~a column by Colleen O’Brien
For many of us, the day has come and left because we have been able to vote early by mail, in some states, in person. When I received my mail-in ballot in my post office box, I went online to research the candidates I was unfamiliar with; I read about the resolutions and referendums; I filled in the little oval spaces with blue ink, and I stopped by the courthouse to put my ballot in a ballot box.
There were dozens of people coming in and going out, no lines, just a casual kind of business taken care of without haste or tedium. I stood at the top of the steps and watched the voters – intent expressions coming up the broad steps and satisfied looks as they left the building.
I thought I’d be seeing mostly older folks, and there were indeed plenty of them. But there were young singles, young couples with preschoolers, a mom with a schoolboy who got to put his mom’s sealed ballot in the wooden box. He then tore off two stickers from the roll beside the box, handed one to his mom and plastered the other on his shirt: “I voted early!”
For many years I lived in Iowa and Florida, and because I was often in the wrong state at voting time, I asked for absentee ballots. At that time, I had to explain why I wanted it. Now, I do not. My state just sends it to me. For all those years, I missed the trip to the polls to vote in person; it was something I’d loved doing since my first time in the Greene County courthouse, pulling the lever. This year in Florida, when I received my mail-in ballot for the primary, I was informed that I could drop it off at the courthouse or mail it in. I took the Election Board’s offer and dropped it off in person: it was almost like going in the booth, marking the ballot and dropping it in the box.
General election ballots were being sent out from mid-October, and the country was told to be leery of the safety, speed and reliability of the U.S. Postal Service getting it right or being able to handle the load. The hyperbole and scare tactics surrounding the efficiency of the oldest and most revered agency of the federal government created a frisson of fright across the country, even among many who knew better. Those who trusted the P.O were simply afraid of interference from on high. What will we do without a post office? How can they be removing mailboxes? How can they be disallowing overtime when mail service is one of our few physical connections to the outside world of pandemic? What if my ballot doesn’t get there in time? What if some irresponsible mail carrier dumps a load of mail in a river? (This particular lie was a whopper; there are some people you can never believe.)
We were assured that none of this would happen: we were told that the curtailment of overtime was not going to be put in place, we were told that the mailboxes would be returned to their street corners. The panic died down. But the possibilities of misrule and interference lingered. Various sources advertised that we needed to do early voting in person if our state allowed; mail-in voting as soon as we received the ballot in our mailbox; or delivering the mail-in ballot in person if we could.
The caution surrounding voting in the U.S. is disconcerting. We have been taught that we are the safest voters in the world, the example of the secret ballot never interfered with.
Sadly, we were misinformed on that level also, our history books neglecting to tell us about poll taxes, literacy tests, the repositioning of polling places without notification to some of the voters, the complete closing of polling places without notification, all-day waits to vote in a slow-moving line, intimidation by police or Ku Kluxers.
The debacle of the 2000 election results between Al Gore, Democrat, and George W. Bush, Republican, in Florida, where the ballots had to be counted and recounted and their validity finally decided by the Supreme Court seemed so unlike America. It fiddled with our innocent perception of fair elections. When Fidel Castro, Cuban Premier, offered his observers to come across the 90 miles between our countries to keep our obviously undemocratic election honest, there was great indignation among Republicans who found absolutely no humor in the gesture.
This year will be problematic too, as one of the candidates has vowed to remain no matter what, to call it a fraud if he doesn’t win, to disrupt the polling locations with guys with guns, to remain in the White House not just for eight years but for 12. Or more.
We’re in for it this next month, happenings we cannot foresee with any clarity. The country vibrates with anticipation and dread. So, hang on and hang in there. Be steady. Insist on honesty, investigation if needed…and for as long as it takes.
We may have to call on Cuba to keep our integrity intact.
