MY WIFE AND I APPARENTLY CANNOT VOTE! OH DEAR GOD....

[Systematic Chaos]

Well I just saw this thread posted in a recent duplicate thread:

HERE

So, I found a site that would let me check my current registration status by entering my name and birthday. GUESS WHAT? My registration info is still under my old address, and my wife is NOT in the fucking system.

The deadline was YESTERDAY to register at one of the Election Commission offices. I am screwed. I took my vacation from work over election week so I could vote with no trouble, and spend the time after the election to either celebrate or try to compose myself, depending on the outcome.

Now I get to spend the next three weeks feeling utterly miserable and pissed off. My only hope now is that for some reason there is a delay getting the info into the system and it will indeed be updated on time. Given this information I have just read I really doubt that will happen.

I don't know what else to even say. I'm seriously about to cry.

[Indiana_Dem]

1. How recently did you move?

I was told by my local Dem HQ to tell someone in the same situation to go to the courthouse and vote early or use a provisional ballot at the precinct you're old address was in or the new precinct location for your new address.

[Systematic Chaos]

2. That still doesn't make my wife eligible to vote

And for me to track down that info won't be possible until Friday. I have to work until then and my hours are such that I don't have time during normal business hours to do anything. Missing work by taking an early out is NOT an option as I'm broke as hell anyway.

I MAY be able to salvage myself but it looks like my wife's first time voting won't be until 2006.

On edit: I have been at my new address since July of 2003.

[Indiana_Dem]

6. Hopefully it's a delay in the system due to all the new

registrations and so on. How long ago did you send it in?

[anarchy1999]

3. What state are you in?

Just wondering and I am so sorry. This is why there are many movements calling for a standard criteria. This is so wrong and once again so sorry, get motivated for change now.

[Systematic Chaos]

5. I am in Nevada where all this shit just went down!!

We registered in front of a Best Buy, when a young neo-hippie looking couple approached us with the forms. The manager of the Best Buy came out while we were filling out the paperwork and made them stop what they were doing, but before they moved on to another site we had about a 10-minute discussion about F-911, Fox News, and *. They were totally on our side and I don't believe for a moment they would have been personally responsible for this likely deprivation of our rights.

[shawcomm]

15. Why in the hell are you registering from a couple of strangers

in front of a Best Buy instead of with the official voter registration offices? Especially with such an important election!?

Maybe it's just early/late, but let me rant at you some more; why in the hell didn't you check your registrations before the deadline passed? Again, this election is important! Too important to be treating your registration as a done deal, especially when you know the repugs are doing their damnedest to keep you from voting.

[RivetJoint]

18. You asked the same questions as I was going to ask

People, VOTING is important. Don't wait until the last fucking minute to chek your status, then whine when you discover you are not on the voter rolls. This is a PERSONAL responsibility!

[LisaL]

21. Well, they are probably good "hippie looking couple".

But your best bet to register is a library or a driver license bureau.

[roguevalley]

4. Honey, I poll watched the primary and people who had this happen to

them with address changes not listed from moves voted anyway and they had their votes on a list that had to be checked later. See if you still can vote. I am sick at heart for both of you but it might still be possible. Check it out.

[Dems2002]

7. Did she register?

If she registered, then you're fine. State websites are not totally accurate. Just call the Elections office tomorrow, or have her do so, say when and where you registered and turn it over to them. You may not have been processed yet, but oftentimes they suck at things like this and you have to be on their asses. But if you raise a big enough stink, you'll probably get what you deserve.

Dems

[specter]

8. There are

5.5 million disenfranchised felons that cant vote either. Guess which way they would vote in this election. Being one I would vote dem but that really doesnt matter does it.

[Hekate]

9. What will you do now? Call the local ACLU?

"I don't know what else to even say. I'm seriously about to cry."
You and me both, Progrocker. I'm stunned by the sheer evilness of these people. Nothing is beneath them in their drive to power and their hatred of true democracy.

I'm assuming you're visiting the other thread, which I just read. Go over there and ask those participants if they have any suggestions about what you and your wife might do as injured parties.

Hekate

on edit: When I started my reply there were no others, which is why I referred you over to the other thread. Looks like this one's going strong now.

[bobbieinok]

10. get in contact with your county dem party for help....they probably,

like in OK, have some gung-ho lawyers in the party who could help

[Indiana_Dem]

11. Another important thing to have done was to make a copy

of the registration. I take every registration and absentee application to my Dem HQ and they make a copy. Maybe the couple that took your registration did the same thing. At least that is proof with a date that you did it.

[OutsourceBush]

12. This is why everyone should vote in the primaries

even if you don't care who wins the primaries, because it will allow you to test your ability to vote. I live in Florida so I'm not taking chances.

[Joefess]

13. Use old address..

In the last 2 elections I have moved several times and not until now did I send in my most recent address. I was able to vote each time at my previous address voting precincts. If possible (if it's not out of state) find the polling place of your last residence and see if your name is on the list. Here in CA, I filled out a card right before I entered the voting booth in 96 to state that I have moved.

[Systematic Chaos]

14. Thank you all for your kind words and suggestions

I will indeed be contacting the relevant offices at the soonest possible moment to get this sorted out, and if necessary I will vote a straight Dem ticket at my old address, which is actually only about 3 miles away from this new one. Different precinct but not my much.

At least if one of us can vote it will be a compromise, albeit a bitter one.

I just wore myself out for 30 minutes pedaling my recumbent stationary bike like a madman. I'm tired and I want a shower and sleep.

Thanks again, and see you all tomorrow. Bless you.

[Crunchy Frog]

16. It shouldn't be any problem voting

at your old precinct. I voted at my parents precinct for years before I got a stable address of my own and finally reregistered there.

Good luck getting things sorted out with your wife. Take some deep breaths and don't panic. There's still some time to get things worked out, otherwise, you should take the opportunity to take someone to the cleaners for participating in voter fraud.

:hug: to both of you.

[LisaL]

20. Call into your election board, ask them if there anything you can do.

[LisaL]

22. If you are registered at you all address, one

would think you should be able to vote there. That happened to my mom in the last election, she did go to the library to register but when she went to vote she apparently wasn't registered, so they didn't let her vote. This election we made sure she was registered by calling the election board (multiple times, I might add), so, hopefully, she will be able to vote for Kerry this time.

[noamnety]

17. There is still hope

I did some voter registration, and we held on to all our forms until the last day, so we wouldn't have to make multiple trips to various city clerks to turn them in. So people that registered with us in mid-September didn't get the forms taken to the clerk until Oct 4 - some of the clerks were an hour's drive away, so there was no way we were going to make trips at the end of each day.

If your registration people did the same thing, they are quite possibly on backlog still.

Is there any effort underway there to push for an extended registration date in light of the info coming out about registrations being thrown away?

[Love Bug]

19. Ask for a provisional ballot

You have a right to vote by special ballot if there are problems with your registration. Here's a link to a chart that lists the statues by state:

http://www.electionline.org/site/docs/html/provisional_ballots.htm