Well, that's one way to keep people from voting in the primary

[DFW]

I got a notice today that I had to make a special application to vote absentee in the Texas primary. I called up the Dallas County voting office, who told me I was too late to get an absentee ballot to vote in the primary.

At least I KNOW when the November election is, and I will go down there in person when I am there in August if I have to.

Way back when, Dallas used to send overseas voters their absentee ballots automatically. I guess that has gone out the tenth story window along with Russian dissidents.

[Tribetime]

1. I'm voting in person from now on

I don't trust them to lose stuff in the mail purposely anymore

[slightlv]

4. I voted by mail once... and I loved it!

But then trump came, and that killed that. I actually DO like going down to the polls and voting. Gives me a chance to catch up with neighbors who, like myself, are all but housebound because of our infirmities. But we still feel voting is important enough to get out there and do it in person. Unfortunately, one of the pleasures... catching up with neighbors... has been cut so badly because they gerrymandered the crap out of the 2 blocks of us who were mostly democrats. I run into so many more flag-waving trump supporters than I ever had before... and instead of making it a pleasant, patriotic journey... it makes it a blood boiling (at times) chore.

Still... I am woman. And they'll have to forcibly take me from the polls before I won't vote!

[Jack Valentino]

12. I've been voting by mail since 2020 here in Michigan....

I moved in late 2020, and have never been to the new polling place for this residence....

I'm on the permanent request list for absentee ballots, and it is very convenient!
(as passed by a voter initiative in Michigan prior to 2020).

And I must say, I have voted in elections where I wouldn't have bothered to show up
at the polls (mostly odd-year local elections), but THAT is WHY TRUMP
and the Republicans are so against mail-in voting!

[ananda]

14. Same.

...

[spooky3]

2. Thank you for fighting back. Nt

[progressoid]

3. Assuming of course that your ballot would get delivered.

Things are getting weirder all the time.

https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-postal-service-missing-mail-7ce97a5b7d56373cdeaa6ecc9a9132f5

[MaeScott]

5. Since they take photos of your mail before delivery...

..it would be easy to scan and kick ballots out.
Where will this all end? They already have sown big seeds of doubt in our elections, hell, GOP been stealing elections since Al Gore. Jimmy Carter was a good decent man, look how he was done.Harris was an outright theft, like Clinton. But they welcome babyrapers with open arms. Just sick sick sick

[BaileyBill]

6. Texas Secretary of State...

appears to have made a hash of the state voting apparatus. No one has even received current voter registration cards and early voting started last week--counties can't access accurate information.

Due to Republican hijinks, some counties are having to go back to precinct level voting rather than the county-wide voting available in the past, and due to the Trump/Abbott redistricting BS a lot of those precincts have changed, too. Just another obstacle.

Somebody seems to have been hired to revamp the SOS computer system, no doubt a DOGE refugee or Abbott's brother-in-law or Paxton's concubine. In other words, someone of Republican qualifications.

If you're still registered in Dallas County, you might reach out to the county party, there. The state party has a vote-by-mail program as well.

Sucks not to be counted, and it doesn't look like it's going to get easier soon.

[Envirogal]

7. Can you vote with a provisional ballot?

They then have to research and could count it later? At least make these cheater have to work for their suppression.

[PatSeg]

8. When I lived in California,

my absentee ballots were sent automatically once I'd opted in for absentee voting. California really knows how to run elections.

[iemanja]

10. I get an application for a ballot

But not a ballot itself. I live in MN, and we have the highest voter participation rate in the country, or so I’ve heard.

[PatSeg]

13. Do they automatically send you the application?

I love when states make it easy to vote.

[iemanja]

16. Yes, if you've voted absentee before.

[PatSeg]

22. That is fairly similar to how California works

It certainly makes it easier for everyone.

[iemanja]

9. I was caged in TX myself

And that year Bush was elected governor.

[mitch96]

11. I always get a vote by mail ticket.. I then physically go down to the Elections Office and physically hand it in...

It gives me time to mull over the YES/no votes and I don't have to wait on line..
I wonder what it will be like this time? Hummm If I have to vote in person, so be it.. I vote..

m

[DFW]

18. I would if it were possible

I can’t leave work and fly 5000 miles to Dallas just to vote.

[peacebuzzard]

15. I have always wondered why the overseas voter tally is a non-topic.

I have often wondered why winners are declared without the final votes in. Or, those overseas votes are at least reported when they do come in. It seems to be a discarded subject that is not reported or considered.
It is always interesting to see the graphics of the final tallies; where they originate and the outcome.

