I Voted

Well, I voted last week, by mail-in ballot, and Jason sent his ballot, too. So why do they keep making us watch those campaign ads?

One cool thing about the mail-in ballot this year was that they sent "I Voted" stickers to us!

In Colorado, they've been really campaigning for more people to vote by mail or vote early, to make voting day easier and smoother. It is really nice to not have to wait in line, or worry whether or not the machine is hacker-safe, or whether the hanging chads will make a controversy. Who knows what potential problems there are with the mail-in ballots? I haven't heard of any problems.

Four years ago, people were spreading the rumor that mail-in ballots weren't even counted, which is a pretty stupid thing to say. All the overseas soldiers are denied having their votes counted? Local issues could be so close that they really have to count EVERY ballot, even when the presidential winner may be clear without counting them all (like if there were 20,000 mail-in ballots, but one candidate was ahead by 50,000 votes).

Though I think I am missing out a little bit on the voting experience, I really prefer voting by mail. I have all the time I want to read about each issue and try to figure out what the underlying issue really is. Since anyone can put anything on the ballot in this state, many measures are horribly written and have consequences that the authors did not intend! There is a reason why legislators are often lawyers: they can actually understand legalese and write it competently, so that the outcome is likelier to match the intent. It would be hard to dissect each measure in a voting booth, with a line waiting behind you. Even with the voter guide book that is required in this state, you still have to read between the lines in some instances, and find out who is pushing for the change. It helps to have time and internet access while voting. :)