All I Can Do Now Is Wait

Missouri is late to the party when it comes to making voting convenient. The only way to vote absentee by mail is if you:

• Are confined due to illness or physical disability (or care for someone in your house who is)
  
• Expect to be absent on Election Day
• Are an election worker, first responder, or healthcare worker
• Are prevented by religious belief from going to the polls on election day 
• Are incarcerated but haven't lost right to vote
• Are an active-duty military personnel (or a close family members living with them) or a Missouri citizen living outside the U.S

The one time I requested an absentee ballot no one verified my reason, and I suspect quite a few people misrepresent their plans in order to get a ballot.

There is also a two-week period of no excuse in-person absentee voting, but it is usually only at the Board of Election Commissioners office. This year it was expanded to 14 locations in the metropolitan area. This option was so popular some people I know waited at a polling place an hour or more for the privilege of casting their ballot early.

That seemed crazy to me, and I decided that my plan would be to wait until Voting Day when there would be substantially more polling places (and hopefully shorter lines). Because voters can choose any polling place in the county, this morning after a chiropractor appointment I pulled up a wait time tracking website and found that the five locations closest to his office had somewhere between zero and six people in line. I headed towards the most convenient one.

The polling place was in a high school gym. It was well organized, with a line up indicator that wound around two sides of the room. However, there was no one in line and I was able to move immediately to a station. The worker scanned my ID, which told him which ballot I needed. After I had my ballot another worker directed me to a seat.

I pulled out my pre-filled sample ballot and got down to the task. Filling out all the bubbles was the hardest part. In addition to the national and state races, there were a half dozen state amendments/propositions, three county propositions, and two local ones. Including votes for a couple dozen judges that were up for retention, that was a lot of marking! 

After I submitted my ballot I chose a sticker from the selection at the machine. The poll worker thanked me for coming in.

 Five years ago today: Adventures In Selling And Buying