near infringement of rights
Today was a day of firsts. I dropped a class, and then I voted. Or... tried to vote.
I had a fiddle lesson this evening, and got done a little before 7:30. Afterwards, I made my way over to Mark Twain Elementary, where my mom's polling place has been for a while and where she said it was on Saturday, to cast my ballot before polls closed at 8:00. I told them my name and they looked me up and lo and behold, I wasn't in their book. They looked me up in the all-of-Johnson-county book and I wasn't even in that. I showed them my driver's license that says "VOTER: Y" and they were baffled. The guy got on the phone to the Johnson County Auditor's Office and they went through all sorts of stuff. It was not just a mistake that I was left out of the printed copy of the book: they could find no record of me being a registered voter. Then there was some deal where they looked through DOT records and I wasn't even in there. Meanwhile, I was pacing around getting anxious and annoyed. They suggested I fill out a voter registration form just to make sure I was registered for the actual (non-primary, but by no means secondary) voting day and so I did. It was then that they looked at my address on my license and told me that the polling place had changed this year, and that I was actually supposed to be at Goodwill across the highway. I very hastily said Thank-you, grabbed my license, and ran out to the car.
Around 7:54 I sped out of the Mark Twain parking lot and got to Goodwill in about five minutes. I couldn't figure out the confusing parking lots so I parked in KMart's lot and sprinted to Goodwill -- and freaked out because I couldn't find the front door. At last, right around 8:00, I made it inside and hastily explained the situation. They gathered stuff for a provisionary ballot, I filled out another voter registration form and the little thing on the provisinary envelope about why I thought I should be able to vote. Then I went over to a booth, filled in my two favorite arrows, and sealed the ballot in the envelope for them to count at noon tomorrow. They said that I should go explain my case at the Auditor's Office before noon tomorrow. They also said it was probably going to be closed for tonight, but I drove by on my way back just to be sure, and it looked maybe open, so I stopped and went in. As I was walking up to the desk, I saw Kirsten's mom, which was exciting. I guess she must work there? I explained what was going on and was quickly met by about three people who had been on the trail of my missing voter registration and had come up empty and confused. They looked at my driver's license and said that probably my provisional vote would be deemed good and I would be granted real registration, assuming that I did everything by the right procedure, which I'm pretty sure I did. They also said that they have seen things like this happen before, where people registered at the DOT just never showed up in voter registration records. Seriously though, I am SO MAD at the DOT or whoever screwed that up. I was almost denied my right to vote, which I should have been allowed by all that I had anything to do with. Somebody's clerical error nearly screwed up my public voice.
And then, on the way out of the Johnson County Administration Building, I managed to be the biggest klutz in the world. I pushed on the wrong side of the door but I was moving so fast that I ran into it, hard. Then, because of my forward momentum, I rolled over onto the side of the door you're actually supposed to push and it opened. This caught me by surprise because I by this point I wasn't expecting the door to open for me anymore. I fell through the opened door and just barely managed to catch myself on the outside door. (It was one of those two-doors-in-a-row entryway thingies.) Unfortunately for me, the part of the outside door I caught myself on was the part you're supposed to push on to open it. It opened and I fell through and landed on my face. Then the door slammed on my legs. I'm glad nobody saw.
But seriously, I'm a lot more content now that I don't have to deal with that class. I was way overbooked.
I had a fiddle lesson this evening, and got done a little before 7:30. Afterwards, I made my way over to Mark Twain Elementary, where my mom's polling place has been for a while and where she said it was on Saturday, to cast my ballot before polls closed at 8:00. I told them my name and they looked me up and lo and behold, I wasn't in their book. They looked me up in the all-of-Johnson-county book and I wasn't even in that. I showed them my driver's license that says "VOTER: Y" and they were baffled. The guy got on the phone to the Johnson County Auditor's Office and they went through all sorts of stuff. It was not just a mistake that I was left out of the printed copy of the book: they could find no record of me being a registered voter. Then there was some deal where they looked through DOT records and I wasn't even in there. Meanwhile, I was pacing around getting anxious and annoyed. They suggested I fill out a voter registration form just to make sure I was registered for the actual (non-primary, but by no means secondary) voting day and so I did. It was then that they looked at my address on my license and told me that the polling place had changed this year, and that I was actually supposed to be at Goodwill across the highway. I very hastily said Thank-you, grabbed my license, and ran out to the car.
Around 7:54 I sped out of the Mark Twain parking lot and got to Goodwill in about five minutes. I couldn't figure out the confusing parking lots so I parked in KMart's lot and sprinted to Goodwill -- and freaked out because I couldn't find the front door. At last, right around 8:00, I made it inside and hastily explained the situation. They gathered stuff for a provisionary ballot, I filled out another voter registration form and the little thing on the provisinary envelope about why I thought I should be able to vote. Then I went over to a booth, filled in my two favorite arrows, and sealed the ballot in the envelope for them to count at noon tomorrow. They said that I should go explain my case at the Auditor's Office before noon tomorrow. They also said it was probably going to be closed for tonight, but I drove by on my way back just to be sure, and it looked maybe open, so I stopped and went in. As I was walking up to the desk, I saw Kirsten's mom, which was exciting. I guess she must work there? I explained what was going on and was quickly met by about three people who had been on the trail of my missing voter registration and had come up empty and confused. They looked at my driver's license and said that probably my provisional vote would be deemed good and I would be granted real registration, assuming that I did everything by the right procedure, which I'm pretty sure I did. They also said that they have seen things like this happen before, where people registered at the DOT just never showed up in voter registration records. Seriously though, I am SO MAD at the DOT or whoever screwed that up. I was almost denied my right to vote, which I should have been allowed by all that I had anything to do with. Somebody's clerical error nearly screwed up my public voice.
And then, on the way out of the Johnson County Administration Building, I managed to be the biggest klutz in the world. I pushed on the wrong side of the door but I was moving so fast that I ran into it, hard. Then, because of my forward momentum, I rolled over onto the side of the door you're actually supposed to push and it opened. This caught me by surprise because I by this point I wasn't expecting the door to open for me anymore. I fell through the opened door and just barely managed to catch myself on the outside door. (It was one of those two-doors-in-a-row entryway thingies.) Unfortunately for me, the part of the outside door I caught myself on was the part you're supposed to push on to open it. It opened and I fell through and landed on my face. Then the door slammed on my legs. I'm glad nobody saw.
But seriously, I'm a lot more content now that I don't have to deal with that class. I was way overbooked.