I find social media to be both wonderful and hurtful. I doubt that statement comes as a surprise to any of you as I suspect you have experienced similar emotions. It is great for sharing information and helping to educate people with factual material but it also serves equally to disseminate false and misleading information. I think we need not look any further than the current narratives , on both sides, with respects to Covid 19. I am not going to chase down that rabbit hole today but I will venture down one that is starting to concern me as it relates to mail in voting. Many states already allow mail in balloting and many are trying to ramp up their ability to do so for the upcoming general election. Here is a link that reviews this subject nationally and some of the criteria involved. My focus today will be limited to Indiana and more specifically Hamilton County IN. When Governor Holcomb moved the party primary elections from May 5 to June 2nd he also authorized every voter to be allowed to do so via absentee ballot. So basically he gave every voter the opportunity to request an absentee ballot and vote by mail. I have voted in every GOP municipal and biennial primary since I moved into HamCo in 1993. This year was the first time I took advantage of absentee , though I have voted "early" a few times including in 2016 when I was on the ballot for commissioner. Here is a link to the current early voting options.
I requested an absentee ballot and I did so via the Indiana Voters.com portal. It was amazingly easy and efficient as I printed out the form , completed it, placed my SIGNATURE on it and scanned it. I then sent the application to the HamCo elections office by E-mail to elections@hamiltoncounty.in.gov.. Two days latter the absentee ballot arrived in my mailbox. I completed it and placed my SIGNATURE in the designated spot and mailed it back.
So this is where the false information about mail in balloting comes in and why I am writing this blog. Opponents of mail in voting claim the system is wrought with fraud and subject to ballot harvesting. I am not going to engage in those conspiracy theories but will say this : I was required to sign the application. I was required to sign the actual ballot . That leaves the only variable subject to concern is how do I know it was received and will be counted? Because you can verify that on the Indiana Voters.com portal as well. See image on blog post. Bottom line. There will be early voting centers starting next week. There will be over 100 polling locations on June 2nd AND you can vote via absentee ballot up till May 21st. However you choose to exercise your right to vote , PLEASE VOTE ! Oh and stop this nonsense about mail in voting. PLEASE!