Head up, folks! Lots of you are going to be voting by mail this year, but mail in ballots are rejected at a higher rate than in person ballots. Frustrating? YES. But your vote doesn't have to be among them! A quick thread on common ballot errors and how you can avoid making them

OK. 1) First and foremost, the largest number of rejected ballots are rejected because they do not arrive on time. States have different rules for when they need to receive ballots, BUT the safest thing is to make sure your ballot arrives before election day. That means, if you

are planning to return your ballot by post, the best day to do that was yesterday. The second best day is today. No date is too soon to get your ballot in. I posted mine form London on Saturday. If you are an American Abroad, make sure you put the right postage on - postage is

only free in the continental US. And yes, that means you might need to put on some shoes and trudge out to the post office - I don't like the post office either, but democracy is at stake people!

Or... return your ballot by email or even fax (retro, I know).

Electronic ballot submission is allowed in many states. And don't forget to follow up - many states allow you to confirm online whether your ballot has been received. You can find your state's Board of Elections here to find their ballot tracking info: https://www.usa.gov/election-office 

2) Many states require that your put your ballot in a second "security envelop" inside the envelope that you are posting. Make sure you do this if you are in one of these states - e.g., in Pennsylvania, a court recently ruled that ballots that were not in a security envelop

could not be counted. 3) If your state requires a signature, MAKE SURE YOU SIGN THE FORM. Look for any oddities - e.g., my state requires a signature OUTSIDE of the envelop on the reverse side. Lack of signature is a common reason ballots are rejected, so I say again SIGN IT.

4) DATES: Stop and think! Before you write in any dates, make sure you've got it right - remember that the US date format is MM/DD/YYYY instead of DD/MM/YYYY which is used by... like... everyone else, but OK we're weird.

I've seen people write today's date on forms where they should be writing their birthdate and vice versa. Take a breath and read carefully before you write it in.

5) Fill in those circles clearly and completely using a dark blue or black pen, in ink. Make sure not to mark any other part of your ballot - stray marks, erasures or crossouts can invalidate your ballot.

OK, before I go just a few other final thoughts: if you have not received your ballot by now and you are an American Abroad, go to http://www.votefromabroad.org  and download your Federal Write In Absentee ballot - this is a failsafe backup ballot that you can use

If you are a voter in the US, and you are nervous about trusting the US Postal Service with your ballot (believe me, I get it!) your state may well have drop boxes that allow you to return your mail ballot at an point before the election, or it may have early voting.

I'd strongly urge you to take advantage of one of these options since we don't know what the viral situation will be on election day, but if you do want to vote in person on the day, think now about you plan for this. Can you make time for it before work so it's done first thing?

And finally - I encourage everyone who has nervous energy to burn around this election to get involved. Your state party no doubt will be organising phone banks, postcard campaigns and lots of other ways to get involved. I know our amazing volunteers at @DemsAbroadUK are on fire!