Answers to today’s questions over at thefridayfive @ Dreamwidth!
1. If you are old enough, are you registered to vote?
No need to register. In Finland, “those who have reached the age of 18 no later than the day of the election have the right to vote in Finland. Every Finnish citizen of voting age has the right to vote in national elections and referenda, regardless of their place of residence.”
2. Did you vote in the November 2023 2024 Presidential election (that was the latest election)?
Yes.
I also voted in the 2023 parliamentary/general election.
3. Do you vote in primaries?
We don’t have primaries.
4. Do you plan to vote in the November 2024 2025 Municipal election and Wellbeing Services County election (held at the same time)?
Yes.
5. Do you vote early, by mail, in person, or some other way?
It’s always in person. Mail or online voting isn’t possible.
The common ways are advance voting and voting on the actual election day.
I always vote during the advance voting because it’s much easier. You can vote in any of the maybe 100 or so advance voting places anywhere in the country during the assigned 7 days as long as you have a legit ID with you. Advance voting places are places such as libraries, shopping centers, grocery stores etc. so you can easily pop in while returning your loaned books or doing the weekly shopping or just passing by on your way to/from work. And they’re open like 9am to 8pm most days. My grocery store used to have the advance voting place for a few years, but not anymore so I vote in my library.
If you vote on the actual voting day, you are only allowed to vote in the one specific voting place assigned to you and this can be hard to reach if you don’t have a car or may have to take 2-3 busses to get there even though it’s maybe only 10 minutes by car from where you live but in the wrong direction as in my case and no bus goes that way directly. And if you live in the country, you allowed voting place may be an hour or more away. And on actual voting day it isn’t enough to only have your ID with you, but ideally you’d also have the Notice of Right to Vote (which lists advance voting places, and your assigned voting place on the actual day as well as which municipal’s (your residence) candidates you can vote for).
The last election we had, the Presidential election at the start of the year, my Mom said that on the actual voting day, the officials mark you off a paper(!!) list, while on the advance voting it’s all computers. I couldn’t believe it when she said that! I’ve voted only in advance for at least 15 years if not more, and it’s always been computers there that it never occurred to me they do things the very old fashioned way on the actual day! But my Mom and her SO sometimes vote in advance and sometimes on the actual day, so Mom knows the differences and this time I was watching the news showing a video clip about the voting slips being handled differently on the actual day than mine was on the advance voting (on advance voting, each voting slip is sealed in an envelope, which is stamped and then dropped in the box – on the actual day, the slip is stamped and dropped in the box directly as-is) and we got to talking about the differences.
Advance voting is quite popular because you can do it whenever and wherever, and it seems to be getting even more popular.
There is also a way to vote abroad, but that too happens in person and then the voting slips are sent to Finland to be counted with the all the rest of the slips on the actual day. Also, if you’re unable to go to advance vote or on the actual voting day because you’re disabled or old and have mobility issues, voting officials can come to your home and you vote there (this needs to be arranged a few weeks before hand, so if you get sick suddenly the day before actual voting day, you may have to forego voting that time). I think places like old people homes also have voting official visiting to arrange voting so those that still can and are able to, can vote as well.