We requested you the way voting was totally different this yr. So lots of you responded and advised us about voting early — and for essentially the most half, issues appear to be going easily!
Bianca Esquivel, Mission, Texas:
Voting this yr felt quieter, daunting and far more remoted. I waited in line for about 15 minutes. Blue X’s on the ground had been taped six toes aside to mark the place every voter stood, and masks had been required, after all. Once I approached the volunteer, she requested me to put my ID card in a basket. As soon as she verified my voter info, one other volunteer handed me what appeared like an extra-long Q-tip and defined that I wanted to make use of the Q-tip to press on the display screen. There was completely zero human contact from the second I walked within the constructing to the second I walked out. I used to be relieved!
Flip Wooden, Seattle:
I stay in Seattle, the place all elections are carried out by mail. I crammed in my poll the afternoon it confirmed up in my mailbox, then walked it — via a good looking, sun-and-shower Pacific Northwest fall afternoon — to the closest official poll field and dropped it in. I used to be taking no possibilities with the united statesP.S. and I noticed many others stroll or drive as much as that poll field within the brief time I used to be there.
One other large distinction this yr? I’ve been much more vocal — particularly with family and friends in Texas — urging the need of voting. And doing so safely, securely and as early as potential.
George Chave, Fort Value:
My spouse and I often benefit from early voting. It’s usually a “stroll proper in, stroll proper out” affair with minimal strains and minimal fuss. This yr, we pulled into the courthouse car parking zone and appeared on the line. Whereas there have been fairly just a few vehicles within the car parking zone, the road didn’t look too unhealthy. We walked to what we assumed was going to be the top of the road, then realized the road continued across the facet of the constructing — then across the different facet of the constructing!
Voting in Texas (particularly if you’re a Democrat) has appeared reasonably pointless for the previous 30 years, a minimum of on the subject of presidential selections and senatorial selections. Representatives and native politics are considerably much less predictable, and so we stay motivated to take part. Nonetheless, this yr simply has a unique “really feel” to it. Satirically, with one of many least inspiring Democratic candidates on the prime of the ticket, there may be virtually a palpable pleasure on the polls.
Margo Hebald, San Diego:
My husband and I voted with a mail-in poll that was electronically adopted from the second it was despatched to us, and at every step till it was acquired by the registrar’s workplace; and at every step we acquired a monitoring discover of the place it was. It was marvelous! This technique of mail-in poll monitoring ought to be necessary in all places, with each registered voter routinely receiving a poll by mail.
Katlynn Scammon, Pittsburgh:
I voted by mail for the primary time this yr, and as a voter who has participated in elections in South Carolina, North Carolina and now Pennsylvania, I’m a giant fan of the choice and can probably at all times vote this manner sooner or later. It’s simple and doesn’t take me away from work to attend in lengthy strains to vote in individual.
Russell W. Cantrell, Cell, Ala.:
Like many others, I voted absentee for the primary time. However the largest distinction for me was my first vote alongside social gathering strains. I’ve at all times argued in opposition to this, wishing individuals would as an alternative vote for the higher candidate in every race no matter political affiliation. This yr, I marked that “straight ticket” bubble I had so usually mocked others for blindly filling. The present model of the Republican Social gathering wants the strongest rebuke I can supply.
Debbie Krygeris, Prospect Heights, In poor health.:
My husband and I requested mail-in ballots for the primary time ever this yr due to the virus. When the Postal Service fiasco began hitting the information, we determined we might drop them in a poll field versus mailing them.
What actually shocked us each was that after we went to drop our ballots within the poll field, it was manned by an election volunteer who was checking that we signed our envelope and that we had been dropping in our personal poll. My husband and I had been each impressed with the safety of our voting expertise this yr.
Mary Beth Patten, Florence, Mont.:
We voted by absentee poll this yr, as we at all times do. The distinction this yr is that we took our ballots to a drop field, reasonably than mailing them. That gave us an added sense of safety. It’s also value noting that each my husband and I expressed how very glad we had been to have voted, and the way grateful we’re that we’re afforded that privilege. Though I’ve related emotions each time I vote, they had been magnified this yr.
Compiled by Isabella Grullón Paz. Responses had been condensed and edited.