My absentee ballot never arrived:

What the fuck America?



If I didn't live in Obamassachusetts, I'd probably be a lot angrier right now.

There is a lot of talk these days about moving election day to weekends in order to facilitate the voting process for more Americans, and I think it's a great idea. Looking deeper into the issue, one realizes that our voting process is pretty messed up in a lot of ways; the way we go about voting deprives of a voice some of voters who need one most. People always talk about how the elderly are the most reliable voters, and this should come as no surprise. Besides driving golf carts and wearing those ridiculous blind person sunglasses until they die, voting is pretty much the only thing on their to-do list.

Other people with pressing needs in an election, however -- say, single moms, students, or blue collar workers -- don't exactly have as much time to get to their voting stations. Some people may feel that they're too busy, and others feel that as a slave to the clock they can't get out to the voting booths, keeping some of the adults that most feel the impact of our political decisions from casting a vote in either direction. And as far as young people go -- the voting block that everyone likes to rag on -- the odds are stacked against us.

Young people may find themselves in classes or in busy jobs the keep them from feeling free to get to the voting booth, or, as in my case, the system may be complicated for them because of their situation. Even if I were not in Denmark right now and were instead at school in Vermont, I would still have to send in my vote via absentee ballot. As this post makes clear, I have not received said ballot, even though I filed the request a month and a half ago AND sent a personal email to my town clerk asking about it when it had not come after a few weeks. Even in the event that students do receive their ballots, the somewhat-complicated process of requesting them makes voting that much more unappealing. I guarantee that if all young people had to do was walk into a booth no more than a couple of minutes from their current place of residence, voter turnout would skyrocket. Now by no means do I intend this to act as an excuse for the decades of apathy exhibited by young voters. There is no excuse not to vote -- not when we all know what is at stake.

In short, our antiquated system of voting keeps more vulnerable voters from getting to the polls, and it's about time this all changed. Additionally, the electoral college is bullshit.