Civil Duties

So today I voted. I shan't tell you who I voted for. But my vote is in the mail, and it is to be in Iowa within a week. If I'm lucky. 

There's been a lot of frustrations. I'd like to talk about them. 

Some states allow you to vote by e-mail if you are out of the country. Iowa and TN are not part of that group. 

Ballots are sent to you as if they will arrive within 3-5 days. Chinese mail is even slower this year. My parents sent me a ballot express mail through UPS and it still arrived after 2 weeks. Some mail takes as long as a month. Callie's ballot hasn't arrived because the group sent it as if it would arrive in 3-5 days, so she had to e-mail them and get the forms. 

We could have gone to Beijing to get the national forms, but it we wouldn't have been voting in local elections. And it is also a trip to Beijing which is expensive and takes time, and I do not have time this semester. 

Because the mail takes so long, it takes us a while to get it and to send it. There's no way sending mail normally would allow us the time needed to vote- our votes would arrive far too late. The nearest UPS/FedEx/DHL place is Zhengzhou, and we don't have the time to go. So we're hoping that the EMS mail service will be fast enough to turn in our votes. But there is a very real chance my vote won't be counted, because I live too far away from the embassy and in a foreign country. 

Just because I live in a foreign country doesn't mean I've given up my right to vote. If anything, I want to vote. Some of the foreign policies by a couple of the candidates scare me. It's as if they have never been to another country, or certainly the country they're talking about. I absolutely want to vote for a policy that will aid not only me while I teach abroad, but have a realistic view of other countries. 

I want to have a say in my government. Especially given that my students cannot. They're so interested in the US election, and they've asked that I show them the presidential debates! So I'm going to show them the most recent one. 

But the lack of time allotted for ballots, the need to mail them in is very frustrating and tense- I'd gladly tell the world who I voted for if I could just get my ballot in on time and have it count. Of course, that also means that I trust the person who counts my ballot to be as understanding and unbiased as a machine (assuming also that the machines are unbiased and the companies who write the programing do so in an efficient and unerring manner). It's crazy, and yesterday the embassy wrote to the citizens on the mailing list saying regular mail would not be fast enough. If we wanted, we could drop our absentee ballot into the building in Beijing before Monday and they would send it for us, free of charge. That's only four days, three of which I'm working. It'd take at least two to travel to Beijing, and I can only hope they're open on both those days (not sure how often the embassy is open). It's also a lot more expensive to travel to Beijing than it is to Fedex something. Though Fedex is faster, EMS is the most reliable option. Even if it's probably going to take about a week to two weeks. 

Iowa is nice enough to allow mail that has been postmarked before the 3rd to arrive until the 13th. They probably won't make a difference by that point, but it is very reassuring to know I have a voice. Many states won't- if it isn't there by the 6th, no good. How scary. I'm so glad I'm not teaching in a more rural area, where the mail doesn't come and my mail would take forever to send. 

So I have voted. But there is a chance my vote won't count due to how slowly mail systems work in other countries. It is not an option to go to Beijing, it is not an option to go to Zhengzhou (I'd have to bring a student and they are not open when I could go), and there was little time to vote and send the vote back. All of this is frustrating. However, I am aware there is little I can do. 

In the next election, I hope Iowa allows for voters to register via e-mail, prove there is a connection, and let us scan our documents, signature, and vote that way. 

End result: I paid about $20 to try and vote, though it may not count. If you're reading this and part of the US, there's no reason you cannot vote. Your vote is free. Do it.