The Interlude

Election Day is here! We at The Interlude are all about exercising our right to vote. We also acknowledge that for many Americans, voting is an addled, confusing process, rife with bureaucratic and logistical hurdles — a process each of us had to navigate ourselves. Here are eight stories from our staff about the excitement and anxiety we felt going to the polls or mailing in our ballots.

Andie Kanaras, culture editor

I voted early in Somerset County, NJ. My ballot was sent to my home address in early September. I ended up voting the following month. My mom was pretty adamant about going to drop off our ballots in our town’s ballot box. I think she felt more secure about doing that. I went with my mom and sister to drop off our ballots in our town center and that was it! It was as simple as that.

Lea Veloso, writer

I voted in California by mail. I’m fortunate that California mailed out ballots to everyone who was registered, but I still had to change my mailing address to New York. (My mom still got an extra ballot for me back home!) My family always votes by mail and growing up, my Grandma was always excited to exercise her right to vote as an immigrant from the Philippines. And this year was no different! It was relatively a quick and easy process to fill out and send back. I was kind of anxious that my ballot wouldn’t be received by the county on time, but I checked it using the California ballot tracker. It arrived on time and was counted.

Cameron Oakes, investigations editor

I voted absentee in Geauga County, Ohio. The process was pretty seamless overall, but I’ve been voting absentee since I started college in 2016. I got my ballot in the mail within a few days of them being mailed by the county board of elections, and I mailed it out a few days later. Many of my family and friends opted to vote on Election Day, or during in-person early voting. Ohio is a swing state, so people take voting very seriously. When I asked them why bother, many said they were excited to exercise their rights the way they do every election cycle (albeit with social distancing and masks this time around).

Natasha Roy, politics editor

I voted on the first day of early voting in Georgia. I’m a Fulton County voter, and I stood in line at my local library for nearly 4.5 hours. It was unclear why the wait time was so long, and many people behind me left the line. There was also very little social distancing, and while most people wore their masks the entire time, I felt extremely uncomfortable at certain points and had to ask someone behind me to give me more space. While my Congressional district flipped blue and voted Lucy McBath into the House of Representatives in 2018, it is a relatively conservative town and I fully expected some political clashes at the voting booth. Thankfully, everyone remained civil — it was a kind of “we’re all in this together” mentality. While I was exhausted and hungry at the end, it felt really good to cast my ballot.

Maggie Chirdo, fact checker and illustrator

I voted early in Harris County, which has been a part of Texas’ Countywide Polling Place Program since mid-2019, making it easier for people to vote. However, Texas has some of the most restrictive voting practices in the nation, so I was a tad bit concerned (I’d previously voted absentee). Surprisingly, there was no wait at my chosen polling location and I finally got an “I Voted” sticker! Still, you probably heard about the Republican attempt to toss out nearly 127,000 votes just days before the election in Harris County, a challenge to the new drive-thru voting locations meant to give voting access to people concerned about health and safety in a pandemic. Courts have denied the challenge so far, but it’s a frustrating reminder that voter suppression is not a thing of the past!

Rachel N-Blair, writer

I finished the process of voting on Oct. 15. I got an absentee ballot for this because I prefer to have as much information tangibly in front of me as possible when filling a ballot out. (Also, I’m lazy and don’t feel like waiting in lines.) I needed Ballotpedia open to have enough information to vote on more local issues. Even still, there were a few state issues I didn’t answer because I either did not want to implicitly communicate an endorsement of something or I still felt like I didn’t have enough information. Yet once I felt satisfied with how I filled the ballot,

I made sure to sign the ballot envelope similarly to how I signed for my driver’s license and sealed it. I then dropped my ballot off at a nearby official drop box. Of course I posted a Boomerang of me putting the ballot envelope in the slot on my Instagram Story! I received emails from my state’s board of elections when my ballot was received and accepted. My ballot was officially accepted this past weekend! I received an “I Voted” photo to save in my phone.

Manahil Zafar, features editor

I voted by mail in Middlesex County, NJ. I received my ballot in late September and I hastily filled it out and mailed it back. I felt a bit antsy about not putting my ballot in a ballot dropbox. But I had no reason for concern. I logged onto my Voter Portal every morning, and lo and behold, one day it stated that my ballot was received in mid-October. It was a pretty painless process. I’ve been voting by mail since I’ve been eligible to vote and it has always been so convenient for me and my family. The only downside is not getting a snazzy “I Voted” sticker.

Izzie Ramirez, managing editor

I wasn’t planning on voting early, but I kinda was pressured into it since my graduate program wasn’t canceling class for Election Day, so I ended up voting during New York City’s first ever day of early voting. I walked over to the Brooklyn Museum at a clean 11:15 a.m. I didn’t think I’d be in line for nearly four and a half hours. Thank God I printed out my readings, cause otherwise I would have been bored out of my mind. Special shoutout to the folks who were passing out granola bars to hangry voters! Y’all made the process a lot more bearable. But yeah, did I feel like I was gonna cry after seeing my ballot disappear in the voting machine? Absolutely. I had to register to vote three times before I was recognized as a Brooklyn voter, so experiencing that plus a horribly long line made me that much more sentimental about voting this year.