Let's Vote
Like a proper country
As a young adult, I loved voting. It was an experience. Election day would come, all the voters in the neighborhood would make their way to the local elementary school, our names would be checked off, and we would vote. It was a ritual and tradition, a meaningful way to lend our voice to the governing of our nation.
Later in the night, all of the ballots were counted, victory parties were held, and we all knew who had been elected. For better or worse.
It isn’t that way anymore. At least in my State.
Here in Washington we have an all mail voting system now, and have had it for quite some time.
A ballot arrives in the mail. I open it up, make my selections, and then mail it back. Eventually, after a process that can sometimes take weeks, we learn who was elected.
Undoubtedly this makes things a lot easier for the government. It no longer has to find volunteers to staff all those elementary schools, or train all those people. All election workers have to do is open the envelopes that arrive each day, and run the ballots through the counting machines.
It is a popular system. Not the delay in learning the results, which seems universally frustrating, but the ability to vote in the comfort of one’s own home.
But the delay isn’t just frustrating, it is an extremely serious problem for the credibility of our electoral system.
One week ago today was election day in the City of Seattle. A week later, we still do not know who the next Mayor of Seattle will be.
This delay breeds tremendous distrust in the system. It fuels belief that elections are corrupt, that our leaders are illegitimately elected.
That’s a problem that can’t exist if a republic is to remain strong.
There is an easy solution that governments should adopt. Simply take the U.S. Postal Service out of the process.
Instead of having voters return ballots via the U.S. Mail, make drop boxes available in every community within a Jurisdiction. Drop boxes that are closed and emptied at the election deadline.
Then every ballot could be returned to counting centers on the evening of the election, and counted that same night. Resulting in same day results, as was the practice here in the United States for as long as anyone can remember, and remains the practice around the world.
Delays are caused by the use of the mails. A voter drops a ballot into a post office box by the deadline and it receives its postmark. Then those ballots take days to make their way to the counting center, leaving nothing but uncertainty in their wakes.
No modern country should lack the ability to declare electoral winners on Election day. No City as large and modern as Seattle should have to wait more than a week after Election day to learn who its next Mayor will be.
The solution is simple, and it must be embraced even if it will add some costs for local government. The delays caused by the use of the U.S. Mails is simply unacceptable.
Spending a career in the Navy, I'm always skeptical of voting by mail. Until very recently, we never knew if our ballots made it home in time to be counted. Often we wouldn't receive our ballots until after election day, making them useless. But it was and still is the only way for someone in the military to participate in our political process.
I've voted in person a few times and saw integrity in that process. Results were announced quickly and with little questioning. I predicted how Seattle's election would go this year. Same as others with closely aligned political views in other recent elections. Always last minute ballots found and counted late. Definitely questions the integrity.
Like you, I see real holes in our current voting methods. Early and mail-in voting might sound like progress, but they create serious flaws. Ballots can be cast before all the facts are known—before late-breaking information about a candidate or issue even comes out. Candidates can and do shift their positions late in the race, leaving early voters without the full picture.
There was something powerful about physically showing up to vote, seeing your neighbors there, and feeling part of a collective civic moment. It made voting feel like more than a checkbox—it was participation in the process itself. That sense of shared responsibility is something we’ve lost, and it’s worth fighting to restore.
I understand the goal of making voting easier, and for those who are homebound, traveling, or too ill to get to the polls, those options serve a purpose. But voting isn’t supposed to be effortless—it’s supposed to be responsible. Convenience shouldn’t outweigh credibility.
For the legitimacy of our elections, they should return to a single election day, with results that are transparent and timely. I also firmly believe in requiring valid ID to vote—nearly every important transaction in life requires proof of who you are; casting a ballot should be no different.
Drop boxes can work as a compromise, but only with strict oversight. Without it, they create doubt and potential for abuse.
If we want trust back in our elections, we need less convenience and more accountability—and a return to the shared civic ritual that once made voting feel like something greater than ourselves.