Voted by mail (from our kitchen table) yesterday and put my ballot in the mail to return. There were a ton of improvements to the absentee ballot process since the June primary and it’s clear New York is trying to improve after a disastrous primary.

Unlike the primary, and in previous years, I could track my absentee ballot. I could see when I applied, when staff were reviewing my application, and when it was approved. The tracker didn’t tell me my ballot was issued, but it arrived 3rd wk in Sept, in line with BOE projection

On the ballot itself, the instructions are much, much clearer. In June, it was a single sheet in tiny font printed in 3 languages. This time around, instructions were much clearer and on the envelopes, with a big red X telling you where to sign

This was a problem during the primary because people in NY had ballots rejected for not signing/dating, but it was easy to miss that you had to do that because of poor design on the ballot envelope during the primary.

This time around, there was a checklist on the back of both envelopes I had to put my ballot in asking me if I had sealed, signed and dated. This is a design change that makes it harder to forget to put information that would get my ballot rejected.

There was also a list reminding me of how to return my ballot, either in person or through the mail. This was not on the instructions during the primary (I personally had no idea bringing my ballot to the polls was an option for the primary)

This wasn’t on the ballot, but I also felt more comfortable knowing that New York recently enacted a law requiring election officials to contact me if there is a problem with my ballot and they might reject it. https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2019/a10830

All of this said, I’ve heard from a ton of people who are wary of voting by mail this fall because they had a bad experience during the primary (never got their ballot) and are also concerned their vote won’t count unless they go in person (this is unlikely but I get the fear)

New York now has a substantial amount of early voting beginning in late October, and they can vote then. Or on Election Day. All are good options. The point isn’t that one option is better than the other - people should have as many options as possible, in person or by mail

It also made it clear that it would be nearly impossible for someone to successfully submit a fraudulently printed ballot. There were down ballot races on the ballot specific to our election district. My privacy envelope, and the return envelope also had a barcode