Vote early. Almost every single area in the US has early voting at least 2 weeks before elections. People complain about long lines and lack of ballots on election day. You know what you get if you stumble into a polling place before that? A couple of bored poll workers in an otherwise empty building. You get your ballot, fill it out, and leave within 5 minutes. I seriously don’t understand why this isn’t used more.
In Ohio you have to vote early at the county election board and last I checked it was only open regular business hours. For me that means 30 minute drive in, pay for parking, 30 minute drive home. Waiting until election day I can walk to my piling place in 10 minutes, wait in line for 30-45,then walk home in 10 minutes. For a lot of places it’s not as easy as voting on election day.
There’s been a misinformation campaign for years that early/mail votes “don’t count” or get thrown away, so people wait until “real” election day to make sure things are “handled properly”…
Or they don’t know it exists… my state just started this year and I had no idea until this comment caused me to check.
I straight up thought early voting was universal. Specifically in the US. Sure, states might have different allotted times for how early you can vote, but I for sure thought that all of the US States had it. This is wild to me.