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Friday, August 28, 2020

A letter to the people

 

Hello, Boston Township and Peninsula.

I live in Hudson Estates now, the trailer park on Akron Cleveland Road. For the last three months my rent check has been significantly late, though the manager has not charged me a late charge. Actually, I thought she was not processing them timely. This month I investigated. I pay my bills through my bank’s bill pay. They mail the check three days prior to the payment date, to have them arrive on time. In August my check mailed to arrive on August 7th actually arrived August 24th. I read the news and know the post office is being overhauled. I am extremely anxious to have my vote count in November. Based on my experience with my rent check, I called the Board of Elections to see if it is possible to know if an absentee ballot cast by mail has been received. The answer is NO.  So, I put together a short list to ensure a ballot is counted in November.

Vote in person at your polling station on November 3rd.

Vote early in person at the Board of Elections and other stations beginning October 2nd.

Deliver your absentee ballot to the Board of Elections in person.

If you want to know your vote counts this year, I urge you not to rely on the postal service. You can visit the Summit County Board of Elections and read everything you ever want to know about voting, early  voting and absentee voting:  https://www.summitcountyboe.gov/


The next issue of Your Community News will be published mid-September. I'll let you know. If you would like to see what concerns the citizens of a township and a village, visit www.ycn-online.net.



39 comments:

  1. And your Ohio vote, unlike my Maryland vote, really really matters so I hope you find a safe fool-proof way to vote. And that you can find others near you to get to the polls and vote the sane (Biden) way.
    (Your new reader/lurker, Pam.)

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    1. Hello there, Pam J., and welcome. I saw you've hopped on the train. Let's all get out the vote. I'm disgustingly fanatical about it, and usually a good winner and a good loser, until last time.

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  2. I read this, thought "Good for you, Joanne!" and then clicked away. Then realized I needed to say this to you, not me. So I came back to say, Good for you, Joanne! Well done. A needed service I wish everyone in the country would read.

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  3. I always vote in person and plan to continue doing that. I also always choose the print ballot so there is a paper trail for any potential recount needed, rather than the electronic voting which might be hacked. So in person is best. Or dropping off your paper ballot at a designated place. I am with you on this.

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  4. This is so very important, Joanne, and I sincerely appreciate your post. If I haven't received my mail-in ballot by October 8, I will drive to the Elections Office 20 miles away and request a replacement. When completed, I will drive back to the same office and hand-deliver my ballot. This election is too important not to do this. Again, thank you.

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  5. I've been part of the get out the vote movement in my state for years. We have had mail-in ballot option for many years, and our campaigning as well as voting has relied on the USPS.
    This year everyone in the state will receive mail in ballots, and in person locations will still be available. I'm putting my ballot into the official county election dropbox in my town. No more hoping it gets there.
    We do have online ballot tracking in NJ, and I've tracked in past years to see my ballot got there, and was officially received. I think every state should have this.
    Just yesterday my organization got three bills relating to ballot protection passed. We're doing everything we can.

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  6. I'm going to learn to put an emoji in a reply, but in the meantime, a million hands clapping.

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  7. Another Heron in a field. Mieke (Librarian) had one. I'd rather think about that than the dismantling of democracy, imperfect as it is.

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    1. That is my lovely heron occasionally at the pond at the golf course. The golf course in my header that is now going wild. I last saw the heron just behind the line of tall grass. It was visible from the shoulders up. As I focused my phone, a car came speeding past from the other direction, and the heron rose and flew away.

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  8. We have all mail voting here in WA, but also have drop boxes for our ballots. I had never used them until recently. That supposes that our actual ballots will get to us in time. This is insane! For the past few years, I've thought numerous times, "Surely they can't get away with this!" And then they do. It's disheartening. Your letter is full of great advice!

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  9. We have decided to vote then drive our ballots up to the main Election store.
    Yes, the postal service has a serious problem. When I was a kid, we got mail twice a day. Just a few months ago, we received our mail around lunchtime. Now we might get our mail around four or five in the afternoon. What a mess.

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  10. My faith in the post office took a big dive since I took this job. I see mail from all over the country misdelivered here time after time. How something addressed clearly and legibly to Illinois make it here to Phoenix Arizona baffles my mind. So that is why I will continue to vote in person election after election. Each election is important whether it be city, state or national

    Betty

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  11. I live in Iowa. Because of a recent news article about some absentee ballot requests being refused I called my county auditor. I was advised to take my request directly to the auditor's office and to take my ballot when I received it to the same office. So my county auditor agrees with you. There is a drop box in a entrance to the county building but I will follow the auditor's advice and hand it directly to a person in the office.

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  12. Now I'm a bit confused/concerned. We get our ballots early and I believe we're on the 'absent voter' list. I don't understand the difference between absentee ballot and early ballot.

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    1. They are the same. You are voting on the same ballot, and casting it as "absent" on the actual day of voting. So, it is early, if your state has early voting, or absentee under any other circumstance.

