Being An Absentee Voter Sucks For These Reasons | The Odyssey Online
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Elections

Being An Absentee Voter Sucks For These Reasons

Absentee voting is a progressive tool that allows people who cannot physically be present in their voting location to send in their ballot by mail.

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Being An Absentee Voter Sucks For These Reasons

It's been a couple weeks since the midterm elections passed by and could not have been better at bringing on some real heat. If you've been in the loop, the state of Georgia midterm elections have been so razor-thin close. It only kept getting closer and closer because of absentee ballots. These ballots are sent by mail to those who cannot physically be present to vote. These are mostly men and women who serve in the U.S. military or college students like me.

This is one of the best advances in equal voting rights people argue, but in some cities and states, it's very arguable.

Things get lost in the mail 

We've all had that one online package somehow disappeared. Unfortunately, this online package contains a ballot to vote that has no tracking, and you just might not know if it ever got counted.

You miss the euphoria of poll-voting 

Whoever said there's not a rush from voting at the polls is lying to you. There's a sense of euphoria knowing that you exercised your civic duties and became an active participant in politics rather than a spectator. You get to stand in line talking to other residents learning their political views while waiting to get to the poll machine. There's a way different feeling clicking the submit button at the polls then dropping a lookalike letter.

You don't get an "I voted" sticker 

Sure this isn't the most important thing in the world, but we all used to steal those stickers from our parents as children, so there was definitely some sadness in not getting one myself.

When it's midterm elections, no one around you understands 

Trying to talk to my non-Georgia friends about the Georgia elections was always difficult because they didn't understand what was going on since that's not their state of residency. Being able to talk to someone after voting is always fun and personable, but as an absentee voter, it's only text and phone calls.

It's nice to be able to have the opportunity to vote and study wherever I want which is a progression, but there are still so many loopholes and mishaps along the way that may be accidental or on purpose. You just may never know. The important this is that if you could have voted, I hope you did and if not see you next year at the polls.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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