Education of a November absentee voter

I’m voting by absentee ballot in November, which is a brand-new experience for me.

Ever since my first vote for president in 1976, my practice largely has been the same — show up at my designated polling place, exercise my constitutional duty and follow the dictates of conscience.

I’ve voted in my home state of Pennsylvania, in Ohio and, since 1989, in Missouri.

Always before in-person.

I’ve enjoyed wearing the “I voted” sticker on my shirt.

No sticker for me, though, 33 days from now.

I’m voting but will not show up at the polls.

In this COVID year, given my pre-existing condition requiring daily medication, I’m taking no chances.

By telephone, the Cape Girardeau County Clerk’s Office walked me through my options after discovering I was considered an at-risk COVID-19 voter because of Type 2 diabetes.

This particular excuse is only available until the end of the year, a temporary pandemic-driven quirk in Missouri’s election law.

I checked the box on the ballot envelope reading, “For an election that occurs during the year 2020, the voter has contracted or is in an at-risk category for contracting or transmitting severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (COVID-19).”

There are eight eligible at-risk COVID-19 categories and since qualifying under one of them, I can vote without having to have my ballot notarized.

If it applied to me (and it doesn’t), I could also send in a no-notary-needed ballot if I had an incapacity or confinement due to illness or physical disability, including caring for an incapacitated or confined person who is ill or physically disabled.

If I didn’t qualify for any of the absentee excuses, I could send in a special mail-in ballot for which I would check a box that certifies I’m a registered voter in Missouri and simply don’t wish to show up Nov. 3. For this special ballot, I need a notary.

Whew. Not easy to keep it all straight.

I am also required to check an “attestation” box on the ballot envelope, sort of an “on-your-honor” statement, in which I self-certify the following statement to be truthful:

“I hereby state under penalties of perjury that I am qualified to vote in this election, I have not voted and will not vote other than by this ballot at this election. I further state that I marked the enclosed ballot in secret or that I am blind, unable to read or write in English, or physically incapable of marking a ballot, and the person of my choosing indicated below marked the ballot at my direction, all of the information on this statement is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, true.”

When I decide what to do, I’ll make my choices, check all the appropriate boxes, put my filled-in ballot in the postage-paid envelope and deposit it in the P.O. box down the street.

Anybody reading this who would also like to vote absentee or by special mail-in ballot has a deadline to ask for the privilege.

The deadline is 5 p.m. on the second Wednesday before Nov. 3 — or Oct. 21.

To add one more wrinkle to the confusion, in-person absentee voting is already underway at the Cape Girardeau County Administration Building, 1 Barton Square in Jackson and at the Osage Centre, 1625 N. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau. (I voted by this method for the August primary and had to give “at-risk” as the reason for not wanting to enter my assigned polling place.)

Want to check the status of your mailed ballot?

In the ballot materials provided by the county, use the PIN provided and go to the “Ballot Status” webpage.

Questions? Call your county clerk. In Cape Girardeau County, this is Kara Clark Summers, at (573) 243-3547.