Current Recommendations Re- Voting?

[snot]

I'd like to e-mail all my acquaintances in prep. for the elections with some succinct advice re- voting, but I'd like to include the latest recommendations for trying to enhance the likelihood that you'll be able to cast a vote that will be counted. E.g., is it generally better to early vote, or absentee vote, and/or do we generally have any right to demand a paper ballot instead of e-voting? Etc.

[LA lady]

1. Voter Information

Each state will have a site such as this:

http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/voter/index.shtml

I am a certified election commissioner. We want to help you not hinder you. Call and check that your voter registration is up to date. If you are required to show your card or photo ID, be prepared. Know your precinct and whether you have an open or closed primary.

On the day of the election, we are swamped and cannot be as helpful as we are ahead of time. BE PREPARED and you will have no surprises at the polling place.

Remember, we are sworn to follow the rules and can be charged if we fail to comply!

[MrModerate]

2. Very good info. Just one more thing . . .

Absentee ballots don't go poof! when some Diebold tech waves his magic wand. They have to feed them to a shredder one by one (OK, OK, they probably have bulk shredders -- concept's the same). Makes 'em more likely to be 1) counted or 2) "found" during a recount.

[snot]

4. gracias, thank you, bless you.

[Land Shark]

3. register your complaints with the pollworkers and ask them to note it

otherwise elections officials love to report that the voters "love the new system"

[Kip Humphrey]

5. Make sure everyone knows 1-866-OUR-VOTE to report VOTING PROBLEMS!

[mopinko]

6. mark crispin miller says- DO NOT VOTE EARLY!!!!!

ok, well, he is a mild mannered fellow, and does not seem to scream much. but he says, voters must be out there on election day. for as pathetic as observation and oversight is on election day, there is ZERO for early voting. the citizen watchers, the exit pollers, the media, such as it is, are only there on that one day.

[BeFree]

10. If you please...

...could you furnish a link for that MCM quote about not voting early?

If you look at the official returns from 2004, you will find that some early vote totals were more inline with the predicted totals. Kerry won every early return I have seen so it means, to me, that the final day totals were severely corrupted.

Being that we must time our votes to overcome the machine's clocks it seems that early voting might just punch that ticket.

[snot]

7. Thanks everyone -- this is just what I needed! nt

[gracie76]

8. current recommendations re- voting

Do not vote early; get yourself an absentee ballot (that way you will know if they have fiddled with the list of voters -- such as, your name is John Jones, but it's John Herbert Jones on your driver's license, or on your social security card...and so they can/could deny you the right to vote, or they could have purged your name from the rolls (all sorts of fun and games are possible)..so, if you get the ballot mailed to you from your county registrar of voters (of whatever authority handles this), then we assume that they have checked and know that you are a valid registered voter. So, you're over hurdle number one. Next, do NOT mail the ballot in, unless you are going to be out of town on election day or in any way find it impossible to go to the polling place (you can have someone else bring your absentee ballot it, but you must note that option on the outside of the absentee ballot envelope) Bring your absentee ballot in to the polling place (any polling place in your county - at least that's the law in California) and put it in the receptacle marked for Absentee Ballots, while - at the same time announcing that you are doing this because you don't want to vote on any of the electronic equipment available, because it is too easy to "fix" the results using that equipment. NOW....we still have the problem that exists at the central counting facility.....and when I asked who was there to observe the counting of the ballots (even if it is only running them through another bloody electronic device)...I was told that only the county employees were there during this part of the procedure. I asked if any members of the public were allowed to watch....and that elicited a lot of "ums" and "ers"....and don't know what to say. So, although I have no evidence that anything illegal, immoral (or fattening) has gone on at our local ROV office during any election.....I recommend that citizens just show up that night, or the following morning (they will probably be counting/running the ballots all night long) to watch the procedure. IF YOU SEE OR SUSPECT ANYTHING WRONG....GET TO YOUR LOCAL DEMOCRATIC OR REPUBLICAN PARTY HEADQUARTERS....AND SEE IF THEY CAN GET SOMEONE DOWN THERE. IF THERE REALLY IS SOMETHING AMISS, THE PARTY COULD OR A CANDIDATE COULD (I BELIEVE...BUT CHECK IT OUT) DEMAND A RECOUNT...by hand, one hopes. Happy voting!

[gracie76]

9. how to check on your voting status

In Sacramento county.....I just went to the voter website for the county Registrar of Voters, and looked around and found a "Voter Information" area; I put in the required information -- my address (numbers only), my zip code, and my birthdate (no name)....and the system fires back the info that there is indeed a person with that birthdate, that zip code and that number for her address...and by golly, she is indeed registered to vote. Also informs me that "Our next scheduled election is November 7, 2006." Not bad, what ? Maybe this is available all over the country, I hope. Check it out and see if you are on the books. gc