If you tell the story of the burnt ballot boxes in Portland and Vancouver this week (an important story that warrants attention), also tell how good fire-suppressant design saved all but three ballots in the Portland box, and the efforts of the election workers who contacted those three voters and arranged for replacement ballots.
Things are scary and bad, and often literally on fire. But there are good people and good systems too. Making us forget that is always a win for the worst ones.
And, if you're in Washington state and you've lost your ballot (or spilled something on it), you can also request a new one -- and even print it out at home!
EDIT: you can also get replacement ballots in other states (although I think Washington's request-online-and-print-at-home option is relatively rare). Wherever you are, calling your local elections office is a good first step!
Good point -- calling your local election office is a good option in any state, I'll update the post to reflect that.
I don't think there are a lot of other states that let you get a new ballot and print it out at home though. In California you can request to have one mailed to you, some states you actually have to show up in person.
It's true, different people prefer different options. The blog post talks about different ways of getting the replacement ballot and links out to the official list of election offices with phone numbers and addresses.
But many people *do* have access to a printer, and the reason IndiPlus first did a post like this in 2020 was that even experienced activists didn't know about the print-your-own option. And a surprising number of people found it useful!
@sspopovich @ianrosewrites Fire suppression system in the Portland ballot drop box prevented the fire from damaging all but three ballots.
The Vancouver WA ballot drop box also had a fire suppression system, but it failed. That’s why hundreds of ballots burned in the Vancouver arson. I have not seen any reports explaining why the fire suppression system failed, and it’s probably too early to know.
That's so interesting, thanks for sharing! Do you know how they figured out which ballots belonged to which people?
Two ballot boxes went up in flames early Monday morning in Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington, in incidents that authorities believe are connected.
@ianrosewrites I don't mean for this question to come off as ignorant, so please - if you're able to explain - take this in the spirit it's asked. :)
How is it possible to contact the voters whose ballots were destroyed?
In South Africa, voting is completely anonymous, so - while you fill in information when you go to vote - none of that information is actually associated with the paper you put in the box at the end.
If you tell the story of the burnt ballot boxes in Portland and Vancouver this week (an important story that warrants attention), also tell how good fire-suppressant design saved all but three ballots in the Portland box, and the efforts of the election workers who contacted those three voters and arranged for replacement ballots. Things are scary and bad, and often literally on fire. But there are good people and good systems too. Making us forget that is always a win for the worst ones.
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