canyonwalker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
canyonwalker) wrote2024-03-10 09:29 am
canyonwalker) wrote2024-03-10 09:29 am
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I Voted - And it Counted (Finally!)
One of the cool things about vote-by-mail in California is that I can track the progress of my ballot through the counting system. This isn't unique to California; at least a few other states that do widespread vote-by-mail have it, but it's different in states that have been taken over by the vote-by-mail-is-a-fraud liars and the fools and conspiracy nutjobs who believe them.
There's good news and bad news about this system. One of the bits of good news is that it exists, Yay, traceability. Ironically, that's one of thing things the vote-by-mail-is-a-fraud con artists bloviate about being so important to a "secure" system. Meanwhile their preferred system often don't have it.
One of the bits of bad news is/was that for several days I didn't know if my ballot was going to be counted. 😱
See, that's one of the problems with traceability. Instead of simply having trust when you put your ballot in the lock box that it's going to be counted, you can verify that is has been counted— or hasn't. And for 4 days after I voted on Super Tuesday, mine wasn't. The website provided by the County Registrar of Voters indicated it hadn't even been received. 😰
Part of being an informed voter in the modern era, though, is understanding the limits of the system. Counting the votes is no longer a thing that happens overnight. Once upon a time results were ready by the print deadline for the next morning's paper— or even for TV broadcast on the 11pm news the night of. This is neither that time nor that system. Counting the votes nowadays— counting all the votes— takes days. I remained patient.
BTW, people who remember the days when results were published quickly and were paying attention also remember that the quick results came with a disclaimer. Absentee ballots were not yet counted. When mail-in ballots were, like, 1% of the total, officials could call most races without bothering to count them. Let me repeat that: in "the good ol' days" they did NOT count ALL the votes. And yet that's what the vote-by-mail-is-a-fraud liars and conspiracy nuts want to go back to because it's "secure". 🙄
This little story ends on a positive note. As of this morning (Sunday), I have confirmation that my vote was received and counted. Yes, the election workers were working through the weekend— and publishing updates through the weekend. Yay, hard-working men and women in our county elections offices!
There's good news and bad news about this system. One of the bits of good news is that it exists, Yay, traceability. Ironically, that's one of thing things the vote-by-mail-is-a-fraud con artists bloviate about being so important to a "secure" system. Meanwhile their preferred system often don't have it.One of the bits of bad news is/was that for several days I didn't know if my ballot was going to be counted. 😱
See, that's one of the problems with traceability. Instead of simply having trust when you put your ballot in the lock box that it's going to be counted, you can verify that is has been counted— or hasn't. And for 4 days after I voted on Super Tuesday, mine wasn't. The website provided by the County Registrar of Voters indicated it hadn't even been received. 😰
Part of being an informed voter in the modern era, though, is understanding the limits of the system. Counting the votes is no longer a thing that happens overnight. Once upon a time results were ready by the print deadline for the next morning's paper— or even for TV broadcast on the 11pm news the night of. This is neither that time nor that system. Counting the votes nowadays— counting all the votes— takes days. I remained patient.
BTW, people who remember the days when results were published quickly and were paying attention also remember that the quick results came with a disclaimer. Absentee ballots were not yet counted. When mail-in ballots were, like, 1% of the total, officials could call most races without bothering to count them. Let me repeat that: in "the good ol' days" they did NOT count ALL the votes. And yet that's what the vote-by-mail-is-a-fraud liars and conspiracy nuts want to go back to because it's "secure". 🙄
This little story ends on a positive note. As of this morning (Sunday), I have confirmation that my vote was received and counted. Yes, the election workers were working through the weekend— and publishing updates through the weekend. Yay, hard-working men and women in our county elections offices!
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