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    2. Just googled it and then remembered at least one occasion where we came into the voting site to turn in our ballot and had to surrender our mail in ballot rather than to put it in the drop box. They then gave us a new ballot to use. Don't remember why that was (and I was a pole worker for a few years!).

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  13. Well said Joanne! We plan on voting early, in person, on election day. This could be the most important election in our lives. I shudder to think what could happen to our country if this election does not go as we hope it will. Thank you for doing your part!

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  14. Well said. And thank you. I hope your letter and other small droplets of wisdom make a difference.

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  15. Good for you Joanne. It is a crime (seriously) when it is just so challenging to vote, must be particularly hard on the elderly, the non-whites, the handicapped, etc. And not trusting the mail is a new twist.

    XO
    WWW

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  16. Dear Joanne, this post office mel-of-a-mess (my own personal word!) has, as you've indicated in your letter for the community, been going on for some time now. I ended up having to pay a late fee--for the first time in all my years of bill paying--to VISA because of the mail. Our local grocery-store postal desk is now permanently closed--not taking even letters. I read your Thursday posting about paying bills, etc. I tried the bank automatic function back in 2015, but when I got hacked and then had to call all the businesses, etc. and set them up, I just threw in the towel and went back to writing checks for every bill. But as you noted and as I now know from the VISA "adventure," there's no assurance the postal service will deliver my payments on time. I'm sort of flummoxed as to what to do. The truth is that the being hacked and the months that took to clear up has left me bruised and wary. Peace.

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  17. Good info for your fellow voters! Well done!

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  18. Tragic that you can't trust the voting system.

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  19. Thanks for sharing, Joanne. I am glad that professional athletes are encouraging people to vote and they are using they are going to use some stadiums and facilities as places to vote. We need all the votes we can get because you know who is going to protest it.

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  20. I find it hard to comprehend why an advanced country like America still has cheques going by post! This sounds rude, I know, but no offence is intended. In Australia, all my bills are paid electronically via the BPAY system. If the payee has no BPAY set-up, there is a "Pay Anyone" option if they have a bank account. Nothing has ever gone wrong for me. If I should have a legitimate query about a purchase through a credit card, Visa or Mastercard, then they will give me a refund. This is to ensure that people see credit cards as a system to be trustworthy. Hope this helps!

    Re voting: I haven't voted for years because nearly all politicians on both sides of the spectrum are just out for what they can get. We have compulsory voting here, so I just go and scribble all over the slip! I am against compulsory voting. However, in your case, I completely understand the need to rid the country of you-know-who.

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    1. :-) :-) :-)
      We'll make it out Margaret, and then can turn our attention to electronic payments.

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  21. I'm encouraged to hear there are options to get your vote in. The news we are getting here in Canada seemed to be implying that you could only vote by mail because they didn't want people gathering.

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  22. Our assigned voting place is always extremely crowded and a long wait to vote. There is no room for social distancing there. My husband and I are planning on completing our ballot and taking it to the drop box at our county board of election ballot box. It is the most important election in my entire life. I feel that if not enough people vote, we may end up with the same choice that was made for us almost 4 years ago, and I don't think I could stand that.

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    1. I've had a recurring dream:
      Our polling place is on the second floor. The handicap elevator is in the basement to the second floor. I dream I take the elevator to the second floor and find the line of voters is down the steps and out the first floor door. I lean over the railing and yell to the end of the line, "Hello out there; I can't see you, but whoever is end of the line right now, just tell me when you get here and I will get in line behind you." And I sit down and wait........

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  23. Dear Joanne, so it is true what we read/see on TV here in Germany and are baffled (to say the least).
    I read an article that you normally have a wonderful post service - and now that....
    I wish for you and your beautiful country that every vote arrives and is counted - in democracy it is important that every vote arrives and is counted - wether it pleases or not. Good luck!

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  24. Brilliant Joanne, always fighting and explaining, for me, the somewhat different systems in your country.

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  25. Good for you Joanne, let’s hope everyone feels the same and gets there in good time for their vote to be counted.

    LX

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  26. it is imperative that every vote gets counted. my state (Texas) surprisingly enough sent me a 'request for mail in ballot' form automatically because I am above the age. I don't know if I'm going to send it in. I'll have to see if we have a ballot drop box in my little town. I think I could vote in person safely enough. this little republican town surprised me last election with new voting machines that produced a paper form with my choices that I had to put in a ballot box. I'm happy about that.

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  27. All you (and others) can really do is keep putting the information out there and hope everyone takes notice. I really, really, hope they are all taking notice, especially now when it is so much more important.

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  28. Joanne, I think you might want to double check the information the worker gave you. There is a place right on the Summit County Bd of Elections web site where you can track your absentee ballot. I am a long time worker in another county and confident you should be able to track your ballot. Most counties have accessible, secure drop boxes. We need every vote this year more than ever. Good Luck..

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    1. You can track and learn it is received. You will not know it is counted until after the election ends and votes are counted. If there is a mistake, the ballot is disqualified. You will never know unless you call the BOE and they check to see if you voted. And then, it's too late. If you make a mistake at the polls, you are issued a new ballot.

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