I am much exited about this year’s election. I registered as a Permanent Absentee Voter, which means that I cast my vote by mail. So when the ballot came in, I started to mark my choices on the ballot. According to the voting instructions, you make a selection by drawing a line to connect the head and tail of an arrow next to your answer. I wanted to make sure that my vote was clear by drawing back and forth to make the line thick. Just as I was finishing the section of office positions, and ready to move to the section of referendum questions, I noticed some detail of the instructions that says that you can only draw the line once. Well, I wasted my ballot. Fortunately, the instructions say that you can request a replacement ballot. But, my point is that the voting process is not voter friendly. Perhaps this is the reason why there are thousands and thousands of disqualified votes each year that are not counted.

This reminds me my initial voter registration. When I was naturalized as a US citizen, the first thing I did was to send my voter registration. To my disappointment, months had passed, and I never received my mail ballot. And I was not able to vote in the 2000 election. People from other countries would assume, based on common sense, that in established democracies like the US, you would just bring your birth certificate, passport or other identifications, and go to polling stations to vote. But things are that simple. You have to register by mail in advance of three weeks before an election. If your mail is lost, you cannot vote. Voting should be easy for the voters.