Vote by Mail

Today I found myself missing the excitement of going to a polling place to cast my vote. Here in Oregon, everyone votes via mail-in ballot. I have a vague memory of going to a polling place with my mom when I was younger but until I moved to Connecticut I had personally never been to a polling place.

I remember my first year voting in Connecticut. I walked into this odd contraption, moved a lever to close the curtain behind me and a panel slid open to reveal the candidates. After making my selections, I think there was another lever to pull when I was done. I still don't know how it recorded my vote or what report it produced. I think that by the time another election came around the old contraptions were gone and where replaced by an electronic reader of a paper ballot on which you filled out a circle with a black pen like an SAT test.

There is something unfulfilling and anti-climatic about voting by mail. Although you don't have to deal with poll standers making a last-ditch effort to sway your vote.