I want my vote to be counted

About two weeks before I moved to London, I requested an ballot for absentee voting. I thought I might even have a ballot here before I arrived. Ummmm, no. I waited for three weeks, checking the mail every day. And every day I had no ballot.


So, last Friday I called the US Federal Voting Assistance Program. I thought I had read something about having about a week after the election for them to receive my ballot, which didn't make sense to me, but I wasn't worried in September because I thought I was safe. Well, the man on the phone confirmed what I had thought. The conversation went something like this:


Me- "I think that I still have time to send in my ballot by mail, correct?"
Man- "Yes."
Me- "Okay, so I missed the mail today. How is it possible I can still get it in on time?"
Man- "It just has to be postmarked by November 4th."
Me- "Okay....this may be a stupid question, but won't the results be known by that evening??"
Man- "No- those are only preliminary results. The official results will not be known until November 10th. So as long as the ballot is received by November 10th, then you can get your vote in."


And I did try to get to the post office on time on Saturday morning, and I made it before they closed. However, I thought that the address was on one of the ballot forms I had printed, and it was not. So, I tried again on Monday...and did not make it in time after work. But I just thought, "I still have one more day."


So, TODAY I PUT MY VOTE IN FOR THE NEXT U.S. PRESIDENT! I had to pay 5 pounds ($8)to mail it because the United Kingdom does not "postmark" the mail, so I had to pay for delivery confirmation, but it also means it should definitely get there on time. Whatever happens, I am going to believe that my vote will be counted!

Here's the Post Office where I mailed by ballot home!

Royal Mail

This picture was taken Saturday morning; it's the scene from our living room window. I had never seen the postman before, and I thought his mail trolley was neat.

It's kind of sad to me sitting here tonight in England, as such a historical election is going on in the States. The London press has had plenty to say about what they think about it, which has been interesting to read in the papers. I tried to watch the BBC News Specials earlier since they have correspondents in Washington D.C., Phoenix, and Chicago, but couldn't. It's not even close to being the same. So I will probably check out the U.S. websites tomorrow for the news. We now have to put it all in God's hands.