I would vote early if I lived in a metropolitan area. I'd be more confident my vote would be counted. But here in the sticks, I love going to our little 19-century meetinghouse, seeing all the familiar people, completing my paper ballot in pencil, and dropping it in the ballot box under the watchful eye of our town moderator. Then I buy some baked goods being sold to raise funds for our local artillery company.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafayette_Artillery_Company It's a real Jimmy-Stewart-in-New-England experience that I dearly love. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Archer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I vote "Yes" to early voting! > > I voted on Friday. I had vacillated for some time over this decision, and > admit to feeling a bit worried when I went in. However, the process left me > feeling reassured, and glad to have "banked my vote." > > When filling out the affidavit envelope, I was unsure about what to put down > for "middle name" - "Jo" or "J." or just leave blank, since I sometimes do > one or the other of these. And of course, we've all heard of states who > will throw out your ballot if the way you sign in to vote differs from your > DMV signature, etc. > > So I asked Cindy McCan (former children's librarian at FF Public Library), > who was running the election operation in the Courthouse lobby. She > explained that she would use the last name, birth date, and ID no. (your > choice of drivers' license or last 4 digits of SSN) to check for a match on > her computer, and if there were any problem she would tell me. Otherwise, I > could rest easy my ballot had been accepted and would not be challenged. > This is definitely better than mailing in a ballot, in case you should make > a mistake in how you fill out or package the 3 envelopes (inner "secrecy" > envelope goes inside affidavit envelope, which then goes inside the outer > postal service envelope). > > All early vote ballots are treated as absentee ballots and will be opened > and counted on Nov. 4. I observed the Jefferson County Absentee Ballot > committee at work in 2006, and was very impressed with their diligence and > efficiency. Susan Rubis, Rebecca Reynolds, and 3 Republican senior citizens > were on the committee. > > Another advantage to early voting is that once you have voted, that fact is > recorded in the VAN (voter action network) made available to the campaigns. > SO they will stop calling you as part of their GOTV effort. > > Perhaps best, once you've voted, you are free to spend all of Election Day > doing something else, like poll-watching or phoning or whatever to help make > the day a success. > > So my advice is, go ahead and vote early! > > Fairfield Times and Places: > > Court House 8AM to 4:30 PM Mon to Fri > > MUM Campus: Tues Oct 21, 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM Argiro Student Center > > Fairfield High School: Tues Oct 14, 9 AM to 3 PM >
