Voting problems?
 

SIDENOTE(Heads up Winniebug and Squirrelygirl if you are still registered to vote where I live...)

I knew going in to early vote that the election commission would be extra stringent on checking ids. But, I provided my voter reg. card AND my driver's license.

I was initially turned away b/c the lady said my signatures didn't match.

On my d.l. from 2004, I signed (as I was told) my full name (first, maiden, last). When I sign my WHOLE name, I end up printing my last name. Then, Tennessee shrinks it down to fit on the card.

On my voter reg. card, I signed (as I do on everything official, unless told otherwise) my first two initials, last name, all in cursive.

She said there was NO way they were the same. I told her I don't always sign everything the same everytime. She told me, "People's signatures DO NOT change!"

Thank goodness I had signed my social security card with my whole name all in cursive and had it with me! She was going to turn me away and refuse to let me vote if I hadn't had it!

What the hell? I showed MORE than is required by law. I showed a state-issued photo-i.d. in addition to the county issued voter card...

Sorry that happened to you Tippie. I can't believe she didn't believe you especially when you showed your Driver's license which has your picture on it!!! Argh lady. She's obviously clueless, because no one can sign their name the exact same way twice--which means a signature does change.

What she did was illegal. I know my voter reg. laws... That was part of my job description in the 2000 election. She told me it was because I had registered by mail.

http://www.tennessee.gov/sos/electio...ementChart.pdf

ETA: This was not my first time voting. It was my first time voting in this particular county. Before this, I absenteed my "home" county where my family has always owned multiple homes.

People's signatures can and do change. Mine changed drastically when I got married. :p Actually, for the first few months after I was married, my signature with my new last name did evolve... it changed from being legible to being my first name, last initial, and something that looks like an ECG of a patient with a serious arrhythmia. :p

If you sign your name in one place using your initials and in another place spelling out your full name, you're still the same person and you still signed both documents.

I'm glad you were able to vote in the end.

Tippie, your post was scary. I have worked as an election judge in almost every election for the past 7 years-local/primary/or presidential. I am now an equipment manager.

This type of challenge regarding a signiture can occur, but I think that it requires a consensus of several election judges and in Chicago it could require a call down to the central elections office to make the final decision. This decision would be made by them (not an individual judge) and then related to the potential voter. I don't believe any single election judge has the right or the power to deny a voter the right to vote based solely on a signiture. There are other ways to verify if a voter is really who they say that they are. Asking for picture id's are important at times like this.

Sorry that this happened to you. I know that I would probably have been outraged if it was me. I have seen alot of strange irregularities occur, and this falls into this category. I am so glad that you insisted and were able to vote.

Tippie,

What makes this dumbass a writing expert? Not 4.2 hours of a writing forensics class for voting... And I would be the one to tell her that to her face and act all kinds of crazy...

Some people just don't get it. This reminds me of the time I lost my wallet at the county fair. I went to the lost and found office, described my wallet and the lady at the counter said one matching that description had been turned in.

Then she asked me to present a photo ID so I could claim it.

I was like, "Uhm...yeah....my photo ID is in the wallet." She got exasperated with me and said she wasn't going to hand over a wallet unless I could confirm my identity. I asked her if a driver's license would be acceptable and she said it was. I then said, "Ok, great, here's an idea. Why don't you open the wallet and look at it?" :rolleyes:

I'm glad you were found eligible to vote after all. Good grief.

.....Kelly :)

wow, Tippie, that sucks

Maybe they knew of your foul mouth and decided you shouldn't vote.

Shut up.

Seeing stories like this makes me so happy that I vote absentee.

