Letter to the Editor: Voting early, not necessarily a good idea
Whoa doggies slow it down a bit. Let’s not be hopping on that band wagon to quickly. I just read of a suggestion to get your ballots in early so that you will not be harassed by postcards in the mail, text messages on your phone or telephone calls. Vote early so no one has to spend money on the postcards, have to pay a telemarketer to call or text you. That is mildly disguised extortion. Well, OK it is a mild threat. You do this and I will stop doing that. The implication is that the person knows what they are doing is a nuisance and you would not mind it stopping.
So, from a different perspective. Voting early is like impulse buying but in this case buyer’s remorse cannot be addressed with returning the item you purchased. As soon as you drop that ballot in the box you are locked in. You have no option to change your vote should you come across some new information. You will simply have to bite the bullet and live with your error.
There is no advantage for you to be voting 25 days in advance. Sure, you might forget, you may be out of town, or some other unremarkable reason. But we are still a long way out from the primary election.
With that said, in my opinion you might not want to wait until the very last minute. If your signature is deemed to not match the one on record you will need some time to correct that and the same if you forgot to sign your absentee voter envelope.
When we used to vote in person this was not an issue. You had up to the day of the vote to make up your mind. There was even less doubt about who was doing the voting.
For those of you that vote a straight party ticket there is no need for you to do any research or think about who your voting for, simply obey the post cards, text messages or telephone calls of your choice
Phil Shafer
Quincy, CA
