
Why don’t college students vote absentee? (Hint: Stamps) - drewem
https://wtop.com/local/2018/09/why-college-students-dont-vote-absentee-they-dont-know-where-to-buy-a-postage-stamp/
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mikestew
Well, duh. I'm old, and I _think_ the grocery store and 7-11 carry them. Do
they sell them individually? Because here's how I see it playing out:

1\. I want to vote, so I fill out my ballot.

2\. It needs a stamp. Do I have stamps? Of course I don't have stamps, I'm
young and I've never mailed anything in my life.

3\. My friend said the 7-11 has them. I _hope_ she's right, because I don't
want to have trek over to the grocery if she isn't.

4\. I have to buy a whole book of ten? I only need one, and I'll probably lose
the other nine before I need another one.

5\. Half hour of time and $5 gone because the state tried to save $0.44 on
postage.

Yeah, I wouldn't vote, either. I used to drop mine at the drop box because it
was easier than finding a stamp (and it's on the way to work). WA finally
wised up and just made the envelopes postage-paid.

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Ws32ok
What an incompetent bureaucracy. Voting envelopes should be “postage paid”.
Government should be picking up those costs automatically.

~~~
ccarter84
I read this as "incompetent democracy" and laughed because it sure feels like
that lately

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Ws32ok
If no one votes or too many idiots are voting then you could say the process
has become incompetent.

People forget that by _not_ voting they are actually agreeing with _every_
policy going forward. By actually voting you are saying that one side had
_better_ policies.

Disturbingly a lot of people who are unhappy with the outcome also didn’t vote
and _that_ is incompetence.

I’d still like to vote for _policies_ rather than candidates. The successful
candidate would then be chosen based on policy alignment etc.

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cafard
I sent in at least one absentee ballot long ago. This was some years before I
heard of email, so I was used to writing and posting letters. As I recall, the
state required that I find a notary, which took a bit more time than finding a
stamp.

For what it's worth, if anyone knows college students who can't find somebody
to sell them stamps, they can order them on-line at
[https://store.usps.com/store/home](https://store.usps.com/store/home).

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Symbiote
Where can you buy stamps in the USA?

It varies by country. Most convenience shops, supermarkets, etc will sell
stamps in the UK, and I'd guess the US is like this, but in some other
countries only the post office is allowed to sell them.

(My postal votes for the UK come with an international postage paid envelope.)

~~~
saltcured
The last time I bought some it was from my bank's ATM, but that was almost ten
years ago. I think stamps were sold by grocers when I was a child, but I have
no idea whether they continue to bother stocking them...

In California, ballots are handled by the resident's county government, and I
think each county may design ballots and procedures differently as long as
they meet some statewide requirements.

The next mail-in ballot in Los Angeles will change format and become postage
pre-paid. I suspect they've changed the postage because the new return format
appears to be more bulky than a simple 1st class envelope.

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csense
Maybe I'm old. Maybe I had old-fashioned parents. But it boggles my mind that
people can get to be old enough to go to college without knowing how to mail
things.

~~~
romwell
Well, it's getting harder to do that.

When I lived in NYC 15 years ago, I didn't have to think about stamps - every
newsstand would carry them, and there's always going to be a newsstand on the
way to the subway. And I'd need stamps regularly.

Now I'm living in West Coast suburbia, and _the only_ time I need stamps is
when I want to send a postcard to a friend (and I'm being old-fashioned doing
that).

To do that, I have to make my way to the post office (I'm not aware of other
places that carry stamps), which might or might not be open when I have time
to do that (weekend hours got nixed). Or I could order the stamps online, but
then I'd have to wait for a while to actually use them.

Is this hard? No. Is this an effort? Yes. Enough of an effort that I buy
stamps by the dozen and carry them with me _all the time_ for _months_ just in
case I travel somewhere and decide to mail that _one_ postcard -- because I
know that once I'm busy enough, I won't make this effort.

Voting should not require an _effort_.

That's not even getting into the UX of mail which I find hostile. For
instance, why don't envelopes have clear "From:", "To:", and "Place stamp
here" fields? Yes, you don't need them after you send your hundredth
correspondence. But a new mail user would have to _Google that nonsense_.
There's no way in which it is obvious. (And I've sent letters to myself by
accidentally confusing the from/to fields as a kid).

And it doesn't surprise me that college freshmen wouldn't know how to mail
things. Their parents were responsible for bills back when that was still done
by mail... which was about _when these kids were born_. The _need_ to mail
anything is _extraordinarily_ rare, and last time I've _needed_ to mail things
was when I sold something on Amazon/eBay.

Aside from selling, I can't even remember what I _needed_ to send anything.
Postcards and gifts aren't a need, and to that end -- I didn't even have out-
of-state friends as a college freshman. I could just _give_ things instead of
_mailing_ them.

So maybe you _are_ old :) Even with that - when was the last time you mailed
anything? And when was the last time you _needed_ to mail anything that wasn't
a postcard/gift?

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detaro
Seems odd to have a public postal service and still require people to buy
stamps for votes.

~~~
EpicEng
The US postal service received exactly zero tax dollars for operational
expenses. It relies solely on the money it makes from postage and other
service, so it makes sense. Think of them as a private business when it comes
to financials.

~~~
mkaziz
Not true, since Congress can limit how much a stamp costs.

Edit: Apparently there is a commission set up. It's part of the executive
branch, but still, the USPS can't up and decide the price of a stamp:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_Regulatory_Commission](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_Regulatory_Commission)

~~~
EpicEng
Ok, but either way that's hardly relevant given the comment I responded to.

~~~
mkaziz
I was responding to your statement: "Think of them as a private business when
it comes to financials." A private business would be able to set the cost of
its services.

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EpicEng
Right, you were responding to a statement which is somewhat inaccurate but if
corrected would in no way change the argument I was making or its validity.
That's my point.

~~~
mkaziz
I'm not challenging your first or second sentence. I'm challenging your third
sentence. I'm not sure where you got the idea that I was challenging your
whole comment, when mine referred exclusively to the price of USPS services.

~~~
EpicEng
>I'm not sure where you got the idea that I was challenging your whole comment

I don't, only saying that the bit you're commenting on is wholly irrelevant.

