March 27, 2008 8:55 AM
Will you vote by mail this year?
About half the ballots in the general election will be cast before Election Day, officials predict.
Response has been enthusiastic to an option to become permanent mail voters, reports Myung Oak Kim.
Since March 17, Jefferson County election officials have received more than 55,000 applications from registered voters who want to only vote by mail - an option that became available last year through a new law.With the new applicants, nearly half of Jefferson County's 250,000 active voters will cast ballots by mail this year, said the county's deputy of elections, Josh Liss.
The applications arrived in response to a letter the county sent two weeks ago to more than 200,000 voters about the new mail voting alternative. Many other county clerks are gearing up to do similar outreach campaigns.
The presidential election is expected to draw record turnout, and clerks want as many people as possible to vote by mail to shorten lines on Election Day.
"If everybody's paying attention around the state and if all the election offices around the state get out the word . . . I'd be surprised if half the state didn't request a mail ballot or vote early," El Paso County Clerk Bob Balink said Wednesday.
Mail voting is certainly convenient and it does give voters more time to think about their ballot. Still, I'd miss going to my precinct headquarters and physically casting my vote. And what if something dramatic happened in the final days of the election?
Are you considering a mail-in ballot this year? Have you voted by mail in the past? Satisfied with the system?
March 27, 2008
9:46 AM
gr8fuldude writes:
"Will you vote by mail this year?"...
If at all freakin possible, you are dang right I will. I would also mow the yard, wash my vehicles and go to the dentist by mail if possible.
March 27, 2008
10:26 AM
Shaggy writes:
How bout sex by mail Dude:)
March 27, 2008
10:46 AM
Tree writes:
1. Yes 2. Yes 3. Yes
I don't know why Howard Dean hasn't blitzed the country with mishaps showing people standing in line getting nowhere in Ohio playing the Who's "Don't get fooled again".
Stay home, vote early by mail. It's effortless. I guess some people actually like parking lot traffic at the mall during the holidays.
March 27, 2008
10:54 AM
Hogar De Vuelta (العودة) "Ask not what your country can do for you..." writes:
I will be voting by mail from now on.
March 27, 2008
11:01 AM
gr8fuldude writes:
Shaggy - Woody Allen used to have some schtick to the effect that "Every time I try phone sex, I always wind up with the cord tangled"...or something like that...
Other fav Woody quotes:
http://www.2spare.com/item_91345.aspx
March 27, 2008
11:13 AM
Tree writes:
Ask the master about mail sex. I didn't know Larry had a political site. I'm getting my dirty Ohio news fix from Larry.
Changing political parties is a fealony if you have (Rush) intentions? Talk about a crime you can't enforce. Play the video.
http://www.larryflynt.com/
March 27, 2008
11:36 AM
Al Kolwicz writes:
I am concerned that the story in today’s Rocky Mountain News might mislead voters and election officials. "Voters enthused about mail option"
The phrases “Coloradans are responding so enthusiastically” and “voters who want to only vote by mail “ strongly suggest that voters want to use the “permanent absentee” method of voting.
Increased usage does not necessarily mean that voters want or prefer the method. In fact, there are several other explanations for the increased usage of the method.
Check out the BLOG at http://coloradovotergroup.blogspot.com/2008/03/voters-choose-paper-ballots-over-voting.html
It is important to distinguish between voters who want a paper ballot and voters who actually understand and want to use the “permanent absentee” method.
March 27, 2008
11:38 AM
Al Kolwicz writes:
I am concerned that the story in today’s Rocky Mountain News might mislead voters and election officials. "Voters enthused about mail option"
The phrases “Coloradans are responding so enthusiastically” and “voters who want to only vote by mail “ strongly suggest that voters want to use the “permanent absentee” method of voting.
Increased usage does not necessarily mean that voters want or prefer the method. In fact, there are several other explanations for the increased usage of the method.
Check out the BLOG at http://coloradovotergroup.blogspot.com/2008/03/voters-choose-paper-ballots-over-voting.html
It is important to distinguish between voters who want a paper ballot and voters who actually understand and want to use the “permanent absentee” method.
March 27, 2008
11:47 AM
totally disillusioned and disenfranchised voter writes:
What in heck happened? We've always voted by machine, and it worked. The problems seem to have come up after the Florida debacle of 2000, where a bizarre, confusing paper system was in place!
Now suddenly, machines are suspect? Of course, we have to remember the descent of government contract leeches that expect huge sums of money for untested "new" voting machines that muddy the waters.
What's really suspect, is the way votes are counted, and fraud seems to be rampant. How can we really trust paper ballots, and how can we afford the personnel and time-intensive process to count them?
Who cares about being a democracy when voter fraud is a major issue, as it was in Florida in 2000?
March 27, 2008
11:59 AM
Shaggy writes:
I say we dip our fingers in ink...another success in Iraq..
March 27, 2008
12:06 PM
primafacie writes:
Only thing better than voting absentee (mail) would be voting online.
March 27, 2008
1:06 PM
Anonymous writes:
Voting online seems like a farce, and open to worse fraud than paper ballots. Um, remember the Rockies tix fiasco?
March 27, 2008
1:21 PM
Hogar De Vuelta (العودة) "Ask not what your country can do for you...." writes:
106,
All you have to do is hire the people who do the online banking, they know how to make it secure and leave an audit trail.
March 27, 2008
2:32 PM
citizen writes:
If the election is a mail election, then I will personally not vote. I cannot be sure my vote was even counted since I did not get to cast my ballot.
Mail ballots are for lazy, slugs who don't want to take the time to actually vote and are pushed by public officials who either want to have the ability to affect the results or are themselves lazy and seek the easy way out.
March 27, 2008
3:31 PM
Anonymous writes:
citezen-
WTF are u talking about old man. Lazy would entail not voting at all. Go eat your prunes and pick them yourself lazy old geezer.