Democracy? Are you sure?
Well, I am pretty disillusioned, disappointed, hurt, and outraged. I just found that that even though I preregistered to vote three months ago and will be 18 almost a month before the election I still will not be able to vote. I called the Supervisor of Elections' office today to find out why I haven't yet received any sort of confirmation in the mail after sending in my information over three months ago. The woman I spoke with told me that my card cannot be printed until my 18th birthday, which makes sense, but then she also told me that I do not count as registered until I turn 18. I asked her, "Then what is the purpose of pre-registration?" to which she replied, "Just to get it out of the way."
This means that if your 18th birthday is not at least 29 days before the election then you can't vote. The cutoff date is October 4th. My birthday is October 9th.
I understand the point of laws that must be followed regardless to bad timing and the purpose of time tables. But being that I pre-registered over three months before the election and that I am going to be an 18 year old citizen of the United States on election day and legally forbidden to vote is absolutely absurd and immoral. That I am deprived of the most sacred of rights in this country because of some lousy technicality.
I was so upset that I called Congressman Wexler's office. I expected some sort of write off, as a lifetime of stock answers to letters and e-mails have taught me. But the woman I spoke with was on the phone with me for like 5 minutes and she was absolutely outraged and unaware of this situation. She said she is going to call the Supervisor of Election's office first thing tomorrow morning and speak to them about it and that Wexler is going to go through the roof and that he will call me tomorrow. It was really refreshing to remember that the point of legislators is to listen how the public feels and truly fight for them and represent them in places they can't represent themselves. Maybe somethings in democracy still are running right.
Hopefully I'll get a call tomorrow.
This means that if your 18th birthday is not at least 29 days before the election then you can't vote. The cutoff date is October 4th. My birthday is October 9th.
I understand the point of laws that must be followed regardless to bad timing and the purpose of time tables. But being that I pre-registered over three months before the election and that I am going to be an 18 year old citizen of the United States on election day and legally forbidden to vote is absolutely absurd and immoral. That I am deprived of the most sacred of rights in this country because of some lousy technicality.
I was so upset that I called Congressman Wexler's office. I expected some sort of write off, as a lifetime of stock answers to letters and e-mails have taught me. But the woman I spoke with was on the phone with me for like 5 minutes and she was absolutely outraged and unaware of this situation. She said she is going to call the Supervisor of Election's office first thing tomorrow morning and speak to them about it and that Wexler is going to go through the roof and that he will call me tomorrow. It was really refreshing to remember that the point of legislators is to listen how the public feels and truly fight for them and represent them in places they can't represent themselves. Maybe somethings in democracy still are running right.
Hopefully I'll get a call tomorrow.