K1 had one item on her agenda as we went downtown today to meet a friend for lunch: to get her absentee ballot request in for the Massachusetts Primary on Setember 4th and the 2018 Midterms in November. As a college student she may choose to vote either at home or where she goes to school, and K1 has decided that since she both liuves and attends college in blue areas, her vote is best used to affect the local elections here in her hometown, so she keeps her registration at her home address. Grab a suitably summer beverage (I have a Smirnoff’s 1 net carb Watermelon Seltzer, there’s also a nice bottle of house red over there...) and join us below the story break for a happy tale of an Election Office staffer who actually helped make it easier for K1 to vote!
Here at Top Comments we welcome longtime as well as brand new Daily Kos readers to join us at 10pm Eastern. We strive to nourish community by rounding up some of the site's best, funniest, most mojo'd & most informative commentary, and we depend on your help!! If you see a comment by another Kossack that deserves wider recognition, please send it either to topcomments at gmail or to the Top Comments group mailbox by 9:30pm Eastern. Please please please include a few words about why you sent it in as well as your user name (even if you think we know it already :-)), so we can credit you with the find!
Since we were had a few minutes to spare, K1 decided to fill out the form there and hand it in directly rather than mail it in. She requested absentee ballots for both the September 4th primary as well as the November general election, filled in her campus address, and handed it back in. The woman manning the Elections Office desk scanned the form, then asked: ”When do you go back to school?”
K1 replied ”August 20th”, at which point the Elections Office woman commented she’s telling most college stuidents to come in before they return to school and vote their absentee for the primary in the office; the ballots will be saved and tallied on Election Night. Why?
”We’re concerned that the timing of our sending out ballots might mean they’ll get caught in campus mail limbo at some colleges, and students won’t have their opportunity to vote.”
I know we’re a 90% white suburban city in Massachusetts so voter infringement is not as rampant as so many other places across the country, but it was refreshing to hear someone actively concerned with making sure everyone, especially college students, had the opportunity to exercise their right to vote. So K1 will make sure to get to City Hall in early August, and vote before she returns to Rochester NY. She’s also letting fellow stuidents know to get in and vote absentee before heading back to school so as not to run into issues with the timing of our state primary.
Have you voted absentee? Was it an easy process? Share in the comments, or just come hang out in our little corner of the community diary fabric that weaves together the Daily Kos community. Thank you as always to my collaborator and dear friend BeninSC, whose steadfast help on these nights is both fun and extraordinarily helpful.
Brillig's ObDisclaimer: The decision to publish each nomination lies with the evening's Diarist and/or Comment Formatter. My evenings at the helm, I try reeeeallllyy hard to publish everything without regard to content. I really do, even when I disagree personally with any given nomination. "TopCommentness" lies in the eyes of the nominator and of you, the reader - I leave the decision to you. I do not publish self-nominations (ie your own comments) and if I ruled the world, we'd all build community, supporting and uplifting instead of tearing our fellow Kossacks down.
Note: Please remember that comment inclusion in Top Comments does not constitute support or endorsement by diarist, formatter, Top Comments writers or DailyKos. Questions, complaints or comments? Contact brillig.
Highlighted by DoReMi:
Is this fine commentby rugbymomon the administration’s objective of ‘destroying faith in democratic institutions.’
Highlighted by ruby2zdy:
Is this commentby Errol Nelsonabout the administration’s possible strategy to force a contempt citation for its intentional failure to reunite immigrant children with their families.
Highlighted by gchaucer2:
Is this commentby Nebraskademjabout personal effort to sink the Kavanaugh nomination.
Highlighted by Nebraska68847Dem:
Is this clear commentby pines of romeabout our keeping our eye on the ball all the way through the primary season.
Highlighted by KenBee:
In response to apprehension that the Republicans (also known in the thread as ‘shitburgers’) will come up with a way to derail DocDawg’sPHENOMENAL efforts on behalf of the North Carolina electorate, is this comment, DocDawg’spromising response! In DocDawg’srec-worthy diary! (Add this man to your stream, if you have not already done so!)
TOP MOJO
Top Mojo for yesterday, July 9th, 2018, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mikfor the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on FAQing Top Mojo.
TOP PICTURES
Top Pictures for July 10th, 2018. Click any picture to be taken to the full comment or picture. Thank you jotter!