Vote early

Two years ago, I wrote something about how I thought absentee voting as a standard practice for disabled citizens, or as a plan for all citizens, was detrimental to the rights of disabled people. I believed that it would undermine the push for accessibility at all the schools, churches and other public polling places required by law to have disability access -- not just for the actual voting, but in building access:

One solution to this whole mess that seems to be gaining currency is voting by mail. Absentee voting is being expanded to "permanent" absentee voting and then to "no excuse" absentee balloting and voting by mail for all. Many claim it's a much better system and supposedly many disabled people would prefer to always vote by mail.

I think it's a bad idea. Oh, it might be smart in the short-term while the numerous problems with voting are minimized, but in the long-term it's maybe bad for democracy and certainly bad for the disabled. If the solution to problems of accessibility is to not require anyone to show up, then all the churches and rec centers and other polling sites that are not currently accessible will have less pressure to become so. And all the poll workers who will be trained on how to interact with disabled people to help them vote will never be trained. And all the disabled people who rarely get out of the house because of Medicare homebound laws* and lack of transportation, will have one less reason to interact with the world. All this equals less accessibility and freedom for the disabled in the long-run.

Additionally, I believe the assurance of maximizing privacy and actual casting of the votes disabled people choose themselves can only happen at polling sites.

I've changed my mind on this. I do still believe there's value to meeting with your community and voting on the same day, and to this activity requiring accessibility of those public meeting places. And I do believe that a disabled individual who physically needs help voting absolutely needs ready access to a system that is supposed to provide a neutral assistant to help, if necessary. That neutrality may not be available for many disabled voters asking someone in the privacy of their own home for help. Family or hired caregivers' politics can differ radically from that of the person needing assistance, so somehow the availability of that check on abuse needs to be maintained.

But read what my friend Skylanda has to say about the importance of voting early. Here's an excerpt:

I sat in on a meeting a few days ago for partisan volunteers who are aiming to work the precincts on election day. It was an interesting talk, from a strategy perspective. The on-the-ground democratic strategizers are predicting - assuming, preparing for - regular and systematic challenges to every voter with any iota of irregularity worth challenging in any precinct that has traditionally leaned blue. A misspelling of a long ethnic name, a discrepancy between "street" and "avenue" on your drivers license, a typo that transposes a couple of numbers in the address on your voter registration card. If you live in a heavily democratic zone, expect there to be any guff that can be cooked up over your right to vote. It may not happen, this may be a regional over-reaction to national scrapping between the big guns, but after Florida circa 2000? I'm not gonna call it conspiracy theory; the democratic brass aren't calling it that either.

In historically democratic precincts, it won't just be about throwing individuals off the rolls - that's small potatoes. The real goods are in a different goal: slowing down the lines at the polls until people by the handful or the dozen or the hundred get bored, cold, or compelled to go back to work/pick up their kids from daycare/return to the demands of their lives before they reach the front of the line to cast their vote in those blue-hued precincts. Even if your personal data line up like the moon in the seventh house, the time will be taken - if you are in those precincts - to inspect your credentials. Slowly. Carefully. Painstakingly. Just, ya know, to make sure you're legit. While someone in line behind you considers if they can really wait another five minutes before their kid's daycare closes, or their afternoon shift starts, or that chill in the November air turns out to be too much for their elderly lungs....

No one who has the ability and the wherewithal to vote before November 4th should be taking a space in line that day.

While many bloggers voting early have reported short waits, Mustang Bobby at Shakesville writes that the happy experience did take him four hours in Miami-Dade County.

Here's the link to find out about absentee and early voting in your state.

Remember to bring photo identification. And bring a sample ballot that you've already marked, if possible, to shorten the time you spend in the voting booth, whether you get there early or on November 4.

Most importantly for everyone -- be persistent and get it done. By this, I mean go early. If you need a ride, ask someone. Don't be afraid to get a fresh ballot if you make a mistake. Don't let anything discourage you, voting is your right. Just get there and be counted.