I vividly remember my mom taking my younger siblings and me with her to our polling location when I was a kid. We would wait in line, go into the little booth, my mom would vote, and then we would all get stickers. I always looked forward to getting that sticker because what kid doesn’t like a sticker?
This is how I always imagined my first time voting in a presidential election to look like. I thought I would get to stand in the line, get into the private booth, and then receive my sticker, because let’s be honest, I still love stickers. And sure, this isn’t my first time voting ever, I had voted in previous local and state elections, but there is something a bit more special about presidential elections. After all, you are helping to decide who runs the country you live in for the next four years.
Especially after the last presidential election, when so many people who were eligible to vote didn’t, I was even more eager to get the experience of voting in a presidential election.
And then COVID-19 hit.
OK, so change of plans. In Virginia, voters have the option to vote by mail, vote early in-person, or vote the day of the election. Given the circumstances, I thought the safest way to vote was by mail, so as soon as I was able to apply for that option, I did.
The first ballot I received ended up being from The Center for Voter Information, which is a nonprofit organization that is not affiliated with the Virginia Department of Elections. The return address on this ballot was incorrect, which I only knew about this because people were posting about it on social media. I was super confused. I wasn’t sure if I had to reapply for a mail-in ballot or if the Virginia Department of Elections would send me one themselves. Luckily, I received my real mail-in ballot shortly with the correct return address and was finally ready to vote.
When I opened the envelope, there were three different colored instructions or forms and another envelope. Again, I was so confused and nervous about doing something wrong that would invalidate my ballot. I ended up calling my family and filling out my ballot with them because I was so scared. While doing it with them, I realized that it wasn’t so complicated, and had I read everything a bit more carefully, I would have been able to figure it out.
Once my ballot was ready, I went to the UPS store and just handed it to them, and they took care of it from there. I just checked the status of my ballot, and it has been received!
Even though voting this year looks very different, I am glad to have voted during this election. It might have been a bit confusing at times, but it is worth it. Because the fact of the matter is, your vote can make a difference.