Something for everyone.....:)

In Florida voting on election day is never a problem. But, up north the weather can be terrible preventing some people from getting to their polling place. Mail in voting is secure and reliable.

Every state makes there own rules

IMO that why should have cut off week before Election Day. So truck loads don’t show up at 7PM on Election Day by coincidence. Got all time in world to mail in ballot that shouldn’t be problem.

This is why you are a sage!!

Concur. But Election Day voting is not an ironclad guarantee of no hankypanky.

Florida seems pretty secure on Election Day. The people running the show seem to know their jobs. You have to ID yourself which is not the case in every state. Case in point:

During our last election in Minnesota before moving to TV, my wife and I stood in line for quite some time before finally getting to the table where we collected our ballots. My wife was ahead of me in line: she gave her name and address, and sure enough, she was on the list. Came my turn, I just looked at the list, grunted and pointed to my name. I scrawled an illegible signature, collected my ballot, and voted.

I could have been anybody.

Make of that what you will.

Lake County early voting started today. I was out there before they opened, at around 9:40. The line was already out halfway past the playground of their community center building. By the time I got to the front door for my turn, the line was past the playground, and around 40 people had already gone before me.

The community was AWESOME - a lady came to the front asking if it was possible for her 93-year-old dad to get ahead in line, because he was struggling to stand. EVERYONE cheered him on as she led him to the door, ahead of the rest of us.

It's amazing how much energy and focus for just one day, one vote. I guess they all know the secret, eh?

But where did the tootisie rolls go? :)

:mad: I wish I knew......that "I VOTED" sticker tastes terrible! :yuck:

I suggest you do a search on post office workers stealing ballots

Very few reports and those that I could find mentioned fewer than 100 ballots. If they can notice/catch mishandling or delaying as few as 10 ballots and if there have been fewer than a dozen cases reported then that seems to support the claim that elections are “UN-crooked.”

"I scrawled an illegible signature". Do you realize your signature must match what is on file? Your taking a chance your vote won't count.

Vote in person. The signature must match what they have on file. They will let you sign again to try to match.

Voted by mail in ballot and verified that both my and my wife's vote has been counted. I guess those who stand in line have a personal reason to do that but for me, I prefer to take the time to research and complete my ballot in the peace and quiet of my home where I can do research before filling in that circle. I also really don't like standing in lines when it's not necessary for me.

I assumed Sumter county does the same as Lake county - in Lake county we get a sample ballot mailed to us before Election day. It shows exactly the same stuff that's on the real ballot, so we can research at home (though - many of us do that researching weeks and even months in advance before they even send those sample ballots out).

When I get to the voting location I know exactly which little bubbles I'll be filling in. Waiting in line can be tough for people with mobility difficulties though.

Daa, we know that now way rules are written but IMO that’s need changed.
I said was that needs chanced to eliminate the change of or illusion of cheating. Don’t say dates can’t be manufactured. IMO (and I can have opinion) the cut off date for mail in votes needs to well before Nov 2 or what ever that last day or voting is. So if person too lazy to mail in vote before the cutoff too bad IMO.

Exactly, that why no need to wait to last day of last minute 99% going vote same old way anyway.

Did everyone get a sample ballot
For the first time I did not receive one

I did not get one either but my wife did (we live at the same address). But there are sample ballots online. We live in Marion county and early voted yesterday at Mulberry Rec , 4pm. So easy! We already knew what we were going to check. Hardly anyone there, zero wait time. The election volunteer workers were friendly, polite and smiling.

For early voting, all ballots should be received by the Board of Elections a week before Election Day and they should be counted before Election Day.

There are lots of reasons to wait until the last day. Here are a few:

1. Wanting the experience of casting your vote ON Election Day, which is your most important, most sacred right as an American citizen.
2. You're out of the area and can't get to your assigned polling area until Election Day.
3. You've been in the hospital and haven't been physically capable of voting until Election Day.
4. You forgot, until Election Day.
5. The polling area for EARLY voting, is not in the same place as Election Day voting, and you don't want to have to go to that early voting location.

I was tempted to wait til Election Day, because I could've driven my golf cart to the voting location. Instead, I drove my car to the early voting location, which you can't get to by golf cart.

As for the "chance of or illusion of cheating" - the loser can ALWAYS say "the ballots were tainted!" or "the machines were corrupted!" or "the vote-counters were corrupted!" or whatever other spin they want to put on it. As long as there are people capable of creating conspiracy theories to accuse someone of cheating, there will be conspiracy theories.

The trick is to trust the system and let Democracy do its job.