The Dallas County absentee voting office is nothing if not efficient

[DFW]

I received my notice in the mail early this week that my absentee voting status had been recognized, and that I would get my ballots in the mail here (i.e. Germany) for the rest of the year.

This afternoon, while I was in Sprout City for work, my Texas primary ballot arrived at my residence near Düsseldorf. THREE days after the notification. That didn't take long! The Texas primary election is on March 3rd, so I need to get this filled out and sent back in within the next few days. It also forces me to finally make a choice.

There are a ridiculous SEVENTEEN names on the ballot for President. Well, for me, really fourteen, as I am sticking to my decision never to vote in the primary for a Senator that publicly urged Al Franken to resign from the Senate, and three of them are on there. Still, aside from those three very forgettable souls, there are a few I can live with (my 3 top preferences are not on there), and I can only vote for one--and I WILL vote.

There are other races, too, like US Senate, my House district (that one is easy, as my incumbent, Colin Allred, is running unopposed), and local races.

It's a long sheet, and I won't be able to fill it out in two minutes, because I like to look up the people in obscure local races rather than not vote at all, or choose a name at random. Oh, well, tomorrow is Saturday, and I finally have the day off (kinda, sorta). The outsized envelope costs about €4 to send back to the USA, but I'll pay it. The alternative means my vote being silenced, and that I will not have.

Absentee voting means a little extra time sacrificed, but voting is the ultimate use-it-or-lose-it right, and "lose it" is not an option. The German post office gets €4 out of me, and it will take 15 minutes out of my day to walk to the post office and stand in line. I will survive the burden.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Indeed you will survive the burden, and we will all be grateful!

I hope your chosen pick wins, whoever it is.

Enjoy your Saturday and Happy Valentine's Day to you and your lovely wife.

[DFW]

2. Thanks, Peggy. I did have the presence of mind to remember Valentine's Day!

My wife did NOT!! Ha ha! I had to leave the house shortly before six AM to make my first appointment in Brussels, and did not have the heart to to wake my wife. However, I HAD paid a secret visit to our local florist two days ago, and ordered a big vase of red roses and unspecified "colorful" flowers for €100 to be brought to our house while I was in Belgium.

Having totally forgotten it was Valentine's Day, my wife was completely taken by surprise when the doorbell rang, and this huge vase of flowers was delivered. She called me in Brussels and asked if by any chance the flowers were my doing. I admitted that might be the case. She is worth it, and she knows I have always thought so. That is all that matters.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. How sweet of you! You have your priorities in the correct order and no mistake. n/t

[Liberal In Texas]

12. Cool Dude.

[DFW]

14. When you're married to a smile like this:

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You tend to want to keep it that way!

[Retrograde]

4. I always vote by mail

California lets voters sign up as permanent mail voters (and for this primary election my county is going all mail ballot). Since we usually have long ballots, I can take my time filling them out, plus I don't have to worry about not being around on election day itself. We also have a way to check whether the ballot has been received and accepted on line, as well as a process for dealing with problems. And now we don't even have to pay the return postage!

[liberaltrucker]

5. I have to drive a mile to the Summit Twp fire hall

It'll be tough, but I sure I'm up to it.

[LuckyLib]

6. Always ahead of the curve -- California.

In our modern world, make it by mail, verifiable via the internet.

[DFW]

7. Mine is postage paid if sent from the USA

The German postal service is only too happy to remind me that Düsseldorf lies outside the territorial limit of the USA.

[Grammy23]

8. Our absentee ballots arrived this week. We started voting absentee

When my mom came to live with us in 2003. It worked out nicely so we could vote calmly without leaving the house. It was sooo much better than standing in line. Pour cup of coffee, unfold ballot. Mark ballot. Discuss if necessary. No secret ballots at our house. LOL. Follow instructions for secrecy sleeve, stamp, seal envelope, sign & date. Done. Drop in mail before deadline. Easy peasy. One thing my state seems to be doing right. (I’m in the FL Panhandle and have the shame of having Matt Gaetz as my Rep.)

My mom died in 2006 but we were used to voting by mail and in Florida you just need to request the absentee ballot and they give you the option to keep getting them. No special reason needed. So that’s how we have voted ever since.

[DFW]

9. I feel your pain with Gaetz

I suffered the shame of having Pete Sessions as my rep in the House for many years. We FINALLY voted him out on his ass two years ago. The Republicans gerrymandered our Dallas district to include some rural bible belt country outside of town, and it took over a decade for the Dallas demographics (and two years of Trump) to overcome that.

[Blue_true]

10. What are post offices like in Germany? I have gone to a couple in two

countries, one was organized and fast, the other chaotic and time consuming.

[DFW]

15. They vary greatly here

My local one is often crowded with long lines, and sometimes not. The staff is very patient, and sometimes takes maddeningly long to explain things to people. We have many immigrants, and those from Russia and Eastern Europe sometimes take WAY too long asking useless questions, thinking they are back in their old communist homeland, where people had nothing else to do.

When I first started spending a lot of time here, the post office was state-run, and the workers were often rude and uncaring, It was pretty efficient, too. It used to be said that any letter handed in to any post office in the old West Germany would be delivered the next day to any other part of West Germany. This is no longer the case, but the workers at the counter are a LOT more friendly and helpful, too. They get paid shit wages, and my wife and I always donate €100 in small bills to their "coffee cash fund" every Christmas. It is a long-established practice in Germany, but €5 or €10 is the norm, and it is NOT expected of anyone. However, the workers at our station often let me in just after closing, and are REALLY helpful to us. We repay in the only way we can, and they DEFINITELY know who we are.

The trick here is to be there at a non-busy time, and NEVER on the first of the month, when people get paid, as the postal service has its own bank as well.

[Dem2theMax]

11. I can't get two offices to coordinate, in different parts of my city,

to fax, yes fax, a document from one place to the other, so that I can have a much-needed MRI.

They have been at it for four days. I made six phone calls today and I still don't know if it actually happened.

And you get your ballot in three days?

DFW, I'm just like you. It takes me hours to vote. I look up every name to make sure I am voting for a Democrat. A lot of those down-ticket races are very tough to figure out.

[DFW]

16. This was the Democratic Party primary ballot

So, no question about party affiliation this time. Still I want to know who everyone is before I fill in a blank.

[Dem2theMax]

18. I'm on pain meds. Neck/spine issues. Hence, the need for an MRI.

So I'm not thinking very clearly right now. Duh about the ballot. LOL! But I still do my research anyway. Just like you.

[Liberal In Texas]

13. I would like to add...THIS is Dallas and Dallas County. We are blue.

Get that Texas bashers? We're not perfect, but we're as progressive as Austin or any other number of cities I could name.

We have a really good elections office here. The head is a Dem. We also have new machines for the next elections. (I don't like machines either.) There will be a paper card that is printed out, verified by the voter and kept if a recount is needed before it is scanned by an optical reader.

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[DFW]

17. It is true, especially on boards like this

Every time something bad happens in Texas, we are "Tex-ass," and a pit of unimaginable filth. Some think all Texans are like Louie Gohmert and Greg Abbott, and not Julián Castro, Wendy Davis, Molly Ivins or Ann Richards.

Our rednecks exist, and the racists of South Boston do not. Oh well. Republicans do not have a monopoly on being proud of their ignorance. Just a fact of life.

[liberaltrucker]

19. Same can be said about us Alabamians

Not all of us sniffed George Wallace's ass.