“I’ve never seen you so excited about a piece of goverment mail before.”

Surprisingly enough, I really was quite excited when my absentee ballot arrived yesterday in the mail. For one, this is the first time in the 7 years that we’ve lived in Germany that I actually get to vote absentee…because last time around, even though I was registered, my ballot never came.

And now I’m sitting here being a typical child of the digital age and actually googling every name on the ballot to see what their platforms are and looking to see what sort of propositions are on the ballot and if they are necessary. I can guarantee that if I was voting somewhere in person I would go in, check my little boxes based on party affiliation (because I would barely know anything about the local candidates) and go about my business. But since I’m out of state and country, I figure I should educate myself at least a bit considering I’m not being bombarded by junk mail and TV commercials 24/7 telling me how to vote.

I used the Overseas Vote Foundation to register this time and found the process not only easy but logical. And considering I actually got my ballot this time (well before the election)  I think something was clearly done right. They even have an online ballot you can fill out and mail if your state allows, just in case you’re really late about getting things done!