by Peggy Robin
Well, friends, I did what voters were advised to do during a
pandemic: I voted by absentee ballot. But now I wish I hadn’t.
Don’t get me wrong – I am happy not to have been among the
voters queued up to vote at one of the voting centers on primary election day
on Tuesday. I saw the news photos the next day of voters in two-and-three hour
lines. Or worse. That wouldn’t be the way I’d want to exercise my franchise. I
suppose with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight (or call it 6/2/2020 hindsight), I
would have gone to an early voting center and cast my vote in person. I
understand that social distancing was well maintained. The process was smooth
and people got their “I voted” stickers – and here’s the important part – they also
were handed a receipt proving that their ballot was cast.
That’s what I did NOT get.
Here’s how it went: Almost as soon as DC voting officials and
get-out-the-vote volunteers starting urging voters to vote by mail (as in this
CP Listserv message #157141,
posted on April 24), I sent in my absentee ballot request. I received it in the
mail in a timely way. I carefully followed the instructions to mark my ballot, place
it in the inner privacy envelope, sign and date where required on the outer
envelope, and mail it back by the June 2, 2020 deadline.
On May 22, 2020, I walked the ballot down to the Cleveland
Park Post Office and put it in the outside mailbox at the curb in time for the
5:00 PM mail pickup.
I considered going inside to have it officially received by
a clerk and get a tracking receipt – but on principle that voting should be
free, I decided against it, to avoid the tracking fee.
Now here’s the problem. When I go to the DC Board of
Elections ballot tracking webpage at https://www.dcboe.org/Voters/Absentee-Voting/Track-Absentee-Ballot,
I can find my ballot without trouble, and I can see what date it was mailed out
– but in the “Date Received” box, where it should say when they logged my
ballot in so that it could be counted…..it says “Not Available.” And it’s now
two days AFTER the election.
Not that anything crucial is hanging on my vote in this primary...but
still, I voted, damn it! I have the “I voted” sticker that was included along
with the absentee ballot and the instruction sheet. Still, I have no assurance that
anyone down at BOE knows I voted.
May 22 is far enough away from June 2 for one to reasonably
assume the thing would have made it through the US Mail and into the DC BOE
system…..yet here I am, wondering if my vote has been counted – or whether it will
ever be counted.
That’s not a worry any voter is supposed to have in a
functioning democracy.
So what’s the take-away here? Is it, Door #1: We don’t
really have a fully functioning democracy right now, due to a worldwide
pandemic and nationwide social upheaval. Or Door #2: Well, large bureaucracies
mess things up sometimes. It’s a glitch, that’s all.
Whether it’s #1 (very serious problem) or #2 (not so serious
--a one-off problem), I know what I will do next time around…. and it’s not
going to be a mail-in vote. Come November, I’ll opt for the early in-person
voting. That way, I can watch as my voted ballot slips out of the privacy
sleeve directly into the locked ballot box. A friendly, independent poll worker
will observe my action to be sure I have put in my ballot the right way. When I
am done, the poll worker will hand me my “I voted” sticker and a receipt,
showing that my ballot was number XXXX received at that polling place.
Still, I worry that other voters may lose confidence in the
system and take Door #3 – the just-sit-at-home-and-don’t-bother-to-vote option.
-Signed,
Former Absentee Voter
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The "Stay In!" column (formerly the "Get Out!" events column) is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Thursdays.
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