Hispanic and Black voters in a Philadelphia County requested mail ballots on average several days later than their white counterparts during the primary, according to an internal analysis by a voting rights group.
The use of vote by mail in the state has skyrocketed this year.
And yet, when my SO contacted the Leigh County Board of Elections to find out why the application she submitted online 2 weeks ago has not yet been approved, she was told that they will not begin to process the requests until September 14.
Racism in the US deeply permeates our institutions and our peoples.
This is no surprise really. Most Black people distrust American institutions for very, very good reasons. If you’re used to voting in person and have never voted by mail, it only makes sense that you might be leery of doing something different. With an election as dire as this one, I don’t blame anyone who feels the need to go cast their vote in person just to be sure their vote counts.
I’m voting in person. Wear a good mask, carry hand sanitizer, keep your distance, wait in line, sanitize hands, use voting machine, sanitize hands, go home, take off mask, wash hands. How to avoid infecting yourself and others is doable and well established.
Special cases aside, if you can go to grocery store or go to the post office or stop by at work to pick up stuff or have friends over for dinner, you can vote in person.
Low income, marginalized folks are often occupied with day to
day, pressing concerns. Compounded by sub-optimal high school
graduation rates, incarcerated family members, and the impact
of severe chronic stress which detracts from personal efficiency,
and contributes to depleting health issues. When such issues
abound it is tough to complete a variety of forms let alone
devote half of a day to voting in person.
Should we be assuming that voting by mail is always the right answer? Unless Dems can definitively put a stop to post office shenanigans by Trump, especially in the communities where Black folks live, this may not be the case.
IMHO, Dem messaging should be vote by mail if you can do it with enough time, but plan to vote in person if not.
I believe I can hand deliver mine to the county courthouse and other locations.
The day it arrives 
Requires replication elsewhere …
So Trump is essentially shooting himself and every Republican down the ballot if he continues condemning the use of absentee. His white supremacist base is just stupid enough to believe him, while minorities aren’t using the ballots that much anyways.
Nov 3rd is just another opportunity for a death cult super-spreader event, in their eyes.
Might be hard to do that with no poll workers because most are retired people and are elderly.
How long are you willing to wait in line? Honest question?
You did see those reports of people waiting in line for 8 to 10 hours right?
I expect this election to be far diferent then we are used to and I will be voting by mail for the for the first time in my life
The long waits may result in some voter suppression, but I’m currently willing to bet that the AntiDonnie forces are far, far, far more motivated than the Dimwits, so the outcome this implies is that he’s still going down, down, down.
And if needed, I’ll wait all day and far into the night. I’ll have me cell phone, a couple spare battery packs and my wife can bring me food and drink (I’ll just keep “the jug” with me until the wait is over, wouldn’t ask her to have to handle that, given all the other stuff we’ve inflicted on our poor Canadian neighbors).
I always have to pee
We get our ballots in the mail by the end of Sept.
Will fill out and back in the mail they go
Hence “the jug” (although I might just invest in a “Motorman’s Friend” before November…)
With all of Trump’s efforts to sabotage the election by crippling the Postal Service, shouldn’t the goal be to make sure it is super easy for people to vote in person on election day and on early voting days? Since the Democrats control all the key statewide offices and local governments in Pa (as well as in Mich., Wisc., and NC) there’s no excuse for not putting a polling station within easy walking distance of everyone in these Democratic areas. If they are doing that, I’ve missed the article.
We are never going to get the PS to do jts job right. So, while we need to keep pressure on them, it will never be enough because they control the post office. We, however, control the mechanisms of voting 8n almost all of the swing states.
Big problem with in person voting is staffing. Traditionally, many poll workers are retired and those at greater risk. They do not want to sit inside for 12 hours with poor ventilation and a constant line of people, some wearing masks, some not.
Yep, I agree with you; I remember my grandmother working as a polling place staffer for many years. But I think college students offer a mother lode of staffing availability. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I think I remember that some of the states are already going that route.
Pennsylvania officials working for the state and most counties— as well as some great Court of Common pleas judges— have gone out of their way to make this work. Therefore, the number of people who waited until the last minute during the primary was just stupefying. There’s only so much election officials and judges can do without running into or ruling in favor of a lawsuit that will throw out ballots not cast in accordance with the law. That law was a miracle coming out of a Republican-controlled legislature. No one in Philly or any other large or moderately sailed county has any excuse for not voting early to make sure their vote counts.
BTW– drop boxes are problematic under PA law. They have to be manned by sworn-in election officials and you can only put your own ballot in— no one else’s. That means where they exist they cannot be 24/7 (Philly WILL have a problem if they try doing what they did last time). The best option is applying for mailing NOW if you have not, and casting and mailing it back right away.
