Rant 2,519 : Don't Stand So Close To Me

Election Day is on Tuesday, November 3.
 
Or is it?
 
This year in particular, the importance of that date has been completely diluted by alternative methods to vote in the presidential election, including by mail and with early voting.
 
I would not trust the mail vote with my precious vote. There a so many variables that can happen to a mail-in vote that anybody using this method is really tempting fate.
 
To begin with, mail-in voting should only be used by those who have no alternative, the infirm and the elderly in particular, to get their vote counted. Those in nursing homes, those that are bedridden and confined to their homes, those overseas serving our country in the military and other overseas posts and those who simply cannot leave their homes on their own to vote are the only ones who should be using mail-in voting.
 
But of course, we have people who skirt that issue, claim that this is the only way they can vote, and do it simply because they are lazy ... and simply because some of them don't want to chance it that they will have to provide documentation that they are valid voters.
 
Mail-in voting is far from fool-proof.  Ballots are regularly sent to dead people, non-citizens, people leave out information on these ballots, making them invalid, and multiple ballots are also sent out to the same name. I have said this before, and I will say it again: during this year’s dry run for mail-in ballots on Long Island, during the school board elections, my wife received two ballots were her name on each one.
 
It is bad enough for that type of election, but what about a presidential election? Is it fair and right to either candidate that people are filling out multiple ballots?
 
And then we have early voting, the latest canard thrown onto the public by the media, who have assured us that there will be so many people voting on the actual Election Day, and so much chaos as a result, that we actually MUST vote early when that option becomes available—as it did in New York State this past weekend—to avoid potential disaster.
 
And what’s more, the scientists out there in the media had proclaimed that we have less of a chance getting the coronavirus if we vote early, so if you don’t want to get the disease, don’t vote on Election Day, vote NOW.
 
Of course, anybody with a head on his or her shoulders knows that this is all balderdash, but we have become so used to being programmed like robots since March by our elected officials and the media that many of us shiver in our boots when they hear about the possibilities, and claim that they MUST OBEY, and like sheep, fall into line.
 
Here is what I wrote on Facebook yesterday about this subject:
 
“Can somebody please explain to me why people are choosing to vote early?
 
If they are trying to avoid coronavirus contact, they appear to be waiting on long, long lines seemingly without end, standing with hundreds of like-minded people, so how is waiting three or four hours on a line with others preferable to going to vote on Election Day?
 
And how many of these people have gone to their local Target or supermarket during the height of the coronavirus? They weren't worried about picking up the coronavirus when they were shopping for a necessity ... like let's say a bottle of ketchup?
 
So the argument that voting early will prevent the virus from spreading is idiotic, so I ask again, what is the benefit of voting early?
 
Someone please explain this to me ... if you can.”
 
So several people did just that.
 
They told me they wanted to avoid long lines on Election Day, they told me that they wanted to avoid getting the coronavirus, they told me that it was just easier for them to vote now and avoid the problems that the media has told them about if they chose to vote on the actual Election Day.
 
I continued my Facebook post:
 
“There is going to be a wait whether you do it today, tomorrow or on Election Day. In Newsday today, the editorial said voting early prevents the spread of the virus.
 
This is pure nonsense, but honestly, it is pretty obvious why the media is promoting this way of voting, and it is disgraceful how they believe this benefits Biden and that is why it is being promoted like it is. Is it to prevent the spread of the virus or to benefit the Democrats? What is it? I will vote like I normally do on Election Day. Period.”
 
I watched several different TV news reports on Saturday, and not only did I not see a single instance of social distancing on any of the lines I saw, but I also saw reporters standing parallel to the lines doing their reporting, with the lines in back of them, and the reporters stating that people were social distancing on the lines, but on the lines right in back of them, viewers did not see any social distancing at all, with people waiting on line on top of each other.

So once again, are reporters actually doing reporting, or are they playing up the current narrative that we are being force fed about early voting preventing the spread of the virus?

That being said, although some respondents downplayed the notion that early voting benefits the Democrats, I have heard one polling expert after another proclaim just what I said, that two-thirds to three-quarters of people voting early will be voting Democrat, simply based on the roles of those choosing this voting option.
 
The last I heard, 57 million people are voting early across the country, which means that perhaps 38 million have cast a vote for the Democrats,
 
Since evidently most of those voting on Election Day are presumably Republican, you can see how this benefits the Democrats right out of the gate, and if this is true, well, where is the level playing field here?

And it also wrongly paints the Republicans as troublemakers and intimidators, so why would any self respecting Democrat want to vote on Election Day when they are going to confront such ugliness on that day?

 
I ended my participation in this Facebook post with the following, which I know is so Pollyanna-ish, but it is really what I truly believe. Others continued the post, and if I knew how to shut off the posting to this subject, I would do so, because for once, I wanted the final word on the matter.
 
So here is what I said, and this will conclude what I have to say about this subject:
 
“Whatever the case, I think to sum up, VOTE!
 
Not voting, and then complaining about who is running things, is a waste of time and energy.
 
Just go out and vote!
 
Funny, the first thing I ever had published was when I was I think five years old, I was in kindergarten, and I wrote something about voting for P.S. 165's (Flushing, New York) fall literary publication.
 
Funny, at five years old, I think I got it:
 
"You vote. I vote, We all vote."
 
That is what I wrote, and it is funny how the little kid in me got it better than some adults ever did.”