Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Adventures in Voting

Since I moved at the beginning of October, I was very careful to mind my states deadline for submitting a change of address and still being eligible to vote in this election. Here in NY, that deadline was Oct. 15, 2008. I made sure my paperwork was mailed in plenty of time to be received and processed. In fact, my mother and I mailed ours the same day, from the same mailbox. Well I guess you see where this is heading by now. . .

We showed up to vote, and mom is on the rolls, I am not. Despite having copies of my change of address, new lease, etc... I was told I would need to fill out a paper ballot that might be counted later in the night or to call or go to the local Board of Elections. I choose to leave and drive the 4o mins. to my old polling place to vote. I honestly didn't believe that if I filled out a paper ballot it would get counted, and my vote matters to me. For the first time when registering to vote, I choose not to affiliate with any party, and I can't shake the sinking feeling that it may have had something to do with me not appearing on the rolls. The undecided vote is supposed to be a big factor in this election. My mother did choose a party affiliation, and she did appear on the rolls.

I am just grateful that this move was a local one and I was able to get to an old polling place and still vote. My last two moves have been from state to state, so obviously I wouldn't have been able to get back there to vote.

I plan to contact the Board of Elections after the election is over to check into the status of my registration and make sure it gets straightened out. I wonder how many other people will have problems when they try to vote today?

8 comments:

Jeanne said...

Maureen,

I'm so sorry you had the problem with voting but I give you lots of credit for going out of your way to make sure your vote was counted.

I would definitely follow up with the Board of Elections like you said because by voting in your old district you will probably be kept on the books there unless you remind them that they ignored your paperwork.

Good for you to make sure your voice was heard!!

Jeanne

Kara S. said...

Yay for you for going out of your way to vote! I moved from Florida in 2003 to Pennsylvania and in 2004 moved from Penn. to West Virginia. I'm still getting "voter registration" mail from both Fla. and Penn. even though I followed all the proper registration procedures each time I moved. Drives me nuts!!! I even got an absentee ballot from Fla. this year. You'd think that they'd figure something was suspicious that I haven't voted in at least 5 years and have a W.Va. address. Duh!

Maureen Hayes said...

Kara,

It's funny you mention it, I have moved from NY in 2004 to FL. Registered and voted there. Then in 2005 moved to NC and registered there. When I moved back to NY in 2007, I was still on the rolls up here at my 2004 address!! Makes you wonder why when you register to vote, they don't notify the old address to remove you from the rolls. I also wonder how many people vote more than once, or get denied like I did because of things like this and whether they are "mistakes" or not.

Maureen

Junebug said...

I'm glad you were able to vote.

Mojo said...

This is just one of the many reasons I take advantage of early voting. If there's a problem I have time to rectify it. Fortunately, I had just about the smoothest voting experience possible this time around despite being a registered Democrat in a state that hasn't voted for a Democrat since 1976.

But good on ya for sticking with it and getting your vote in. Even though in NY the die was pretty much cast, it's still important.

Mojo said...

And where in NC were you living? And why didn't you stop by and say hello? *grin*

Anonymous said...

What a pain but I'm glad to read you were able to get your vote in despite the adversity.

Anonymous said...

Good for you in going out of your way to vote and for following up on what happened to you. If you aren't satisfied with the answer you get, please continue to follow up with this. I know you will!