. But even large counties like Los Angeles and San Diego County do it the old fashioned way.

These are the new machines we are using in LA county. They rolled out with the primary back in March.

 

[bcla]

These are the new machines we are using in LA county. They rolled out with the primary back in March.

I looked up the name of the system in the California Secretary of State's list of certified systems. It's called the VSAP (Voting Solutions for All People - formerly Voting System Assessment Project) system, and it looks like it was developed specifically for Los Angeles County. I don't believe it's an off the shelf system. They do say it was made for them by the British company Smartmatic, although LA County has all the proprietary rights to the equipment.

https://vsap.lavote.net
The idea of copying an unofficial completed ballot stored on an app to the machine seems rather cool. However, I'd be worried about the app perhaps storing my vote where the data could get hacked. Not that anyone would care, but I'm just paranoid.

 

[RaySharpton]

As of Friday, October 30, 2020, Georgia advanced voting has surpassed 2016 total voting by 149% or more.

I mailed my absentee voting letter this past Wednesday and I worried when the news that night said, everyone should drop off their absentee vote to a ballot box instead of mailing it.

Well, tonight I received an email and a phone message Friday night stating that my ballot was received and counted.

I used https://ballottrax.com to send me the tracking of my ballot.

Your absentee ballot has been accepted! Your vote has been counted, and you may not vote again. If you have questions, please call us at (404) 612-3816 or email us at elections.voterregistration@fultoncountyga.gov.

I was so relieved and surprised.

Does your state or county have a ballot tracker?

They have a map on their website which states use ballottrax.