If you tell the story of the burnt ballot boxes in Portland and Vancouver this week (an important story that warrants attention), also tell how good fire-suppressant design saved all but three ballots in the Portland box, and the efforts of the electio...
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If you tell the story of the burnt ballot boxes in Portland and Vancouver this week (an important story that warrants attention), also tell how good fire-suppressant design saved all but three ballots in the Portland box, and the efforts of the election workers who contacted those three voters and arranged for replacement ballots.
Things are scary and bad, and often literally on fire. But there are good people and good systems too. Making us forget that is always a win for the worst ones.
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@ianrosewrites
I can't speak to Oregon, but for Washington voters, if you think your ballot was affected, you can go to https://vote.wa.gov to check the status of your ballot. If your ballot was not marked as received by next Tuesday, you can go to your local polling place and request a provisional ballot. -
Jonreplied to James Wells last edited by [email protected]
And, if you're in Washington state and you've lost your ballot (or spilled something on it), you can also request a new one -- and even print it out at home!
EDIT: you can also get replacement ballots in other states (although I think Washington's request-online-and-print-at-home option is relatively rare). Wherever you are, calling your local elections office is a good first step!
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@jdp23 @nikatjef @ianrosewrites
Not just WA. If you messed up your mail-in ballot, or forgot to sign or date it, or put it in the inner envelope, etc., call your election board. They may be able to help. -
Good point -- calling your local election office is a good option in any state, I'll update the post to reflect that.
I don't think there are a lot of other states that let you get a new ballot and print it out at home though. In California you can request to have one mailed to you, some states you actually have to show up in person.
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@jdp23 @nikatjef @ianrosewrites
Not everyone has a printer anyway - I think if someone messed up their ballot, it might be reassuring to go to the local office, or town clerk, or whoever has help available... then fill it out & let the person confirm you've done it correctly (ask the right questions to guide you). Some people get really nervous!! -
It's true, different people prefer different options. The blog post talks about different ways of getting the replacement ballot and links out to the official list of election offices with phone numbers and addresses.
But many people *do* have access to a printer, and the reason IndiPlus first did a post like this in 2020 was that even experienced activists didn't know about the print-your-own option. And a surprising number of people found it useful!
