- Thousands of our Jackson neighbors are voting absentee this year.
- Processing absentee ballots is a time-consuming process that can delay election results.
- This year, absentee ballots are being processed ahead of time to speed up the count on Election Day.
- Video shows absentee voters, City of Jackson spokesperson Aaron Dimick, tips for absentee voters, and locations of ballot drop boxes.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
"I mean, it's a far cry from France, where it's paper ballots again. Ten o'clock — it was all said and done."
Jackson neighbor Dorman Crews wondering why it took so long to count the votes here in our last Presidential election.
With so much at stake, I went to City Hall Thursday to see what might speed things up this time around.
One challenge is absentee ballots.
City Spokesperson Aaron Dimick says processing the surge of those ballots caused delays during the pandemic. And, processing those ballots didn't start until Election Day.
Dimick says this time will be different:
"Thankfully, we've already started that processing. As of today, we've processed one thousand absentee ballots already, so, we're really going to see quicker election results on Election Night."
Thousands of our neighbors vote absentee, and I talked to a few of them on Thursday about why they do so.
"I'm very, very busy," says Tony Porter, "so the absentee ballots work very, very highly and efficient for me. I can have do what I need to do, and drop it off."
"Yeah, you're sitting there at your own table, you don't feel rushed or like you might make a mistake. You have all the time in the world," said David Miller.
Dimick says city officials are unpacking, verifying, and preparing absentee ballots for the count in advance — to minimize delays: “We’re definitely getting faster at processing all these ballots.”
If you’re voting absentee, Dimick says to make sure your ballot is either postmarked by Election Day, handed to the City Clerk or dropped off in one of the City's two ballot boxes by 8 p.m. — either here at City Hall…or here at Nixon Park.
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