We are less than a week away from Election Day. Honestly, I’m ready for the presidential campaign to be done. It feels like it’s been going on since the last election. And that’s partially true since Trump started his re-election campaign right after he was elected. And this election has been very overwhelming. There are so many things we are all aware of as a country with what happened that might not need to have happened. We have seen how other countries have worked with slowing the pandemic and it’s frustrating to see that our national leadership isn’t doing the same. And since so many of us are out of work, we all have more time to be informed about the news each day.
Election Day feels like a very different thing this time. Normally, it felt like most people would go out to vote on Election Day. I always voted by mail, but I know a lot of people who never did that before. This year, people are calling Election Day the deadline to vote, not the date to vote. I can’t think of any of my friends in California that are voting in person. Everyone is voting by mail and almost all of us have been dropping off our ballots in a ballot box instead of mailing them back.
And I think most of us are aware that we probably won’t know who won by the end of Election Day. The projections that the various news agencies put out are just projections, not totals. Typically, it takes a few days (if not longer) after Election Day to finish counting ballots. And this is because, in most states, they cannot start counting ballots until the morning of Election Day. I don’t think states should be counting and announcing what is happening with the mail-in ballots before Election Day, but I do think it makes sense to allow states to start going through them and counting. Especially because some politicians are starting to say that they do not believe ballots should be counted after Election Day. I’m not even talking about ballots that are mailed before Election Day and arrive after. This is about ballots that are ready to be counted on Election Day but because of time they are not counted before midnight. Let’s say there are 10 million mail-in ballots but only enough time to count 7 million before midnight. Should those 3 million votes not count? Should your vote be a luck of the draw if it’s considered? No. Every vote should be counted. And there is no need for us to know who won immediately. In the last several elections, we didn’t know right away. So why do we need to know that night now?
And for ballots that are mailed back before Election Day, there are issues with those too. Many states have decided that if a ballot is postmarked before Election Day but does not arrive on time, it is not valid. And considering how slow the mail is these days, I think a lot of ballots that are mailed won’t make it in time. For example, when I mail things to my family it’s usually there within a day or two. The last time I mailed something to my parents, it took almost 3 weeks. The slow mail is the reason I used a ballot box this time. And I’m lucky in LA that we have so many ballot boxes. Other states are making it very difficult to return a ballot. For example, in Texas, they are restricting ballot boxes to 1 per county. Some counties have millions of people or are very large and people have to drive miles to get to the box. And if you mail your ballot back, it can only arrive the day after Election Day to count, so many people are dropping them off. That has lead to lines at the ballot boxes that can take hours to get through. And not everyone can take the day to drop off a ballot (or wait in line to vote in person). So making it harder to vote is also potentially preventing people from voting.
But even with all the difficulties that there might be voting this year, I want to encourage you all to vote. Actually, because of the difficulties I want people to vote. We can make voting easier for everyone if we have politicians in office who believe in doing that. Texas didn’t have to make things difficult. They made that decision and said it would be fine. Hopefully, those who are upset with these new policies will vote in people who want to make voting accessible to all. It’s not just about voting for the president (although that is important). It’s about voting for the people who will be making the decisions in your state, city, and district. You want people in office who represent you and that you agree with. And that only happens if you vote. If you don’t take this chance, you are silencing your voice for what you want.
If you have a mail-in ballot, please do not mail it back. Even if you have to drive a bit to a ballot box, it’s the only way now to guarantee your ballot will arrive on time and can be counted. If you are voting in person and if your state has early voting you may want to do that to avoid the lines that might be happening on Election Day. I know the lines for early voting are happening too, but you can time early voting around your schedule so hopefully, you can go on a day that you have more availability.
And I hope that no matter what way this election turns out, that we can find a way to come together again. The split in our country has gone too far and we need to find a way to work on supporting each other. Just because people might not have voted for a politician doesn’t mean that politician can say they aren’t going to help them. Just because you didn’t vote for someone means you should be protesting anything they do and threatening them. We are stronger when we are united and together. And we need to be stronger than we have been in the recent past so we can regain what we have lost this year.
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