Election 2012 part 1

I got my absentee ballot for the election. They send them out 46 days before the election, for some reason. I got it by e-mail, but I have to send it back by regular mail or give it to the US embassy at Central.

Ryan also got his absentee ballot, but his situation is a little trickier. He’s in Mainland China, but we told the application that he was in Hong Kong because he was at the time. It’s too late to change from Hong Kong to China, and since we can’t e-mail the ballots, he has to mail his in. If he mails it from China, they might wonder why a voter in Hong Kong is voting from China. I don’t know how suspicious they get about something like that. I’m also not sure if I can mail his ballot for him. I’m sure there are a bunch of rules about that. Especially after 2000.

This is not only my first election out of the country, but it’s my first presidential election. I turned 18 two weeks after the 2008 election, so I just barely missed that one. What that means is that I neither voted for or against Obama. That always disappoints anyone who asks. The first time I voted was the 2010 midterms. The only thing interesting in 2010 was that Governor Pawlenty didn’t run for another term. We didn’t vote for any senators that time, but we do this time.