Mythbuster: Absentee ballots or an absent vote?

President/Vice President: check. State Supreme Court Justice: check. Congress: check. State Senator: check. Check, check, check, check.

Fold, lick, seal, stamp, mail.

Sounds boring, but for a first time voter, the excitement is practically unbearable.



There are few words to describe the feeling of a very first vote, but Michelle Roy summed it all up: "I VOTED! It's an exhilarating feeling to know that I might be the one vote that makes a difference," says Roy.

Her excitement was quickly interrupted when one of her friends mentioned to her that absentee ballots are rarely counted, unless the race is close.

"Are you serious?" thought Roy: "When I heard that I was just like, why did I even vote then? I wanted my vote to count."

Looking for the right answer, I chose to find out more with the help of Ithaca College Politics Professor Don Beachler. "Your vote does count," he reassured me.

In response to the myth Michelle had heard, Beachler said, "People are generally uninformed which generates into a lot of misinformation and then they begin to believe it themselves."

"Your vote counts. What most people miss are the preliminary results" said another Ithaca College Politics Professor, Juan Arroyo.

According to Arroyo, when the results are given the day after the election, news reports are careful to declare the results preliminary ones. It is not until all ballots are in that they declare the results official. This can take up to a month after the day of the election, depending if the race is close or not. (Just like in the 2000 Presidential Election in Florida, when a full recount was tallied).

Tompkins County Board of Elections Democratic Commissioner, Stephen DeWitt, said: "We wait until one week after election day to count the absentee ballots. Military ballots have 13 days to get here. A lot of people get a misconception that absentee ballots aren't counted. We count all the ballots and they get tallied toward the total. Every vote gets counted," DeWitt responded to the assumption that absentee ballots are a moot vote.

For Tompkins County, the absentee and military ballots must be postmarked no later than one day before election day. Absentee ballots can be received up until November 12th while military ballots can be received up until November 17th.

Arroyo explained the reason why mail-in ballots aren't due on election day: "Well...a candidate might say something really controversial a couple days before the election, and that might completely change someone's vote, but it would be too late if that person already mailed in the ballot."

If a state is clearly leaning toward one candidate than the other, many believe that absentee ballots are pointless. "Most of the time they won't matter," says Arroyo.

But don't let that discourage all of you absentee voters, because your vote might not be included in the preliminary results, but they will undoubtedly be counted in the final tally.

As Arroyo said, "Don't worry, you can still tell your grandchildren that you were a part of the 2008 Presidential Election."

-Jillian Rubin