While “Election Day” is looming large on the calendar, with so many states permitting early voting for all voters, it feels like we are in the midst of a “voting season.” Before the Covid-19 pandemic, I was planning to volunteer as a poll worker or election day monitor, but I’m not comfortable with in-person volunteering now. When my law firm shared information about volunteering for the Election Protection hotline, I jumped at the chance.
I availed myself of early in-person voting last week.
Election Protection is a national, nonpartisan coalition that works year-round to ensure that all voters have an equal opportunity to vote and have that vote count. If you have a question, you can browse the state-by-state information on their website, or call 866-Our-Vote and a friendly volunteer will do their best to help. 🙂
Volunteering During Voting Season
After completing on-line training with an overview of various voting information resources, I did my first shift on a Friday evening and took … one call. Womp, Womp. I signed up for another shift on Columbus Day (now officially called Indigenous Peoples Day in Virginia), and was much busier. I enjoyed helping would-be voters so much I snagged another shift on Thursday and the calls were non-stop.
Volunteering during voting season has been eye-opening.
The laws about where, when, and how you can vote differ from state-to-state, and even from county-to-county. I had one woman call because her ballot instructions said to use BLACK ink while her sister’s (who lived in a different county in the same state) said to use BLUE or BLACK ink. Voting shouldn’t be that complicated.
In some places the laws about early voting are changing every day as legal challenges make their way through the courts. In Virginia, the requirement for a witness signature on your mail-in ballot has been waived due to the pandemic, but there still may be a witness signature line on your ballot envelope. On the other hand, in South Carolina, absentee ballots must have a witness signature because the Supreme Court overruled a lower court decision that had blocked the requirement–but ballots that were sent in without a signature before the Supreme Court ruling still should be counted. How confusing is that?
I’ve always had an easy time voting, but I’ve never moved close to election day. Helping voters who recently moved made me realize how complicated it can be. I took a call from someone who recently moved to New York, and unfortunately had missed the New York voter registration deadline. You may wonder why they didn’t do it sooner, but when they tell you they are disabled and don’t have a computer, you realize it’s not the disenfranchised voter who deserves the blame. (Some states have same-day voter registration; New York does not.)
Helping people who don’t have a computer–or a printer–or a car drove home how difficult every step of the process can be without those tools. Some states only let the individual look up information about their registration or ballot status, so all we can do for callers from those states is give them the website address and/or phone number for their local Board of Elections office. If they have access to a computer, we can walk them through the process–luckily we aren’t pressured to keep our calls to a certain length and can take time to make sure the person understands how to vote–or at least the next step in the process.
The most common questions I handled:
- how/where can I vote early?
- where is my mail-in ballot?
- how can I check the status of my mail-in ballot?
- how/where can I turn in my mail-in ballot without using the mail?
I really enjoy taking the calls and helping people–maybe it’s providing the social contact I’ve been sorely missing these past seven months–so am signing up for shifts whenever my work schedule permits. Once this voting season is over, I am going to look for opportunities to do legal pro bono work for election protection.
Weekly Run Down
This week I made peace with the fact that all of my weekday runs would be in the dark. Scooby let me do my Coretober workout first (usually 10 min), then after our run I usually paired a 20 min lower body strength workout with a 10 min arms workout.
Monday: 3.5 Treadmill Miles + 20 min core
Rain from the remnants of hurricane Delta made this a treadmill run day.
Tuesday: 3.65 Scooby Miles + 40 min Peloton Strength
It was just light enough to see Scooby if we posed under a streetlight ….
Wednesday: 4.75 Scooby Miles + 40 min Peloton Strength
Not sure about these headlamp selfies ….
Thursday: 3.4 Scooby Miles + 40 min Peloton Strength
I’ll just shine my headlamp on Scooby …
Friday: 3.4 Scooby Miles + 40 min Peloton Strength
I was so excited about the new Peloton Hamilton series, I listened to Matty’s treadmill workout on my run with Scooby. My last hill synched perfectly with the last incline portion!
Saturday: 8.2 Scooby Miles
I was still singing Hamilton songs in my head, so I decided to listen to the Hamilton Soundtrack I have on my Amazon Music account–it makes such a great running playlist!
I noticed halfway through the run that Scooby was really booking, but had no idea we were going this fast. Our usual pace has gradually gotten faster over the past few months (from the 10-ish range to the 9:30-ish range), but I don’t know where all the the 8:50 minute mile splits came from!
Sunday: 20 min Peloton Core + 20 min Peloton Yoga
I’m learning that the 20 min core classes aren’t as bad as I feared–they usually have a lot of variety. This one had a lot of alternative core moves like wood chops and weighted side bends.
+ 20 Miles Cycling
It was a gorgeous day for a bike ride — sunny and low 60s–and I really enjoyed seeing all the spooky Halloween decorations in the neighborhoods.
Thanks to Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Run Down link up. It’s always great for motivation and encouragement, but now it’s especially important for distance socializing. We may be physically apart, but we are in this together!
Have you voted yet? Have you figured out how?
![The Ultimate Coffee Date](http://got2run4me.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Ultimate-Coffee-Date.png" "The Ultimate Coffee Date")
I think there is more chit chat in the 20 m core classes so they don’t seem so much harder. Need to do Denis’ new hip yoga class. That’s great that scooby has gotten in such good shape lately! 🙂 Good for you for helping people answer questions about voting. Thanks for link up
All of Chase’s workouts have a lot of chit chat. Actually, I think most of the guys take more breaks than the women—imagine that! 😉
I think your headlamp selfie is very cool! We’re starting our morning walks in the dark now too and it’s not my favorite. Good on you for volunteering! Early in-person voting starts here tomorrow and I’m definitely getting it done this week. I’m a little nervous about Thing 1’s absentee ballot. She still does not have it.
