What's been your voting experience?

In Oregon, it's easy. Universal voting by mail. You can drop off your ballot at a box at numerous locations. Everybody got their ballots weeks ago. I've already voted. Easy. (AS VOTING SHOULD BE!!!!)

California has similar procedures. However, the Republican party constructed dozens of fake ballot boxes (labeled "official"), stuck them in various official-looking places, then collected and destroyed the ballots. There's a countermeasure available--you can track your ballot online. So you can find out if your ballot was in fact received. I'm not sure what the deadline would be for resubmitting your ballot. The fake ballot boxes and the destruction of ballots put in them were not the hijinks of some nutball fringe group, but rather, the deliberate actions of the official Republican party. I don't know why they think that these crimes would affect the vote in California.

If you're in a Republican state in particular, how hard have you found it to vote? What hoops did you have to jump through? Was it easy to register? How enthusiastic have the powers that be been in encouraging people to vote? (I would imagine in Republican states, not enthusiastic at all.) What's your experience?

Proof?

You can research it easily enough. Google "fake ballot boxes in California" and you'll get dozens of hits.

Of course, you can somehow interpret the actions of the Republican Party as perfectly acceptable if you wish. However, when you reflexively do that, please ask yourself how you would feel if the Democratic Party did the same thing.

teechur and poor old DonDiego had a surprisingly pleasant experience at the pollling place here in suburban Nashville, Tennessee.

Although teechur and poor old DonDiego are both over 60-years-old, neither is particularly debilitated.  Nonetheless, upon arriving they were almost immediately escorted by an old poll-worker, from the back-of-the-line, . . . which poor old DonDiego estimates would've taken well over an hour to reach the voting booths, . . . and they were seated adjacent to two voting machines apparently for use exclusively by elderly geezers and geezerettes.

With only one couple voting, . . . and two other couples waiting to vote, . . . ahead of the two of us, the entire process took 10-or-maybe-15 minutes.  

All poor old DonDiego can say is: "easy-peezee".

Nonetheless, the effort expended was rewarded immediately thereafter by a delicious lunch at a local Mexican-food restaurant, . . . including a Dos Equis in a very large mug.

Definitely, voting is best followed with a good meal and a Dos Equis. I trust that DonDiego is circumspect enough to not let on that he referred obliquely to his wife as a "geezerette." The secret to a happy marriage is the avoidance of full disclosure.

Interesting that there was a substantial line for early voting. I doubt that there would be in normal times. Was this the first day for early voting?

Kevin once again you are mistaken in your comments about California and ballot harvesting.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/california-ballot-harvest-boomerang-11603149062

I would post the two dozen links to legitimate news sources in California, but you can find that on your own. The Wall Street Journal isn't a legitimate news source--it's a conservative rag. You can believe the stock price news but not when they try to act as a real newspaper.

Government authorities in California, including the attorney general, have declared the fake ballot boxes illegal and have issued cease-and-desist orders. You can decide for yourself if that's just part of the vast liberal conspiracy to destroy our country and impose SOOOOOOOCIALISM.

The law is that only county election officials can oversee ballot drop boxes, including where they are placed and how they are constructed and labeled. It is a felony for any individual or organization to circumvent that law. That's how it works.

Seriously, do you think a political party should be allowed to take custody of ballots before they are counted? You might remember last election, in North Carolina, Republicans posing as election officials collected ballots in poor neighborhoods--then threw them away.

Addendum: the GOP calls the practice of third-party ballot collection "ballot harvesting" and claims, baselessly, that it was why they lost so badly in 2018 Congressional races in California. The difference is that in 2018, a designated person signed for custody of those ballots. That obviously can't be done with a drop box. Chain of custody of ballots is a crucial part of the process. How does anyone know what happens to the ballots after the GOP operatives empty the fake boxes?

That's why the WSJ article is bullshit.

It's a tradition for me to take the day off work and go to downtown Indy.   I park about 3 miles from city hall and take a nice bike ride through the city and arrive at City Hall to vote early.    3 hour wait this year - that's a record.   But it was beautiful day and they had a guy out playing guitar - he was pretty good to.

i don't know if the record crowd was due to COVID or just a much higher interest compared to past elections.   I suspect a little of both. 

It takes a lot for Indiana to go blue but they did it in 2008.   More people in-line now than then .   Well see what that means if anything 

I wonder if when this whole mess is over, we'll know whether Republican or Democrat voters are more likely to engage in early voting. I would expect Democrats to be more energized in this regard due to fears of voter suppression (like, for instance, all but one of the polling stations in a county being shut down on Election Day for "safety reasons") or their ballots not being counted if they vote the traditional way. 

Since you're in Indianapolis, you probably won't see the shenanigans that have already taken place in, for example, Ted Cruz Cowboy Land. There will definitely be active voter suppression efforts in Republican swing states. I just hope that when the Proud Boys show up at precincts with their GUNZ, they are arrested and dragged away (it would be even better if the cops just shot them, but that wouldn't happen in Trump Land).

This election could be historic in terms of turnout. It may be the case that Trump (for once) was absolutely right when he said that if more people voted, Republicans would never win another election.