Too Late to Mail it, Mamas!

Yeah, it's called vote by mail, but if you're like me and always wait till the very last moment, it's really a vote-by-dropoff system.  Andrea is one of those last-minute voters, so she's headed to the drop box, not the mail box.  She writes:

Just finished my ballot.  Definitely feeling satisfied after months of thinking and reading and weighing.  Unfortunately for me, and any of you still waiting to turn yours in, it is now too late to mail our ballots.  Ballots have to be in the county elections office by 8 PM this Tuesday, the famed May 20th. It doesn't matter when it's post-marked by, so if you want that ballot you've been toiling over to count, you have to make sure it gets to a valid drop-box before 8 PM on 5/20. 

Where's the Ceremony in it All, Already?  The vote-by-mail process is great for many reasons.  It seems to increase voter turnout, doesn't require you to take time off work to vote, can be done easily by those who can't get to a polling station, and gives you plenty of time to research ballot options.  The only disadvantage, in my mind, is that it kind of lacks ceremony.  I've lived in places where you went to the local school, closed yourself in the booth, and had your way with the ballot.  It didn't matter how many times I did it, it was still just as exciting every time.  I looked forward to sharing that experience with my kids, engaging them in the political process early.

Do You Bring the Kids Along?  This year, we're driving our ballots to the local library to turn them in.  We'll probably let the kids drop it in the box.  It's not much, but it feels a little more ceremonious.  What do you do?  Any voting rituals?  How do you involve the kids when you don't have a specific "election day" or any levers to pull?

Comments

[olivia]

um, yeah. I need to find that ballot before I even get to filling it out and dropping it off tomorrow evening.