I'll be out of town on April 22 and so had to request an absentee ballot.

Finding and downloading the application on the State of PA absentee ballot page was easy. The form itself is terribly designed. Looks like it hasn't had a makeover in 30 years. It asks for your ward and district numbers. I did a quick search online and couldn't find any tools to find my ward and district numbers.

The State of PA page had a link to local election offices phone numbers. So I called the Philly office, a human being picked up the phone and informed me that, indeed, I didn't need to fill in my ward and district, they would do that for me.

Given how elections are so much about the integrity of the process, and should elections be close, that process is scrutinized closely, I think I'll fill in the those numbers myself. I'm sure someone at this site knows my ward and district number... you can leave it as a comment (I live on Greene St. in West Mt. Airy near the Henry School).

What about all the people who will be discouraged by seeing a request for information that they don't know and who won't engage in doing research or think that the information isn't required?

There is bold, all caps print at the bottom of the application that says: "warning -- If you are able to vote in person on election day, you must go the your polling place, void your absentee ballot and vote there."

When is this state going to start encouraging absentee ballots instead of setting up barriers?