I voted last night before dinner and dropped the envelope in the mail this morning. I don't think I can ever see myself waiting in line at the precinct ever again! :o

I'm currently not even registered TO vote. . . I moved towns since last election mailed in my application a few weeks ago and received a voicemail i could barely understand saying something was missing and to mail it in so my registration could be complete. Instead I went to town hall today (was there for another reason) and inquired about my registration. The woman couldn't find the paper and i wasn't in the pc system. So i filled out a new card and gave her that. She then told me she cant take that card because there all ready is one they just have to find it. (I got a bit annoyed at this point)

The register of voters comes out and im like she cant find my mailed in card here is a new one and my id can i register. She said no we have to find your old card. So I said ok lets try it this way "Hi im jane and i just moved to town, how do i register to vote" She told me to can the attitude i was registered and i could leave now. And refused to give me any confirmation that im registered.

Sorry for the hijack but yea i definitely understand your frustration!!!!!

****Update****

All day, I was still thinking about what had happened. So, I decided to call and talk to the Election Commissioner for our county. She started out telling me I was simply wrong and misinformed. Then, I showed her the state website's Voter Requirement page. She then admitted that was what the state used to do and then told me the STATE had told her to do something different. She brushed me off and said she'd double check with the state.

I told her I would also double-check with the State Election Commission.

Turns out, they were VERY surprised to hear her story. They said in no uncertain circumstances that I was correct. And, what she had been telling people was WRONG. She was told to retrain her staff correctly and hand them a printout of the link I provided above.

It is pretty bad when I know the State election laws better than the freakin' County Election Commissioner.

Sad part is, yesterday, 2200 voted. And, by the time the mess was fixed today, half the day was gone... So, more people were given a hard time. At least a few were either denied voting or given a provisional ballot. There's no way to tell. But, there were some people who had been pressed like me for additional proof of identity over and above what the state mandates.

Between the yahoos you dealt with and ACORN, this election may not be decided for a LONG time. This has to be a record for the amount of voter fraud. In your case, it was the people who tried to keep you from voting, in other cases, it's a 7-year-old child being registered, or one person being registered 27 times, or, or, or.

I dread the next few months.

What county are you in? (PM if you prefer) I always like to go vote on actual Election Day - just gives me a little extra satisfaction for some reason. Plus I just don't trust that early votes are counted - don't have ANY evidence for that, just a feeling. ha!

Our precincts are always manned by 500-year-old people who (1) treat me like a toddler who can't read the letters on the tables to know which line to get in; and then (2) treat me like a criminal as they review every last letter on my license, voter registration card, etc. I have to get "checked" by at least 4 people before punching the buttons.

I also recently had my wallet stolen and have all new stuff. I'm waiting for drama on that as well.

I had John McCain send me three absentee ballot requests that would all go back to a village other than the one I live in. No thanks, John, I'll get my own. To me, this is a much bigger problem than ACORN.

For those of you who live in a swing state: There will be attorneys and law students at the polls to prevent yahoos like this from denying you your right to vote.

One of the swingiest of the swingers, actually.

Why else would CNN bother?

Ohio scares me all day, every day. Those buckeye fans are freakin' NUTS!

I live in Tennessee as well, and was able to vote on today. Thankfully, I didn't have any problems at all and didn't have to wait in a line. Shoot...she didn't even ask for my id...she just took my my voter's registration card and gave me my paper to sign and so forth. The lady told me I came in at the right time because there had been lines out of the door all day. LOL...everyone in there was old but they were really nice and seemed to be in a good mood;).

I don't really get why some states do early voting. What's the point of having an election day? I understand absentee ballots, but not early voting.

I never understood why they don't ask for an ID. It's the same in my state. We don't even show a voter registration card. We just give our name and sign.

Some people like to avoid long lines that may lead to you not being able to vote. For others, you don't have to worry about taking the day off from work or trying to figure out when you will be able to leave work to go vote---sure you can go on your lunch hour but there is no certainty that you may be able to get through the line in an hour and back to work. I think it is good we have these early voting options to ensure that all those who are able and eligible to vote can do so... just my opinion though...

It is weird. This is the second time that I have not had to to show my id but I have always had to show my voter registration card at least. I wonder was it because it was not busy during this time...I don't know...just speculating...

