Serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis. © James Conner.
That’s me, just after inserting my paper ballot into my precinct’s counting machine at the Flathead Fairgrounds on 4 November 2014. That precinct was open for 13 hours, from 0700 to 2000. I’m not working a 12-hour shift 20 miles from my polling place, so finding time to vote in person does not inconvenience me. In fact, my polling place is within walking distance of my home.
But were I working a 12-hour shift south of Kalispell, and my polling place were in Columbia Falls, I might find voting in person virtually a logistical impossibility. People in that situation are condemned to casting absentee ballots, no matter how much they might prefer voting in person.
One alternative the state should consider is opening the polls at 0600 and closing them at midnight. That makes much more sense than a system that in practice forces some voters to vote by absentee ballot when they’d much rather vote in person on Election Day.