I Have Voted!

by Pa Rock
Determined Voter 

For the past several years I have voted absentee in every election.  I do that for a couple of reasons.  First of all, I do not enjoy going to the polls and standing in line, all the while dodging the attentions of people who get their news from Fox and Facebook and believe they are honor-bound to educate me on the issues or some aspect of the lives of the candidates.  I know who I am voting for before I arrive at the polls - and why.  

My other reason for voting absentee is that it allows me to cast my ballot early, thus minimizing the chance that I will expire just days before an important election without having voted.  I would like for my obituary to end with these words:  " . . . and he cast an absentee ballot in the upcoming election several weeks ago."

The normal process for voting absentee in Missouri - at least the one I use - is to go to the county clerk's office, explain in a short, declaratory sentence that you will be away from home on Election Day, and then cast a ballot during that same visit.  Many states no longer require a reason, but Missouri still does.  Now, however, with COVID-19 running rampant across the nation, people place themselves at extra risk by going to the polls and standing in line to vote.  Missouri has issued a list of reasons that people my choose to vote absentee during the pandemic without a special excuse.  Two that I qualify under are being over the age of sixty-five, and being diabetic.

I have now voted twice under this new pandemic plan, and it is super simple.  People who want to vote absentee just complete a form on the internet at the Missouri Secretary of State's homepage and then mail or take that to the county clerk's office.  She will then mail applicants ballots when they become available, and ballots may be returned in the handy postage-paid envelopes or brought back to the courthouse in person.

My ballot for the general election arrived this past Wednesday, and I filled it out the following morning and returned it to the county clerk's office.  Nothing could have been simpler.   The official Election Day is November 3rd, but my ballot was marked and cast on September 24th.

And I feel good about that.

My county is red - so much so that there were no Democratic candidates for any of the local offices - and when the votes are counted Donald Trump will have somewhere around two-thirds of my county's total - but he won't have mine!

And I really feel good about that!