Adventures in voting
When I first moved to NYC in 2002, my voter registration was a huge mess. I filled out a form that must've gotten smudged, because when I got my confirmation in the mail shortly before the election, it had me voting in downtown Brooklyn rather than Greenpoint. I talked to someone on the phone and went to my polling place in Greenpoint to vote by affidavit, which I was assured would be fine, and would correct my registration to boot. I did this, and then got a letter two weeks later basically saying my affidavit was processed incorrectly and my vote was not counted. It was pretty demoralizing. I had only been in the city for six weeks, so there weren't many races I felt much of a stake it, but it still sucked.
When I moved in early '07, I also changed districts, but forgot to change my registration. So I voted in the primary at my old polling place, where I was still on the books. This year, I was afraid of the same kind of paperwork snafus that screwed up my 2002 ballot, so I thought I'd keep my old registration for one more election cycle, just to be safe, and then get it changed afterward.
But when I went to my old polling place today, I wasn't on the list. I explained my situation ("recently" moved, hadn't changed registration yet, puzzled as to why I wasn't on the list because I had voted here for the past four elections) and they told me I should... vote by affidavit. Which I did, despite my reservations, in a panic about not getting to vote at all.
I admit this is an instance where an iPhone would've come in handy. I found out, via a call to Marisa afterward (who checked online), and then a call to the Board of Elections, that I was in fact registered in the correct district for my current address, not the old one, and could've just voted there. But I already cast my affidavit so that was that (I do wonder, idly, that if I went and voted properly, which I should be able to do since I should be on my right list in my district, would my affidavit just eventually get tossed out? Or would I be charged with voter fraud?).
What I don't get is how this happened! I never changed my registration! I wondered if maybe it changed when I did change-of-address via the post office, but I was still on my old district list as recently as the '08 dem primary, and that change-of-address form was processed about a year before that.
It's sort of convenient in that I now know I can vote in the right district without doing a damn thing. But I wonder how the same system that, six years ago, sent a card to my Greenpoint address telling me my polling place was near Brooklyn Heights somehow figured out my correct district independently. Apparently the system works a lot better if I don't get involved.
Anyway, go Obama! I hope this is as inevitable as it looks! The lines in Greenpoint were definitely longer than I'd ever seen, and I'm guessing it wasn't excitement over Sarah Palin that got them out there. There's a voting buzz that wasn't really present back in '04.
EDIT: More research from NY State strongly, strongly suggests that my affidavit will, in fact, be thrown out because it was cast from the wrong polling place (makes sense, really -- weird that I've heard conflicting things, but it seems pretty cut-and-dry on the site). So I went to the right polling place, where I was indeed inexplicably on the list, and voted for reals.
When I moved in early '07, I also changed districts, but forgot to change my registration. So I voted in the primary at my old polling place, where I was still on the books. This year, I was afraid of the same kind of paperwork snafus that screwed up my 2002 ballot, so I thought I'd keep my old registration for one more election cycle, just to be safe, and then get it changed afterward.
But when I went to my old polling place today, I wasn't on the list. I explained my situation ("recently" moved, hadn't changed registration yet, puzzled as to why I wasn't on the list because I had voted here for the past four elections) and they told me I should... vote by affidavit. Which I did, despite my reservations, in a panic about not getting to vote at all.
I admit this is an instance where an iPhone would've come in handy. I found out, via a call to Marisa afterward (who checked online), and then a call to the Board of Elections, that I was in fact registered in the correct district for my current address, not the old one, and could've just voted there. But I already cast my affidavit so that was that (I do wonder, idly, that if I went and voted properly, which I should be able to do since I should be on my right list in my district, would my affidavit just eventually get tossed out? Or would I be charged with voter fraud?).
What I don't get is how this happened! I never changed my registration! I wondered if maybe it changed when I did change-of-address via the post office, but I was still on my old district list as recently as the '08 dem primary, and that change-of-address form was processed about a year before that.
It's sort of convenient in that I now know I can vote in the right district without doing a damn thing. But I wonder how the same system that, six years ago, sent a card to my Greenpoint address telling me my polling place was near Brooklyn Heights somehow figured out my correct district independently. Apparently the system works a lot better if I don't get involved.
Anyway, go Obama! I hope this is as inevitable as it looks! The lines in Greenpoint were definitely longer than I'd ever seen, and I'm guessing it wasn't excitement over Sarah Palin that got them out there. There's a voting buzz that wasn't really present back in '04.
EDIT: More research from NY State strongly, strongly suggests that my affidavit will, in fact, be thrown out because it was cast from the wrong polling place (makes sense, really -- weird that I've heard conflicting things, but it seems pretty cut-and-dry on the site). So I went to the right polling place, where I was indeed inexplicably on the list, and voted for reals.