Sunday, 02 November 2008
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Heart of A Soldier
see relatedFirst the Absentee Ballot and now the Affidavit Ballot!
http://michellemag.com/stories/politics/2008/10oct/politics102708.htm
I love voting! I used to hate it because the lines were horribly long, machines went down and the polling volunteers were (I'm sorry but it's true, at least in Brooklyn) too old and slow to get on the ball. Here in Kings County poll workers have to know people, so I went to people that knew people and I became a poll worker for two years.
OMG! It was such a farce I cried for days. The Board of Elections is a joke. The systems are so old that even I who "cut my teeth" on learning the binary system and used punch-cards in my computer learning hey day couldn't fathom this system.
The poll workers cared more about the pot-luck after party and the organizer was such a damned Nazi !(yes, I said it! She walked around as if she was Queen and everyone else was beneath her and all beacuse she knew the Queen Bee who was the Female District Leader and the one who got people's names on the list of poll workers).
Anyway, the Board of Elections quiz and testing site was ridiculous and answers were yelled at so that everyone passed and basically got paid for having a pulse!
This year I chose not to sell myself for the 400 bucks and save myself a serious headache and do some real work on Election Day! First by taking my mom who uses a can and has trouble every year because she goes alone. SOooooooooooo, I sent in for an Absentee Ballot! AND I LOVED IT! I will escort my mom every year if it means that I can cast my vote in the privacy of my own home. Now many may say this is selfish. Why not have my mom vote by Absentee Ballot instead? BECAUSE PEOPLE, she is a new American Citizen of only five years! SHE WANTS TO STAND ON LINE AND go through the hooplah. I was born here and have voted since Reagan (don't ask).
ANYWHO! That was my experience and now I want to introduce you to Michellemag.com where I learned all about the latest and greatest way to vote: AFFIDAVIT BALLOT!
http://michellemag.com/stories/politics/2008/10oct/politics102708.htm
When you get to the polls, if your name is not in the Poll Book and if you never received your Voter Registration Card, it doesn't mean you can't vote. It simply means the system failed -- again. Know your rights.
The huge number of newly registered voters is being vastly under reported this election year. Most voter protection officials, from lawyers to the actual Boards of Elections across the country, have little idea just how many people have been registered state to state.
There are three major reasons for this: massive voter registration drives by the Obama Campaign's ground team, poor planning on the part of the Board of Elections, and the antiquated system of data entry used to put new voters into the system. Oh yeah, and the fact that Google was registering new voters on their Google Maps site put the situation right over the edge.
So, here is the story. At least in New York, where the deadline to register to vote was end of day, October 10th, there were more than 200,000 voter registration forms dumped at the State Board of Elections office. In addition, Rock the Vote slammed the voter registration system with hundreds of thousands more on the deadline day. These last minute tidal waves of voter registration forms were smashed into the system on top of the hundreds of thousands of other voter registration forms that were yet to be entered into the system at the time of the deadline.
So, while traditionally the Board of Elections promises newly registered voters and change of address voters a registration card in the mail at least a few weeks before election day, confirming their entry into the system, this is not going to happen for hundreds of thousands -- possibly millions of Americans. Why? Because the names and addresses are still being entered into the system. Even as you sit here and read this post.
The result is that not only will millions of Americans not receive Voter Registration Cards. They will not even be listed in the election district poll books, because they have not been entered into the system.
The good news is that if you registered to vote within your state's mandated deadline, you are registered to vote. Period. The bad news is, the poll watchers at your election district will likely not know this if you are not in their poll book. And the even worse news is that you may not be in the poll book because the Board of Elections just ran out of time to enter everyone who actually registered to vote.
So, what you must do if you know that you registered to vote, never received your Voter Registration Card but show up to the polls like you are supposed to, is to request an Affidavit Ballot. You must be given one if you can prove that you are in the right election district, by showing some kind of utility bill, your driver's license or whatever. Just prove that you are entitled to vote in the election district in which you have shown up to the polls.
The Affidavit Ballot is a paper ballot with an affidavit on the envelope. It is used when a voter's name has been omitted from the computer generated poll books. When you vote using this, you must swear you are a registered voter and provide current and previous address. In a less common circumstance you may use this type of ballot to challenge your party enrollment stated in the poll book. Fill out the ballot and seal it and give it to the appropriate person.
It counts as a vote. Folks, let me say this again, it counts as a vote. It will be tallied at the end of the day.
REMEMBER EVERYONE: THIS CAME FROM MICHELLEMAG.COM, my new place to go for information.
http://michellemag.com/stories/politics/2008/10oct/politics102708.htm
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