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Municipal elections in my town today. Not only did I not get a chance to vote to authorize a mail-in election, but there are the other issues I observed, some of which I raised with election staff. First, I thanked them for volunteering and I was polite. I did not wear a mask as I have a medical exemption from the local mandate. No one said anything to me about that.*Ballots were mailed to all, without request, and presumably with insufficuent vetting.*There are only 3-4 polling places where you can vote in person.*There are a handful of voting drop boxes around town.*Voting by mail or drop box/drop off have been open for weeks.*There is no way to know if someone already cast a ballot in your name. Only the first vote counts. If there are two ballots cast in your name, they will prosecute you. You cannot change your vote if you voted early. Friends, these are some of the main reasons why I almost never advocate for voting early.*Ballots mailed out require a signature on the outside of the envelope with "some identifier", such as your Driver's License number (which does not prove residency or eligibiity to vote but has been an accepted identifier for years here).*My local precinct for voting in person was closed, without notice. The town and state websites for elections have no indication that would be the case and even today the state elections website directs me to my polling place to vote in person. Tell me how this makes voting more accesible when you have to travel 5+ miles instead of 1? Not to those of us that insist on voting in person! And for thise that do not have their own transportation, they might have hopped off their bus only to have to figure out where to go, wait for the next bus, pay another fare, and travel farther.*NO SCANNERS for ballots! NONE! The staffer told me the scanners are in ANCHORAGE, 500+ air miles north if here, not accessible by road. There is absolutely no way to scan your ballot today to ensure it was received and counted. I have NEVER seen this before and I have voted in every election here (and almost every election elsewhere I have lived). WHY are we sending ballots ro Anchorage AGAIN? I asked to be sure and I was clearly told, NO scanners, no way to scan my ballot today. Sounds to me like our election officials wanted another shopping trip on taxpayers' dimes. Alaska Permanent Fund Dividends are due to pay out in a few days and the sales are on at the big box stores, afterall...*No option to spoil the ballot they mailed to me and vote on an in-person ballot, which requires a poll worker to check "some identifier". This absolutely should have been an option and I asked. But when I was told "no scanners, drop box only", I decided not to push the matter further, signed my envelope, and dropped it into the box, expressing my concern for security.*No way to ensure your vote is cast. No tracking whatsoever despite some weird tear-off top to the ballot mailed to me. Yes, I've asked about this too.