Some idiot has cost me my vote...and I will find out who!

[thatcrazycajun]

Both my new voter registration card and the State of Georgia's poll locator website for the Secretary of State's office told me my polling place was in a local senior-citizens' services center. Gave me the exact address and everything, plus I looked it up on Mapquest. The state site also told me polls were supposed to remain open until 7:00 PM Eastern, leaving me plenty of time, even having to work until 5:45, to get down there and vote. Right?

Imagine my surprise when, upon finally finding the damn thing at 6:30 PM (the area was dark and the sign for the place under trees and not lit at all), with a full half hour left before official closing time at most polling places (one in an outlying county was kept open later due to a mechanical glitch this morning), I found not only no open polling place, but no sign there had even been one there at all—no signage, no notices posted, nothing. And the only person left who could tell me whether I was at the right place was a janitor who said he didn't know of any polling place set up there.

Of course, this being after 5 PM, nobody in either the senior center or state offices was around to take a call from a frustrated voter. Nor was the only other nearby polling place I knew of, the one the Songbird and I had used for four years at our last address, open either. Closed up and dark...not that I expected they'd have been able to let me vote even if it had been open, but I figured it was worth a shot.

So, guys, WTF? Did a bunch of bored volunteers decide to close up shop early due to poor turnout? If so, I'm pretty sure that's a violation of the law governing voters' rights. Was there a mistake in the state's computers or by a person that gave me the wrong location? I'm pretty fucking torqued about this. This was the first time I'd had to use the new polling place, so I have no idea where in the building it could have been, or what the habits of those operating it are.

Guess I'm gonna have to call somebody besides the head of the senior center, with whom I left a phone message tonight, to find out who screwed me out of my vote. At least it was an off-year election; I'd be even more pissed off it this happened in Congressional or Presidential election years. What I get, I suppose, for not taking the extra time during my lunch break and driving back down to do it.

Comments

[robin-june.livejournal.com]

They almost did the same thing to Alan and I -- they sent a card, it said to go to the old place (another church than ours, as when we had voted in precinct 2-G), and then when we got there, the signs said that one of the several precincts normally there (2H) had been moved to the new mosque that (due to permanent road blockages) had to be accessed by crossing out of city lines then back in. We checked the map on the wall, and it drew the precinct lines to include our house in this new (absent) 2-H district.

So, off we went, Alan cussing like someone's gonna be sorry. Got stopped while the freight train went by. Finally got to the mosque, and our names weren't on the voter registration list. Much seeking in the text (not map) registration books and angry language. I tried very hard not to direct mine to any of the pollworkers there, some of whom were my neighbors. However, I did let loose with the analogy to those phone calls to the Democrats telling them to vote on Wednesday.

Okay, back to the church, thankfully not too late to vote, and our address & names are actually found in precinct 2-I. Alan was still muttering imprecations, although the part about a lawsuit was going away.

When we got home, there was a strange unauthorized lawn sign, next to the last remaining one that we had authorized, and Alan was still mad, so he looked up the nonemergency phone number of our municipality (NOT included on the website) and called it in.
Still fumimg.

Mmmwahahaha

[a-phoenix-afire.livejournal.com]

It was a lot of work to set up those bogus websites (especially the mapquest one) but worth every second to know that that's one vote for our republic (mine) and one less for the invading democracy(yours).

No, seriously, I'm just kidding, and I'm really sorry to hear about this happening to someone who at least gives a damn enough to get out and vote.

If you really want to do something about this, the first thing you will need is screen shots of the sites you used to get your information and directions from. And you'll probably want to do it as soon as humanly possible before they take them down or alter them; the mapquest not so much, but any sites set up specifically for the election, definitely.

Then, if you find that they really did screw up, after investigating more carefully and at leisure, file a complaint with whatever passes for the board of elections in your state. Don't delay.

If you need help with the website captures just ask. I'm at your service on this one. Nobody legal and registered should lose their vote.

[msminlr.livejournal.com]

The election commission here in Pulaski County, Arkansas did a similar screwup on our precinct site the first election after the move to our current residence. Fortunately, the signs on the door at the YWCA had the correct information on them, and when we got to the Somebody Else's Church parish hall we *were* on the records there.

That election commission head has since been replaced.

If you have a "[Broadcaster Name Here] On Your Side" type show in Atlanta, get *them* in on the PR campaign also.