[SPEAKER_02]: Hi, so I'm Spencer and I'm just going to give a quick tutorial on how to vote by mail in the primary on September 1st. Yeah, and to make sure that your ballot actually gets in on time. So first, yeah, so why the urgency? There are a couple reasons but primarily is that the elections offices are already overwhelmed with applications coming in and we've seen like newer systems like in New York be overwhelmed and therefore ballots not be counted and so it's really important that you get in your application as soon as possible and that way you can get your ballot as soon as possible and then send that in as soon as possible to make sure that you really make sure that your ballot gets into the election office by election day and make sure that it gets counted. So there are pretty much three steps to vote by mail. Step one is check your registration. Step two is submit your vote by mail application. And step three is mail your ballot. And so step one, check your registration. First, you have to make sure that you are registered by August 22nd in order to vote in the primary. And you can go to the site on the screen in order to register, which all these links will also be on AnnaCallahan.com slash vote. And one other thing that even if you are registered, you have to check your registration. Make sure that you know what party and what your registration address is, because that will become really important when filling out the application. So step two is getting your application. So most of you should have already gotten your application in the mail. But if you haven't, you can go to the website on the screen, or also Anna Callahan.com slash vote, and you'll get a PDF, you can either print that out and fill it out or fill it out on your computer. A couple things to watch out for when you're filling it out is make sure that you check the box that says all 2020 elections. That way, You won't have to request to get another application or request another ballot for future elections. And then also, if you're an independent, you have to check what party you want the ballot for. Otherwise, they won't send you a ballot at all, because they won't know which party you want the ballot for. And then if you're signing it on your computer, make sure that you don't type your signature. You have to actually do an e-signature. It's a technicality, but you have to be careful for that, because they won't accept a typed signature. And you can also, on the mail ballot to line, you can choose what address to send the ballot to. That doesn't have to be the same as your registration address. It can be a family, it could be a friend's, it could be a new address that you're at, whatever. Well, and then finally, you just got to send in the application. We really recommend that you send in the application by July 31st, and that will give you plenty of time in order to track it and make sure that you're that your application got received by the elections office and also you can send it in by mail or email and the addresses are here which are also on Anna's website. And then you can track your application. And we really recommend you do this. You go to this website, you put in all your information. If it has no record of you, that means your application has not been received. In which case, if that happens like five days or seven days after you send your application, you should call the elections office, whether that's Medford or Somerville, to make sure that they actually did receive your application because there have been reports of people's applications getting lost or certain things getting mixed up along the way. But if it says pending, that means that your application has been received by the elections office and your ballot will be sent to you. Cool, so then there's step three, which is getting the ballot. This is pretty self-explanatory, but once you get the ballot, just fill it out. It'll come with instructions. Make sure you follow the instructions really carefully and you sign everywhere where it says to sign. And we really recommend that you fill out the ballot and return it by August 18th. That will give you two weeks to make sure that not only your ballot gets into the elections office, because USPS said that there are delays of up to two weeks, but also if anything goes wrong, you can track it and see that it's not going in and have time to call your local elections office and make sure vote actually gets counted. Cool, yeah. Are there any questions? If anybody has, there's also a lot more information about all of this on annacallahan.com slash vote.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have a question. Do we need to have stamps in order to mail in our ballot to vote?
[SPEAKER_02]: You don't need, so if you get the application in the mail, then you don't need a stamp because it'll come with a stamp and the ballot will always come with a stamp. If you're printed out the PDF, then you need a stamp to send it in, but you can also send it in by email, in which case you won't need it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I have a question then as well. What happens if you make a mistake when you are filling out your official ballot?
[SPEAKER_02]: If you make a mistake, you should call the election office and let them know. But if you made a mistake while filling out and you realize that after you've sent it in, then you should just call and they'll help you request another application or send another ballot to you directly.