For those of you concerned about voting in the USA, I suggest you get after it.  I was disenfranchised by the Express mail two years ago.  I paid China Post a lot of money and the ballot, which was supposed to be delivered in five business days, arrived at the Clerks office a week late.  See: Fast Mail and Voting

This year I got after it earlier and by contacting my Township Clerk’s office, I was able to file a request for absentee ballot and receive it the same day.  I filled out the request and took a picture with my cell phone. I emailed it to the Township Clerk and she immediately sent me the ballot by email.  I checked with my advisers in the USA on the various ballot issues, Supreme Court Candidates, School Board, etc. and completed my ballot in a couple days.

The American Secretary of State has a website on voting and there is a postage paid envelope available which I used. First I had to get the envelope, with ballot enclosed to the Chengdu Consulate. They put the envelope in a diplomatic pouch and it gets mailed from the USA. A Chinese friend from Chengdu was visiting her parents in Guiyang during the October holiday so I gave the envelope to Daisy. She was going to deliver it to the Chengdu Consulate.

Daisy showed up at the Chengdu Consulate today and was turned away by the Chinese Police guarding the consulate. She wasn’t permitted to enter unless she had an American Passport. She called me, and while she was on hold, I went to the US Embassy website for Beijing.  I called the number and told them the problem.  They put me on hold and called the duty officer. in Chengdu. The Chengdu Consulate was closed due to the holiday.

They put me through to the duty officer, named Ben.  Somehow my call was being handled by the emergency hotline.  I gave Daisy’s phone number to Ben  and the spelling of her name.  He got after it.  He was near the Consulate so he either went there himself, or had somebody go outside to find Daisy. Case closed. The ballot will be in the diplomatic pouch tomorrow morning.

I spoke to another American about voting. His state, Washington, has a pure vote by internet system available.  I think each state has it’s own system   I believe that they all take this subject seriously. If you want to vote, you can go to your State’s website, probably the Secretary of State in your state to find out how to do it.  I hope you vote. A democracy is a terrible thing to waste.