Overcoming obstacles

Probably no need to remind you, but in most places, you can vote NOW!  And you should!

Here in central Kentucky, we have the benefit of multiple ways to cast our ballots.  We're permitted no-excuse absentee balloting, which my wife and I utilized to avoid the obvious risks presented by the coronavirus pandemic, and there are even sanctioned drop boxes to take them to if you're not comfortable sending them through the mail.  And what's more, we were able to verify with the board of elections that they arrived.  We also can do early in-person voting and, of course, in-person voting on November 3.

But all's not joy in Mudville, so to speak, as our County Clerk (the office that oversees elections in Kentucky's counties) complained that they hoped for more absentee ballots to take the pressure off of in-person balloting.  This is the same man who objected to having these multiple alternative ways of voting in the first place, saying that he nor other clerks were not consulted.  

I guess you can't always get what you want.

But this is relatively minor in the face of what's been happening elsewhere.  For instance, the governor of Texas decreed some weeks ago that each county would have only ONE drop box per county.  That doesn't sound like that big a deal until one considers exactly how large Texas is geographically, and how large each of their 254 counties is.  For example, I've read that Harris County, the county that contains Houston, is among the largest in the country.  Yet there is only one drop box.  For the entire county.  This has naturally found its way into the courts, so it does not appear to be over yet.

On the plus side, approximately one million Texas voters cast their ballots on the first day of early voting earlier this week.

Then there's the issue of drop boxes in various parts of California.  Unsanctioned drop boxes.  Placed by the Republican County of California.  And they say that they'll continue to leave them in place and promise to deliver the contained ballots to the local boards of elections in time to be counted on Election Day.

Um, yeah, sure.

In Virginia, the process of voter registration became more complex recently, as it was reported that a construction crew accidentially cut a fiber optic cable and thereby disabled the entire online voter registration system.  On the FINAL day to register.  A judge ordered that the deadline be extended for two additional days.

And unless you consciously avoid the news, you likely saw the repeated long lines to vote in Georgia.  There were major issues in their primary just a couple of months ago, and the board of elections attributed that to the need for additional equipment training for poll workers.  They supposedly did that, but what's interesting about these long wait times is that they almost always occur in lower-income precincts, where minority voters are in the majority.  Worth remembering that the current Governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, was the state's Secretary of State previously and mounted an extensive purge of voter rolls, removing a total of 1.4 million names from the rolls of current and active voters over a multi-year period.

In Florida, convicted felons who have served their sentences were restored their right to vote, but then the Republican-led legislature added a condition that these former prisoners would have to pay all outstanding costs and restitution before they would regain their voting rights.  Not long ago, billionaire and former Presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg pledged money and other resources to help as many of these former prisoners as possible, but I have not seen much reporting since.

Despite all of this, in most states where early or mail-in voting is part of the normal process, voters are casting ballots in record numbers.  It's really good to see a heightened level of participation, because if there was ever a time when the country needs for its citizens to be heard, this is it.