So, it seems that I may not actually EXIST....

[Richard Steele]

(I originally posted this in the NC forum,
but since it could happen to anyone, anywhere,
I thought, "Hey, why not clog up GD with it?")

Went to vote in the Durham (NC) primary on Tuesday,
and surprise:
I am not listed as a registered voter.

Odd, since I just registered at this address
last August; no problem last November.

The poll worker was first rate;
"provisional ballot" at a moment's notice.

THIS is when it got INTERESTING.
She took a few minutes to search the database;
she got ALL my pertinent data,
and was trying different combinations of it.
(A smart thing to try, if your are looking for someone
who has been misplaced in a database)

And when she tried simply entering my birthdate, she got ZERO results.
ZERO.
That's pretty much impossible.
There are over 115,000 registered voters in that database;
there's no way I was the ONLY Durham voter
born on that wonderful day almost 23 years ago! (rofl)

The obvious conclusion is:
The DurhamVoter Database has LOST everyone who shares my date of birth!

And if they have LOST everyone with a specific birthday,
what else might be lost?
Other birthdays?
Entire years?
Entire letters of the alphabet?
(I hope it was the "J" names...those smug bastards! *waves fist*)

The moral of this long, boring story is:
Take 5 minutes to make sure your registration is OK
before you get a nasty surprise some November!

I'm just going to send in a new registration.
It takes about 5 minutes, which is DAYS less
than it would take to get anyone to actually track down
and fix the glitch with my old one.

[kskold]

1. spread the word?

Have you considered passing this on to the local media? If a chunk of voters are missing, someone could have fun running with this. (And it might solve whatever the problem is.)

[Richard Steele]

3. D'OH!!! I never thought to alert the Corporate Media!

Yeah, that would be something a SMART person would do!

Thanks for your advice!

And a big sloppy WELCOME to DU!!!!!!!!

[mestup]

2. This stuff is getting spooky!

In my state/district they've been cautioning on tv ads to check for voter changes at the vote.(state).gov website.

You go there, click your county, then you're directed to a new link for changes to "voter identification requirements." Rather than a text page, it's a QuickTime video thing.

Naturally - it won't load! No choice but to email the elections office to find out what the changes are.

People need to be on their toes!

(Geez! I already live in a Red state. How much redder do they want it to be?)

[CanOfWhoopAss]

4. Just another reason why everyone should vote in every electon.

From dog catcher to prom queen to winner of a hot dog eating contest. This way it is harder for you to get scrubbed and if you do you can catch it before a big election. The winners of the little election often determine the winners of the big one. Local elections win national elections.

Nice job on your part! Stay on them!

[Richard Steele]

5. Good point. Here in Durham, the Dem primary _IS_ the election...

November is just a formality, except for the occasional run-off.

And turnout was low;
Tuesday, about 12,000 of us took 20 minutes to choose the
mayor and city council for a city of 187,000 people.