Absentee Ballot

 

As you can see, Ellie is riveted by the soccer game between USA and Iran.  

Alison and I have become devoted soccer fans (or what is known everywhere else in the world as 'football'). We love Atlanta United in the MLS and the Portland Thorns in the NWSL. We are thrilled to have a competitive USA team in the World Cup/

But that's not my only reason for following the sport. It's a way for me to communicate with my far-flung older boys (Greg in Pasadena, California, and Doug in the Catskills of New York State). It gives this aging introvert a chance to text each other while we watch the games. I get to know more about their lives and just share everyday bonding. Do I love soccer? Yes. Do I love even more being able to share time with my boys? Absolutely!

Here's a picture of the celebration as America goes up 1 to 0 (the final score). Christian Pulisic dramatically gave up his own body to score the goal, colliding with the goalie, injuring himself, and was out the second half.  

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Oh yes. I forgot. The title of this post is Absentee Ballot.

We have a crucial election coming up. Georgia has a runoff and must decide between the professional and highly competent current Senator, Reverand Raphael Warnock, and Texas resident/Trump sycophant Herschel Walker. Seems like a no-brainer, but given the MAGA impulses that overrule common sense among many in this state. and the blind partisanship that leads people to vote for people THEY KNOW THEY SHOULD NOT, this election is much closer than it has any right to be.

Georgia Republicans, in a fit of voter suppression frenzy, have changed the runoff from nine weeks to four. They originally had scheduled only five days of early voting, with no Saturday voting (a big ef you to working voters). My son, Benjamin, is away at school and will not be here for the initially scheduled voting days.  

He started filling out an absentee ballot request form online a couple of weeks ago but hit bureaucratic snafus when it required steps that he could not readily complete. By the time he came to visit us for Thanksgiving, he had completed the form but had yet to mail it.

MEANWHILE...Georgia courts ruled that Saturday voting could not be barred. I read that some Georgia counties were now offering Saturday voting.  

We went to our county election board and discovered that our county was NOT offering Saturday voting. Okay, fine. Benjamin turned in his absentee ballot request. They looked at it, said it was fine, and that they would mail him an absentee ballot to his college address that day. I thought they could just give it to him, but that is not allowed. It has to be mailed. Fine.

I'm not trying to say anything negative about the election board. They have been friendly, polite, and helpful. They understandably have to follow the rules. They were also frustrated that the legislature had created such a tight turnaround time.

I checked with Benjamin this morning. He had yet to receive the absentee ballot. Look, Benjamin is very busy right now. He is trying to prepare for some very stressful finals and end-of-the-semester projects. He is trying to do the best he can.

At this point, if he gets the ballot, he'll have to overnight it to be sure it gets back in time. Do I hate the idea that he has to, in essence, pay to have his vote counted? I'm not thrilled, but the vote counting means more to us at this point.

Benjamin is not alone in this. Post-election analysis shows that GEN Z (Benjamin's generation) had an outsized effect on the election. Young people made a difference.  

So, this runoff will be hard for many college students to turn around in time.

But that's not a bug of the Republican election changes. It's a feature. They want to minimize the youth vote, and this is a wicked clever way to accomplish that.

I wish Georgia would go to an instant runoff system like they have in Alaska and Maine. Then we wouldn't have to go through this mess.

But Georgia probably won't do that. It makes too much sense.

Until next time,

T. M. Strait

Proud Warnock Voter