[DFW]

19. We Americans Abroad are a convenient group to ignore.

Estimates range from 5.2 million to over 9 million. We are often double taxed (both by the USA and the country of residence), and prevented, whether by design or by bureaucratic incompetence, from voting. Since we are often aware and educated, we tend to be Democrats. Republicans don’t like that. Republican-run states like Texas thus put up what barriers they can. ALL other countries in the world respect Residence-Based Taxation (except Eritrea), or RBT. Some Democrats don’t like RBT because it’s convenient to portray us all as billionaire tax refugees living tax-free on a yacht moored in the harbor of Monte Carlo. Even if there IS such an animal, the other nine million of us are not.

But even though we have a population greater than many states, we have no representation in Congress, and due to double taxation, not a lot of spare cash for campaign contributions. I keep reminding Democrats that keep coming to us with their hands outstretched every election cycle that continued ignoring of RBT costs Democrats contributions of between $300,000,000 and $500,000,000 every election cycle, but apparently that’s too trivial a sum for them to bother with.

[peacebuzzard]

20. That is a huge number. 5-9 million. The overseas US troop vote at one time

was a large number that basically was discarded since it took so long to tally those returns.
And those troops mattered. In years past it was snail mail; although now it is probably quicker.
But as far as I can remember those votes, military and civilian were never factored in.
During the Gore Bush debacle I often scanned as much news as I could to see where that demographic would figure in.
It never did. And that vote dwindled down to a trivial difference. And that difference changed politics significantly.

In my personal despair over that one is how I found this DU site. I finally found a place with like minds (since I was living in a deep red county at the time).

[DFW]

21. My number didn't even include the military

I was talking about civilians only. Longterm business reps, teachers, scientists, retirees, normal people married to foreign citizens who won’t or can’t live in the USA for personal or professional reasons, other family connections or obligations, there are probably a hundred different reasons why Americans move to other countries. For a country of our size, with a population of our diverse and influential background, I don’t find 2.75% of the population living abroad to be enormous. That nine million of us should be ignored and financially disadvantaged by our own government for over half a century—THAT is something I find enormous. As a population, we would rank somewhere in the top third if we were a state, right around 13th, somewhere near Virginia and Arizona. But they have senators, House representatives and electoral votes. We have nothing like that, only absentee ballots (sometimes!), “contributions” and taxes. We are low-hanging fruit, perpetually ripe for the plucking, and getting very fed up with that status. Two years ago, Sherrod Brown called me asking for a contribution. I asked him if he knew how many Americans Abroad there were. He guessed 250,000 to 300,000 !!!! About one thirtieth of the true number. If he is that poorly informed, he is better off saying, “ I have no earthly clue, please enlighten me” instead of plucking a stupid guess out of the air. Was he that out of touch with the rest of his constituency? No wonder he lost against an ignorant buffoon.

[summer_in_TX]

17. Yeah, Texas is just about dead last in helping citizens vote.

First, you have to apply for to vote by mail every year. But at least you can do one application for the whole year.

Second, those of us who register voters are only allowed to do so for people who live in a county for which we are certified to do so. We have to go individually to other counties to apply to register their voters. I did that for four counties in 2024. At least you don't have to retest every time. You show them your documentation and they must honor it in their county. Different forms for each county too, quite often.

Third, those who do their own mail-in application usually get a form that is addressed to the Secretary of State, not the Elections Administrator in their county. The SOS is often 2-3 months behind in sending those to the correct counties.

Texas refused to obey the federal law requiring online voter registration be enabled. Courts ruled against them, but they appealed. Finally they had to accept it. Sort of. You can update an address online, but you have to register on a paper form and sign it the first time you register to vote in Texas.

The only place to drop off a mail-in ballot is at the County Elections Administrators office, no matter how far away your residence is from that office. It may be an hour and a half drive or more roundtrip.

To get or renew your drivers license, you have to present an official embossed copy of your birth certificate. To request a copy of your birth certificate online, you must enter your drivers license number – but those just getting their drivers license for the first time need the birth certificate to get the drivers license. A direct relative – parent, grandparent, sibling – can use their drivers license number to apply for the birth certificate for the young person. But the wording on the website does not make that clear. I had to call and ask. But will everyone?

There are all kinds of other hoops to jump through.

[Saoirse9]

23. Thanks for the reminder

to request my mail in ballot.

Sorry for your trouble.