Last weekend, I waited over an hour as the polls opened in West Roxbury. It’s understandable that many people are enthusiastic about voting at the first chance they get. But later in the weekend, I drove by the polling center several times and there was no line. If you really want no waiting, vote when the Patriots are playing (4:30 Sunday).

Thank you

By cybah on Sat, 10/24/2020 - 7:27pm.

If you really want no waiting, vote when the Patriots are playing (4:30 Sunday).

Now i know when I am gonna go to Market Basket tomorrow..

Always a good choice.. Patriots Game = Market Basket is dead

Based on yesterday's game...

By lbb on Mon, 10/26/2020 - 10:22am.

...that might not be true much longer. In fact I'm going to start marking Patriots game times as the most likely time that people will be in the Home Depot looking for more grout for that bathroom job that they've been putting off.

The government attack on the USPS is voter suppression.

By tblade on Sat, 10/24/2020 - 5:56pm.

Despite all the news about USPS deficiencies, the letter mail service within Greater Boston has remained quite efficient. It’s a shame so many lacked confidence and chose to forgo the vote-by-mail option, especially with the “track my ballot” capability provided by the Commonwealth. My ballot was marked as “accepted” 10 days ago.

Undermining confidence in the Postal Service is adding a barrier to the ballot. Unnecessarily long lines is a barrier to the ballot. That is voter suppression even when it occurs in Massachusetts.

Vote by mail is the best option

By Cleary Squared on Sat, 10/24/2020 - 6:35pm.

When I voted back in 2016, I had initially gone to City Hall and ended up waiting an hour plus in line (late afternoon-early evening), and then when I reached the entrance, it was still chock-a-block full. I ended up voting in person on Election Day and it took less than 10 minutes.

In 2018, I went to City Hall again, during an off-peak time (early afternoon) and and it took less than 5 minutes to register and cast my ballot..

This year, I registered to vote by mail back in August, got my ballot on the 13th, filled it out in less than two minutes, mailed it the same day, and it was accepted on the 16th. Best thing I ever did. (Our mailmen are also very efficient.)

If there were ever an electronic option where I could sit at my computer and enter my ballot, I would do it in a heartbeat.

Longtime absentee voter

By tblade on Sat, 10/24/2020 - 10:08pm.

The last time I voted in person was 2012*.

I voted on my way to work and it made me late. I figured I don’t want that stress anymore and, given that I often worked long hours and could never predict when my job would require me to stay late, I decided to skip the lines and the hassle going forward.

(*I did do early voting in 2016, but when I learned that the process is the exact same as an absentee ballot *and* I had to wait in line for 20 minutes it reinforced my idea that I’d much prefer the simplicity of voting from home.)

Eliminate “Election Day” and change it to the last day of voting season. Normalize an expanded 3-4 week voting period with numerous safe, easy, and efficient modes of voting—in person, curbside, mail in. Make it universal in every state.

I also say paper ballots only. We need those hard copies and it makes it more difficult for foreign interference.

Couldn't agree more

By Cleary Squared on Sat, 10/24/2020 - 7:50pm.

I've always voted in person since 1996 (my first year I could vote in an election; I couldn't in 1992 because I was at college), but usually the first thing in the morning before I headed to work. At that time, hardly anyone was there, and the matter was done in less than ten minutes. At home, it took me more time to place the ballot in the envelope, seal it, and attest that it was my ballot than it did casting my vote.

A voting month is also just as efficient. Begin on October 1, give a deadline for ballots to be received and tallied, and boom, you have a much more efficient election.

And yes, paper is much more secure than electronic :-)

I do miss...

By tblade on Sat, 10/24/2020 - 11:55pm.

I am no longer a Boston resident, but I miss the old-school Boston voting booths where you had to pull the leaver to draw the privacy curtains and then turn the nobs for the candidate of your choice. It was weirdly complicated. There was a “don’t f*** this up” feeling that was both an anxiety and a thrill. THAT was an experience.

In a non-Covid time, I might turn up on Election Day if that slice of nostalgia was available.

Yes!

By JPMom on Sun, 10/25/2020 - 7:54pm.

I used to bring my kids with me when they were little and let them pull the final, magic lever to enter my ballot and open the curtain. It was a great way to get them involved in the process!

RE: I do miss...

By Jizmo on Mon, 10/26/2020 - 6:48am.

I've been voting since 1980 and I also miss the old-school voting booth machines.
The three-sided stand-up devices are a nuisance. You need to share it with one or even two other voters. Many a time I've shared one with somebody who shakes the damn thing so much because that person doesn't know how to write gently enough with a felt tip marker.
The device is wobbly enough as it is, just standing there, not secured to the floor.
But, voting is essential, so we do what we must.
I mailed my ballot in due to Corona-19 concerns.

walk-up early voting

By Liz on Mon, 10/26/2020 - 8:27pm.

I voted early in person this year and the process was far closer to voting in person on election day than to voting early by absentee ballot.

I didn't need to make any request ahead of time, just make sure I was registered to vote (this part's the same no matter what).

I just walked in, waited in line, told them where I lived so they could hand me the right ballot, went to a ballot booth, etc. I did have to put my ballot in an envelope the way I would if I was voting absentee, but that took way less time than waiting for the mail does!

Why would anyone do this

By anon on Sat, 10/24/2020 - 4:45pm.

Why would anyone do this instead of voting by mail? You can email the application (or mail it if they get it by October 28), and drop the completed ballot at one of 16 boxes around the city 24 hours a day. If for some reason your blank ballot never gets to you, you can still vote in person.

Trouble receiving mail?

By Liz on Sat, 10/24/2020 - 11:10pm.

I wonder how many of them live on streets like Commonwealth Terrace and Commonwealth Court, where mail delivery has been iffy for years...

As I said above, they could

By anon on Mon, 10/26/2020 - 12:17pm.

As I said above, they could still try to get a ballot by mail, and if it doesn't arrive then do in-person voting as a backup plan. I doubt this many people tried it and had their ballots get lost.

True

By Liz on Thu, 10/29/2020 - 6:12pm.

I thought less "tried it and had their ballots get lost" than "waited for other mailings to arrive and they got lost over the years, then this year didn't bother trying to wait for ballots to arrive and skipped ahead to the voting-in-person option"

I got an absentee ballot and voted by the drop box.

By mplo on Fri, 10/30/2020 - 9:52pm.

A week ago, in the evening, after filling out my absentee ballot, putting it in the two envelopes provided, I drove to Someville City Hall that evening, and deposited my ballot into the Vote Drop Box that was right outside City Hall. I heard the ballot fall to the bottom of the box when I put it into the deposit slot, so I knew it was good. With the way that the post office has been lately, I was not about to take any chances by putting my absentee ballot in the mail, nor was I about to take chances with voting in person during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The USPS delivery has been iffy, everywhere, for years.

By mplo on Fri, 10/30/2020 - 9:55pm.

That's why I no longer use the post office for sending important stuff, and why I decided not to put my absentee ballot in the mail, but to use the vote drop box outside Somerville City Hall, instead, to deposit my ballot.

Why

By Don't Panic on Sun, 10/25/2020 - 11:41pm.

Trumps guy is running the post office that's why. One of his first acts was to remove mail sorting machines and cancel overtime for postal employees without hiring enough people to make up the difference. He has definitely hampered mail-in voting and of course being a Trump appointee he is already under investigation for campaign finance violations. https://fortune.com/2020/07/24/usps-mail-delivery-postmaster-general-lou...

Lining up to vote in Allston and Jamaica Plain

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Roslindale report

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