I dunno, why do you post absentee?
Last major election here, there were people still waiting in line to vote 3 hours after the polls were supposed to have closed in some precincts. I don’t get to see the last few days of election coverage, but in most races, I’ve made up my mind by the last week anyway. With lines like that, I don’t understand why they don’t just make all voting absentee, at least in the United States.
I vote absentee because it’s so damn convenient. I don’t have to worry about leaving work early enough to get to the polls. I get to sit with my voter’s guide and other information and make an informed, deliberate selection. I always vote in every election this way (I get the ballot in the mail and it reminds me of the upcoming election).
And it only costs me the price of a stamp. It’s wonderful. I don’t understand why people wouldn’t vote absentee.
I’m away at graduate school, and it is incredibly convenient and hassle free.
'Cause I’m away at college in another county every election. No choice.
I try to vote absentee, but there have been a few problems in that department!
Grrr. :mad:
Because it’s much easier when you can sit down with the ballot and the voters pamplet (and the net if you want to really research), rather then having to make such decisions in a hurry at the booth. I usually have to take an hour or so to read some of the fine print in measures, so it does matter.
I just want to do it at home because it is faster and easier, and without the distractions and milling hordes at the voting area.
I happen to live outside of the US, so that’s about the only way…
Same as China Guy, it’s my only option.
Another oversea-er. Since the local referendum questions typically don’t affect me at all, I just ask my mom how she’s voting and let my vote double hers.
The first time I got to vote (Nixon-McGovern '70) I was away at college and had to vote absentee. Don’t remember ever doing it since then.
My wife’s been voting absentee for years (or trying to - she occasionally has had problems similar to Soup_du_jour’s) due to her health. Our voting place isn’t really handicapped accessible, and she needs assistance to complete the ballot anyway. It’s easier to do it at home and mail it in.
Those of you who say you do it just because it’s more convenient than in person - do you have to give any reason for not voting in person when you request your absentee ballot? The request form we have to send in requires a reason (illness, school, military, etc) for voting absentee and I don’t think “I don’t want to wait in line” was one of the options.
Like other posters, I vote absentee in MA because I spend 8 months/year in a different country for school. I feel entitled to vote because I do think of myself as a Massachusetts resident, even though I only spend the summer there. I’ll probably end up back in the Boston area after I finish university, and I care about what happens to it (and, of course, to the U.S. as a whole) in the meantime. I still retain my Massachusetts driving license, and I use my MA address as my permanent address and my mailing address for many things (like bank statements). Oh, and I pay state and federal taxes from my payroll, and excise tax on my vehicle.
The Canadian government also considers me a resident, and I also seem entitled to vote up here, and I should technically register my car up here and get an Ontario driver’s license. However, I don’t consider myself a resident here, I can’t work (off-campus) so I don’t work and don’t pay taxes (other than the two sales taxes).
Should I be voting in Ontario (and Canada) and not in Massachusettts (and the U.S.)? Perhaps. But it doesn’t make sense to me.
It’s inconvenient to fly back to Florida for one day from St. Louis. So I sent my absentee ballot back about a month ago.
Of course, it’s Florida, so it probably won’t be counted.
It’s my understanding that absentee ballots are not always counted by design.
Only if the number of absentee ballots is greater than the number of votes seperating the choices would the absentee ballots be counted.
Granted, this may not happen all that often given the number of elections and ballot questions being voted on at any givin time, but nevertheless, thats how I understand it works.
Some states, including the one in which I live, actively encourage absentee ballots and don’t request a reason for voting “early,” as my state calls it. I don’t know if Oregon is doing it again this election (Oregon dopers?), but in 2000 they conducted all voting by mail.
I’ve voted one time in a voting booth (city council election – there were no lines) and I’m not going to go sit in long lines if I don’t have to do so.
I like to vote absentee because those voting machines are just to difficult to figure out.
Actually, I am currently working in Long Island, and tho’ it’s 55 miles from home, that could be 3 hours. Rather than gamble on getting there before the polls close, I write in my vote.
Ya know, those freakin hamsters …
too difficult to figure out. 
… after the polls close…