Concur with all these valid reasons.

In addition, there are those of us who are pregnant with due dates very near election day. I will be voting early this coming Monday to ensure that I do get to cast a vote. I am actually a little disapointed, as I do like the excitement of voting with the masses, but for obvious reasons I do not want to take a chance this year.

Just seems like that's what Absentee ballots would be for. If it gets more people voting, I guess it's a good thing. It just seems expensive to have to have poll workers for weeks and weeks. I presume you go to city hall for early voting?

The old-timers at my election hall essentially try to steer people to the Democrat voting booth. It's kind of funny, in a way...

AGDee - I early voted today. The hope is to reduce long lines on election day, and yes, I went to the county courthouse rather than my precinct to vote. My state has already had over 1/2 million voters cast ballots through early voting.

My understanding [and I could be VERY wrong] is that absentee ballots are only counted IF there is a reason to count them - this way I know that my vote counted. I also don't have to drive way out of my way to go vote - I pass the courthouse just about every day. I live at the very edge of my precinct, so the drive would be about 15 miles.. not that that is an excuse - just something that crossed my mind as to why I would want to early vote.

And it seemed to me that the people working the polls [maybe that is poll? there is only one place to do early voting as opposed to multiple places] were people who would be working anyway - folks had official county nametags on, and I got shushed by someone who was working because I was quietly [at least I thought I was quiet] talking to my children about the voting process as I voted.

I have my "I voted" sticker in the car - will wear it on election day :)

It varies depending on where you are. In my county (in TN), there are about 6 or so early voting locations, so you are able to go somewhere near your home or wherever you are.

You don't have to show ID. That's what pissed me off so badly. ALL I legally had to do was show her my voter reg. card.

There are three main options in the link towards the beginning of the thread.

I think that early voting was a way to offer absentee voting for people without their having to meet any absentee requirements. It is pretty much filling the same niche as people voting absentee who didn't really need to do so.

You do in Georgia, but it's a relatively new requirement and it took several court cases to make sure the requirement stuck.

ETA: you apparently do in Indiana too: http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/pri...9/voterid.html

We also have to show picture ID when we vote. The first election that this was true for was our fake primary. If you don't have picture ID with you, you can sign an affidavit that you are, indeed, you. Prior to that, we just filled out a sheet with our name, address and birth date and signed it and they crossed your name out in the big book of names for that voting precinct. I imagine if someone showed up later in the day saying they were the same person, there could be a challenge then.

ETA: Our department chair always tells us to make sure we vote, even if it means we'll be late in the morning or have to leave early. I don't know anybody who works close enough to their polling place to vote at lunch time. Most of us commute 15+ miles to work every day.

My principal recently encouraged us to go vote early and told us if we needed to leave after the last class but before the official leave time, it was fine. (The principal doesn't care that we vote early but just wants to make it easy.)

Our school is a polling place, and this discussion was in the context of it being crazy for parking on election day.

This is all so interesting to me! In Oregon, we all vote by mail so the idea of a polling place and id seems weird!
Multnomah County (basically the one Portland is in) has this one the website:

• What is Vote By Mail?
  In 1998 voters passed a ballot measure directing all elections to be conducted by mail, commonly called Vote By Mail. Instead of using traditional polling places where voters go to cast ballots on election day, a ballot is mailed to each registered voter. The ballot is then returned to the county elections office and is counted on election day.
• With Vote By Mail, how do I vote?
  You must be registered to vote to receive a ballot. (Please see FAQ for more information.) A ballot will automatically be sent to all registered voters who are eligible to vote in the election 18 to 14 days prior to the election. Once you vote your ballot, just place it in the secrecy envelope, seal it and place it in the return envelope. Make sure to sign the return envelope after verifying your name and current residence address is correct. Then place a first-class stamp on the return envelope and mail it back. Remember that all ballots must be received at the elections office by 8:00 p.m. on election day. Postmarks do not count.

We do a lot of things different in Oregon though.