This isn’t advice on how to vote, it’s advice on how to vote. Curse you English Language! Let me try again, this isn’t advice on who you should vote for, it’s advice on the mechanism by which you vote. There. That’s better.
There are a few things you should consider.
Early Voting
You might be tempted to vote early. It might be because you’re certain that you’re going to vote for a particular candidate and that nothing will change your mind. Another reason to vote early is to ensure that the Post Office has plenty of time to deliver your ballot before the polls close.
So, you cast your vote by mail as soon as you can with the assumption that you’ll always be satisfied with your vote. But what if you weren’t?
The earlier you vote, the more likely it is that you’re going to hear something about your candidate you don’t like. You may even hear something that makes you wish you had voted differently.
There are a lot of big issues in the air and we’re learning new things daily. What if you learned something about either candidate that convinces you that you should change your mind? Could you change your vote if you wanted to?
Probably not. Once you mail in your ballot, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible for you to change your vote. Each state makes its own voting and election rules and most states don’t allow you to change your mind once you’ve mailed your ballot.
In 2016, only three states allowed early voters to switch their votes before Election Day. Those states were Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
For the 2020 election, I’m finding it impossible to find information on how to change your vote. In fact, I’ve spent the better part of an hour trying to find any information on how to change my vote. I came up empty.
My conclusion is that, while it might be possible to change your vote, finding out how to do it is extremely difficult.
In-Person Voting
If you’re planning to vote in person, be sure to check with your local regulations to make sure you understand how to do it. It may not be quite as straightforward as you’d think it should be.
Here’s one example:
In California, they’re mailing ballots to everyone. They’re going to send me one even if I don’t want it. If I hadn’t been researching for this paper, I would have probably just shredded my mail-in ballot when I received it. I’m not going to vote by mail. I never even considered doing so. I don’t need it because I’m voting in person, right?
Wrong. If I want to vote in person, I need to take the mail-in ballot to my polling place and exchange it for a polling place ballot. If I don’t have my mail-in ballot, I can still vote but it will be with a provisional ballot that will be counted after county elections officials confirm that I haven’t voted before.
The point is, the requirements for voting in person might not be what you’re used to. Be sure to find out how to vote in person before you attempt to do so.
But, can I change my mind after voting by mail by voting in person?
According to the voting resources web site provided by the State of California, the answer is…well…they don’t actually give an answer. So, I don’t know. There is no indication if they’d count my mail-in vote or my in-person vote. It’s possible I could invalidate my vote entirely by voting twice. They don’t say.
In Summary
Only vote early if you’re absolutely certain that nothing will cause you to change your mind. There are many things that could happen between now and election day that may cause you to wish you had voted for someone else. If you vote early and you change your mind, you’re out of luck. But, if you wait too long and the Post Office doesn’t get your ballot delivered on time, you’re also out of luck.
If you’re planning to vote in person, you should do a bit of research on your own to find out what your local voting regulations are and what you need to bring with you in order to vote at your local polling place. This is especially true if you live in an area where they are mailing ballots to everyone.