Is she voting as an Illinois or Georgia voter? Some places just started mailing them out last week. I hope she gets it in time — don’t want her disenfranchised the first year she’s old enough.
My son is volunteering to work the polls in Madison! So proud of him. Should be interesting.
At least your headlamp worked last week, lol!!
Yay for him — that’s really great.
Hah, yes — I did have to recharge it last weekend after a dimly lit run! 😉
It’s very sad that voting is so complicated and don’t get me started on people having to wait 11 hours to vote – just pure insanity! Thank you so much for volunteering – you are truly making a difference!
Nice job on all of your workouts this week. I’m going to do the Hamilton run this week and I’m looking forward to it. I always enjoy running with Matty.
It’s crazy how complicated it can be. And the lines are inexcusable.
Matty always has great energy, but his workouts are tough!
That sounds like an amazing volunteering experience, Coco! The voting system sounds incredibly complicated. So good that you are there to help!
I am starting to love core workouts. The longer ones that I do tend to have more variation, too, which makes it somewhat easier.
Congratulations on the 8:50 splits!
Thanks. I had no idea we were going that fast, but I was getting tired. 😉
Are the voting rules the same in every state in Switzerland?
Good question! The federal rules are the same, so for a countrywide vote, the process is quite robust.
For cantonal issues, the rules vary. So it gets complicated too!
Good for you in volunteering! Can’t wait to early vote next weekend!!!!
So inspired by you and Scooby. What a team
Yay for voting! He really keeps me going!
Good for you for donating your time! My sister & SIL did too. We will post our mail in ballots at early voting next week.
I think shining your headlight on Scooby totally works. 🙂
You know I’m dying to do the Hamilton runs, but since I have a virtual 5k next month I’m using the Road to 5k program right now. 🙂
Maybe you could listed to the Hamilton run for the 5k? I listened to the soundtrack for the NYC Half and that was great.
I don’t listen to music when running outside, since I’m alone & I don’t have Scooby. 🙂 Also my phone is weird & won’t keep a sync with anything bluetooth unless it’s at chest height.
I will definitely get around to the Hamilton run! Or I’m sure they’ll have a Hamilton ride at some point. Been a while since I did a cycle class.
They do have a Hamilton ride now!
😘
Nicely done! I haven’t done anything like that before but I WILL be dropping off my ballot soon! It just came in the mail 🙂
I’m glad you got it on time! It’s so complicated if you think it’s lost in the mail and have to decide to wait or request a new one — with different procedures depending on where you are.
How nice of Scooby to let you do your workout first.
It’s unconscionable what a mess voting is. I’m excited to vote next Saturday. This is our first major election with early voting (primary postponed to point when it was rendered moot so I just voted on the day, no line at all).
I hope you don’t have big lines next weekend. I had what looked like a long line, but that’s b/c we were spaced 6 ft apart. The whole process took me 10 min. 🙂
I figure it will give me opportunities to go back if the line is too long. I’m glad I researched it though, it’s not my usual polling place.
We just filled out our ballots last night. The nearest drop-off doesn’t open until Thursday so we will drop them off after that. It’s crazy how complicated some parts of voting can be!
Make sure you sign them and put them in any special envelopes you’re supposed to use. 😉
Wow, voting is something I have totally taken for granted. While, I have voted in every election since I came of age, I had no idea there were so many details and various circumstances to complicate the matter. I guess I have been very lucky. Thanks so much for all your volunteer work!! And, congrats on great week of workouts!
It’s eye-opening how much the laws vary, and how much other details of the process vary.
I can’t tell you how much I love that you volunteered to help would-be voters! It makes me so frustrated to read how complicated the whole process is from state to state. I’ll be getting my ballot in early this week.
You and Scooby were really flying! 🙂
I don’t know what got into him! It was hard to keep up!
Kudos to your for volunteering!! They were looking for 17 yr old HS seniors to work the polls and I suggested that my daughter should do it. But then I saw the time commitment was HUGE and I’m not sure if she’ll be into it. I would also be interested at helping at the polls, but also not sure about that time commitment. This is very eye opening about the differences on voting out there. I would have never expected any differences!
The requirements on really big things — like registration deadlines, and when your mail-in ballot needs to be received — are so different from state to state.
I guess they need a big time commitment because of the training that’s required?
I also enjoyed the Hamilton Run. I just wished it was longer than 30 minutes.
Thank you for volunteering. I cannot believe how complicated it is to vote. I mean it should be an easy thing, right? My sister works at one of the voting places on Election Day. I do wonder how many people will actually show up that day.
My son plans to vote in person on election day just to see what it’s like. :-p
I am so glad you were able to volunteer! I wanted to volunteer at the polls, but when the deadline came, I also wasn’t comfortable, both because of COVID and also because of the tempers and behaviors down here. Things are ugly and heated. I’m not even taking A to vote with me this time, just because I don’t feel comfortable. Maybe I’m being silly, but things just feel so different this year 🙁
i totally understand. I don’t expect much ugliness in my city, but there already has been issues in other counties. I will be praying hard for peace and calm on election day.