I’m really surprised to hear all these different regulations. I mean, if both Chicago AND rural Indiana allow phones, that seems to cover the extreme opposite ends of the spectrum.
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I think different states have different rules regarding cell phones. I believe CA state legislature changed the law within the last 4-6 years and now selfies are allowed.
I used to write up a cheat sheet when voting in person. (I didn’t like handing over my sample ballot with my choices to a poll worker, although they certainly can infer my voting preferences based upon my political party.) I kinda liked going quickly through all my choices…ka-kunk, ka-kunk, ka-kunk (the sound of the inker through the small opening).
But the last time I voted in person (2018?), the neighborhood middle school changed the location of voting literally 7:00 that morning and nobody thought to repost the polling place signs. It made me late to work. 
It’s troubling that the school could suddenly switch things around due to their poor planning and the school didn’t think to clear it with the county registrar.
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Ooh, that sounds like fun, I want to do that! We just get to fill in ovals with a black pen, like taking a standardized test in school.
Re: photos, from the MN Secretary of State website:
POLLING PLACE RULES
Taking photos is discouraged
There is no law that strictly prohibits taking photos or videos in the polling place to record your own voting experience. However, the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State discourages this activity for the following reasons:
Voters have a right to privacy, both as to how an individual has voted as well as whether or not an individual has voted. Either or both of these could be compromised by pictures or video. In addition, other voters’ objections to being photographed could lead to disruptions within the polling place.
When voter turnout is high there may be lines and polling places may be crowded. Voters have a right to take the time they need to vote, but should not take extra time to take pictures.
In addition, Minnesota Statutes 204C.17 and Minnesota Statutes 204C.18 prohibit voters from showing their marked ballot to others. Taking photographs or video of your own marked ballot could violate this prohibition.
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Good news keeps coming.
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another interesting thing about vote by mail are the states that send out voter guides: getting to see and think about the language of the actual measures ( or candidates ) for as long as you want. and not having to hunt the basics down through partisan websites.
mostly just in the western states though
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Looking at the still uncalled House races and where they currently stand, I think that we could very well end up with a 218-217 split.
Control of the House could change with a heart attack or (more likely) indictment.
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Thank you. Still a new account, as you stated, so I couldn’t post links. If anyone else wants to, feel free.
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The previous R representative was one of the few that voted to impeach Trump for his actions on January 6, so you knew she’d be replaced by someone absolutely terrible on the ticket. I’m glad that the seat ended up flipping D.
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GOP primary voters sure know how to pick 'em!
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Keep picking at it like that, it’s never going to heal properly.
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Injustice Watch (again, specific to Cook County’s election) had a very nice form which not only allowed you to mark Yes and No before printing it out, but had candidate survey responses, links to some of their reporting or to news articles on a judge, and some icons to encourage digging into that info. I don’t know how much longer that will be up, but it’s still being redirected to for now, under “/judges.”
In contrast to that, I stumbled upon the Robing Room which has a nationwide focus, but is a very 2005 website. Ratings of judges are supposed to be from anonymous lawyers or litigants, but it looks like you just need to share an email address to make one, and there isn’t even a TLS certificate being served by the site. I didn’t see any indication of whether a listed judge was active or not on the list for Cook County, but there seemed to be current judges which hadn’t been added. Cook County’s chief judge had only 3 ratings, many judges had none.
I would welcome other recommendations for places to find info on judges.
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When I lived in Cook County, Injustice Watch was definitely one of my go-to sources. IVI-IPO as well:
You can always go to both the state judicial association site and the state bar association site to get the most basic info. For example, of the two judges I had the choice to retain or no, both only got 85% on the judge site, but at least they didn’t fail. In Indiana, it’s important to have lowered expectations.
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The voter guides here in California were great for getting to know the candidates, but not to really get to know the candidates. That’s the best part of the mail-in ballot. You have plenty of time to research all the bad stuff online.
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Same in Oregon. The mail in system works great here. The only reason that the unhinged right is targeting mail-in voting, is that it greatly increases voter turnout as well as voter awareness, two things that rarely increase votes for fascists.
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Sigh. Our local county bar association seems to rate prosecutors higher than public defenders. Every prosecutor in our primary was rated highly qualified, while the overworked public defenders or even defense attorneys were merely qualified. There is definitely a tough on crime element with the local chapters in SoCal, and it reflects in their ratings.
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This is what I do. Spread sheet with position and name of who I want. Then props and how I want to vote. I use sample ballot for the list, so everything is in order. It doesn’t matter much for partisan positions- I won’t vote GOP. Even uncontested GOP. But when it comes to the school board and city council, it helps. I actually print two, my spouse lets me do the research on the nonpartisan candidates. We are well-aligned politically.
Not supposed to have phones.
I would love if we had mail in ballots for anyone who wants it. But Texas is stupid strict about those. Sigh
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Me, too!
Us, too!
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I used to fill out the oval next to a candidate in every section because I’m goofy and like to see my ballot completely filled out.
But not anymore, I leave it blank if it’s an uncontested republican. I can’t bring myself to give them a single vote.
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There is actually a plausible reason for that. Your vote is private, no one should see how you actually voted. That means no posting a picture to prove you earned the bribe. Not something that happens in most Western democracies, but I have had Russian expats say that’s how it works in their old home towns.
In reality, it doesn’t really prevent it, as you could do it per mail-in ballot, but the bribe offerer would not accept that as proof: how can they tell you actually mailed in that ballot, and that it wasn’t a copy? No, they need you to vote in person so that they can be sure you voted for the “right” candidate.
I personally think the risk of that sort of fraud is minimal, and a simple reminder not to photograph your ballot, not even for bragging rights, should be enough. And if they do insist, offer a table where you can leave your phone with a paper marker to make recovering it afterwards faster.
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This is in Arizona, they’re chanting count the votes. Isn’t that what they’re doing?
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