US Absentee Ballots if you are at a Int'l resort

[flexible Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close flexible]

I would like to vote in the US November 2008 election. I googled and found that there are "Absentee Voters" and "Special Absentee Voters."

I went to our Supervisor of Elections office in our County. Her information contradicted the internet. She said if someone is OVERSEAS on September 5, 2008 ballots are mailed shortly after that date. I will be in California until September 27 so she said I do not qualify for that mailing.

The regular "Absentee Ballots" are mailed in October. I can't remember the exact date. I will be at the same resort for the full month of October.

I have little or NO CONFIDENCE in the Mexican mail system to deliver anything by a deadline. We put an important business letter in the mailbox in El Cid's lobby in January 2007. We didn't realize that mail in mailboxes might not be picked up frequently. We were later told they might pick up mail every few weeks. I guess they deliver mail to the Headquarters and not all the resorts.

So IF I get the ballot, I would have to send it back FedEx.

But I wonder IF I will probably get the ballot. We get our mail forwarded with USPS mail forwards. Maybe I am better off paying for a forward in late October even though I usually only have mail forwarded every 2-3 months.

I have to have the USPS forward to a mailing service. They sort out the junk. Then forward to International addresses. It cost over $100 last March for about 8 pounds to arrive via DHL.

IF I receive the ballot, maybe I can give it to a tourist that is flying home before the election and they will put it in a USPS box?

Does anyone have better suggestions?

[barndweller Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close barndweller]

We are Ca. voters, too. We are permanent absentee voters. The ballots usually arrive in early October. I certainly wouldn't try to mail a ballot from Mexico. Our postcards took 2 months to reach our friends in Ca.

Can you get an absentee ballot in person from the registrar's office before you leave? Or can you only get it through the mail?

[flexible Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close flexible]

We are Ca. voters, too. We are permanent absentee voters. The ballots usually arrive in early October. I certainly wouldn't try to mail a ballot from Mexico. Our postcards took 2 months to reach our friends in Ca.

Can you get an absentee ballot in person from the registrar's office before you leave? Or can you only get it through the mail?

I personally spoke with the Supervisor of Elections for Mendocino County last Thursday. She said if I were outside the US on 5 Sep 2008 she could MAIL it BUT I can NOT pick it up. She said she is NOT allowed to hand us the ballot.

She mentioned the ballots mailed on September 5 are sometimes 'copies' and then the department has to manual enter them later IF they receive them in time. I think the 60 day in advance mailing includes US Military stationed overseas.

IF I state I will be oversees on September 5, that address becomes my PERMANENT Voting address. Granted I know I can change it later.

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The October mailing is ONLY mailed regular mail (whatever that means). They don't mail DHL/FedEx/UPS even if you pay them.

I don't think anything getting into Mexican mail in October will arrive by November.

[barndweller Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close barndweller]

It sounds like your only option is to have your ballot forwarded and then hope you get it in time to vote and send it home with someone you meet in Mexico. If you will be back by election day, you can drop it off at any polling place (absentee ballots MUST be recieved by election day in order to be counted.) If not, you will have to find a trustworthy vacationer to deliver it for you. If someone asked me to do it for them, I'd be more than happy to oblige, but for heaven's sake don't mail it from Mexico. You might as well toss it in a garbage can.

[Fern Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fern]

If you want to mail something from Mexico via Postal Mail, you need to go downtown and mail it from the post office on the Plaza. Better is to send it DHL (ask David Bodwell at his bookstore [behind the bank opposite Costa de Oro]).

Better still would be to post on MazInfo asking if anybody will be heading North while you are there, and then meeting them on a Sunday afternoon and having them mail the letter for you. You'll have to have US Postage for the letter in this case. I've done this for people before.

Fern