Voting By Mail Works

2017 Voted by Mail Stocker

This morning I found on my desk the sticker (above) sent out by the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections with my mail-in ballot packet. I know that the 2017 election in Ohio was held nine days ago (Nov. 7), but I am creating this post today to state for the record that I believe voting by mail works rather well.

Late in October, I requested a mail-in ballot. This involved downloading the request form from the Board of Elections website, filling it in, and mailing it. As noted above, I did receive my ballot packet. In fact, I got it five or six days after mailing in my request.

Sitting at the kitchen table with the ballot and a cup of coffee, I was able to study the literature I’d collected on the issues and candidates, and carefully mark my choices. I placed the ballot in the return envelope, added the required postage (two first-class stamps more than covered the required $.79), and mailed it in.

Two days later, I received an email confirming that the Board of Elections had received my ballot and that it would be counted.

Straightforward. Efficient. Easy. No driving to the polling place. No waiting in line.

So why don’t more people do the same?