In Person or Mail In?
I really wanted my vote to count. And despite the fact that I live in New York, I don’t have a lot of confidence with this process. After 2016, we can take nothing for granted. So I thought a lot about how I would vote. I had planned on voting early beginning Oct 24th because I thought I’d pick that random Tuesday at 11 when everyone is at work. But after seeing scenes of super long lines in many states without much social distancing, I decided to mail my ballot in early: What if I waited until a week before, and there wasn’t enough time to mail it if indeed the lines were crazy here?
My daughter sent a video of her dropping her mail-in ballot down the shute of her apartment building in Manhattan. I thought of that ballot winding its way down that shute from the 23rd floor. Hm, I thought. Is that reliable? My other daughter dropped hers off at the local blue mailbox. I decided to go to the post office and hand-deliver my ballot to a human.
I was the only one in the post office at the beginning. Bob, behind the counter, with his mask hanging below his nose, eyed my ballot, wondering if one postage stamp was enough. I was sure it was. Then he looked closely at a package I was mailing that had a pre-paid return label on it. He took his time approving it.
“Want stamps?” he asked.
“Yes. Do you have the ‘Women Vote, 19th Amendment’ stamps?”
After searching for a while with no luck, Bob came back with Mayflower stamps, featuring a huge ship on it. “How about these?”
“No,” I said. ”What about the Walt Whitman stamps?” I asked, eyeing the display of commemorative stamps.
“Don’t got those,” he said. “You don’t like the Mayflower stamps? “ Suddenly I felt like I was taking a Rorshach test. Do the Mayflower stamps suggest a vote for Trump? Will I fail the test and he won’t send in my ballot?
Then another postman came by and miraculously found the Women Vote stamps.
“I’ll take 2 sheets,” I say.
By now, Bob’s mask is hanging off both his nose and mouth. He is fully exposed and the line behind me was growing.
I walked out and wondered about my ballot’s journey. And Bob. Why did he let his mask down?
Oh no! Bob! And the mask under the nose in the worst...until it is all the way off. This is the strangest and yet most important election in my lifetime. As you say, we take nothing for granted.
ReplyDeleteOh, the mask under the nose makes me angry. If my four year old can pull his up when it is slipping, then adults can do better!
ReplyDeleteYour daughter is braver than I am. I rarely trusted my NYC mail chute with anything.
I dropped my ballot in the box on Saturday, tracked it, and it was counted on Monday. Love the process. I'm glad I didn't have to stand in a post office with a human who wasn't masked. I chuckled when you mentioned the Rorshach test. Glad you got the Women Vote stamps. Can you track your ballot?
ReplyDeleteAnd I love the pic of your cat! She/He/They looks exactly like our cat, Hadley.
Oh, the mask issue! And the uncertainty woven through this post. As previous commenters stated, I do hope you are able to track your ballot!
ReplyDelete