by Jordan Speckmann
Election 2020 gave citizens multiple options to cast their vote, due to COVID-19.
Mail-in ballots, drop off ballot boxes, and polling places are three ways to vote for this election. Through social media, voters are encouraged to cast their ballots and have their voice heard.
When it comes to polling places, there is a potential for long lines. It takes time out of a voter’s day and ballots are hard to understand for first time voters.
Drop boxes allow voters to directly place their ballots and avoid worrying about mailing them in.
Both absentee voting by mail or in-person early voting, continue to be popular ways to vote. Nationally, 41% of all votes cast in the 2016 Election were cast before Election Day, according to the Election Administration and Voting Survey.
First-time and younger generation voters are more likely to go to ballot boxes or participate in early voting. Statistics show 24% of poll workers ages 71 and older, and another 32% ages 61 to 70, The Election Administration and Voting Survey.
Many students at University of Nebraska at Omaha have chosen to go the ballot box route because it is easier with class scheduling and the pandemic. A ballot drop box provides a secure and convenient means for voters to return their mail ballot.
Nick Jansen, a UNO senior, chose the ballot box option. Jansen voted in the 2016 election but cast his ballot at a polling place.
“I don’t think I will go to a polling place again, voting by ballot box was so much easier and gave me time to make an educated decision on what I am voting on” said Jansen. a A drop box is a secure, locked structure operated by election officials where voters can deliver their ballots from the time received in the mail to the time polls close on Election Day, according to the election commission website.
Voters can take more time to look over these ballots, research the candidates that are running and make a good, confident decision before they hand in their vote.
Jon Tschida, said he prefers voting at a polling place but added polling places could be difficult for first-time voters.
“It was pretty intimidating, there’s so much more on the ballot that they don’t really tell you, the focus is on the presidential election, which makes sense, but there’s no light shed on any of the local elections going on,” Tschida said, “even though those have just as much impact on the changes, laws and decisions that are made.”
On-site voting can be time consuming with long waiting lines if turnout is heavy.
Mail-in voting offers advantages and disadvantages as well, according to the League of Women Voters of Chicago.
Some advantages are the convenience and satisfaction aspect compared to on-site voting. Mail-in ballots could also increase turnout.
While mail-in voting and ballot boxes might be convenient, it takes away from the traditional aspect of voting. Slow vote counting also could occur because polling places are counted first.
“Polling places can be super easy, in and out process, but 2016 was also a much different world than right now,” Tschida said, “so I’m not expecting it to be an easy time at the polls.”
