Protect My Right to Vote!

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Today is Election Day. Not only are we here to remind you to go out and vote, we are also here to remind you that voting is your right and there are safeguards in place to protect it.

I’ve already been asked a few questions already, in anticipation of today’s election…

What do I do if I requested an absentee ballot/registered to vote and haven’t received anything yet? You should go to your polling place and vote in person, and if they don’t have your name, you should vote provisionally. They have to give you a provisional ballot – they’ll verify over the next week to see what the problem is and if they count it. If you’re too far from your polling place, call your Secretary of State’s office or the hotline.

What if I have my absentee form, but I forgot to mail it? Take your absentee form to your local polling place and drop it off in person.

What if I go to vote and they don’t have my name? Vote provisionally. If you have your voter registration receipt, that is your proof of registration. And call the hotline.

Do I need to bring ID to vote? It depends on what state you live in, though as organizers we feel that asking for a voter ID is a form of disenfranchisement and are continuously battling this. But here in CA, I’m pretty sure if you are a first time voter that didn’t put down a CA DL number or SS # on your reg form, they will ask for your ID (the law changed in CA this year, slightly). If they ask for your ID, and you live in a state/situation where you don’t need an ID, call the hotline.

What if I don’t know where I’m supposed to go and vote? Simple go to the polling place locator.

I didn’t get any information from my registrar’s info on who I’m voting for. What should I do? You should still vote, at your nearest polling place. To figure out what you are voting for before you go to your polling place, go to Project Vote Smart. With a quick submit of your zipcode, they can find you all the candidates and propositions for your district. If they don’t have your name in their list, VOTE PROVISIONALLY.

It’s already 7:30 pm, and there will be this long line at the polls, and by the time I get there, I’ll be turned away… Most employers will give you two hours to go vote today, be sure to ask to see if you can get out early, or do it on your lunch break. Polls are open from 7am to 8pm. All you have to do is go stand in line before 8pm – as long as you are in line before 8 p.m. they can’t turn you away. If they try to, or if they closed your poll early, call the hotline.

If I haven’t made it clear, there are things you can do if you have voting problems today. Here in Los Angeles, the Asian American community is sending out hundreds of poll monitors to keep an eye at the polls. But if you have a problem that arises, and no trusting poll monitor is in site, there is a national hotline for you to call (if anti-phone, you can use the website VoterStory.org). I HIGHLY recommend that you scrawl this number on the back of your hand before leaving the house today.

1-866-OUR-VOTE is the only national voter assistance hotline staffed by live call center operators trained to provide state specific assistance to all voters. Lawyers, poll monitors and additional volunteers will be mobilized in 16 key states across the nation to assist voters in the days leading up to the election and on Election Day. Led by People For the American Way Foundation, the NAACP, and the Lawyers’ Committee For Civil Rights Under Law, Election Protection (EP) has operated in every election cycle since 2001, and is the nation’s most far-reaching nonpartisan effort to provide voter assistance and protect voter rights.

National call centers will be located in Washington, New York, Baltimore, and San Francisco. Local call centers will be hosted in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Minnesota. [link]

What are some forms of violation of voter rights? I swiped the examples below off of the Election Protection 365 website, but there are a whole list of violations in different states already listed on the site as well as hourly updates coming through today.

Intimidation and Suppression

In New York, GOP lawyers filed last-minute challenges to nearly 6,000 registered voters on Friday, raising the specter of police visits to voters’ homes in a race critical to control of the state Senate. [But for intimidation and suppression could also mean any form of bullying or intimidation at your polling site.]

Machine and Technology Problems

In California, officials have learned that the state’s most widely used electronic voting machines feature a button in back that can allow someone to vote multiple times.

ID Requirements

In Ohio, poverty and labor groups scored a partial victory with a federal court settlement that clarifies and expands Ohio’s new voter identification standards for Election Day, and suspends ID requirements altogether for absentee ballots. [This is the issue that Subodh Chandra stood in candlelit vigil for last night out in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.] [link]

In short, my take away is this: GO VOTE. Remember, you have the right to a provisional ballot, and provisional votes ARE counted. If you have ANY problems, call 1-866-OUR-VOTE and they will have a lawyer speak to you ASAP. Happy Election Day!

This entry was posted in Politics by Taz. Bookmark the permalink.

About Taz

Taz is an activist, organizer and writer based in California. She is the founder of South Asian American Voting Youth (SAAVY), curates MutinousMindState.tumblr.com and blogs at TazzyStar.blogspot.com. Follow her at twitter.com/tazzystar

34 thoughts on “Protect My Right to Vote!”

  1. If I might add to Taz’s list, the Washington Post reported a couple days ago that both the dems and repubs in maryland might be resorting to shady tactics to challenge voter elligibility.

  2. Sri,

    I just read about that on the Election 365 site! The stories are there in those links.

    If it wasn’t clear, if you have an election day story, or a question you want to ask here in the comments, please do so! I’ll do my best to help, or get you the resources!

  4. Do I need to bring ID to vote? It depends on what state you live in, though as organizers we feel that asking for a voter ID is a form of disenfranchisement and are continuously battling this

    How is asking for a voter ID constitute disenfranchisement? It’s the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. By simply trying to verify you are who you claim to be when you vote is ardly disenfranchisement. It’s the most ridiculous thing I ever heard.

  5. Voted first thing in the morning today right when polls opened. The electronic machines were having technical difficulties, though, they were ready with backup paper ballots.

    By the time I was done filling out my ballot, the machines were up and running. Hopefully they stay that way. The ladies at the retirement home down the street where the polling station was were very nice and quite frustrated with the electronic machines. A tech guy showed up and worked through the issues.

    Make sure you put your sticker on, too.

  6. Oh Niraj,

    For so many reasons – But below is a snippet of the press release that chandra sent out on his work on the voter ID issue in Ohio.

    I am writing to share the results of those court battles and to invite you to a candlelight vigil to celebrate the victories and express our collective resolve to fulfill our right and responsibility to vote. Most importantly, I am writing to share what you and your friends now need to know before voting and to ensure that others’ right to vote is protected. We won back the right to vote for those that the State of Ohio’s General Assembly, Governor, and Secretary of State disenfranchised. Pamela Denton, now a Clevelander, grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. She is a graduate of Spelman College. Her cousin was one of the four girls killed in the 1963 bombing of the Birmingham church during the Civil Rights Movement. Pamela felt the blast that killed her cousin. Voting is important to her. She has voted almost every election year since she turned 18. For her it is a critical part of carrying on her parents’ and Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy. Ms. Denton is now homeless. When the General Assembly and the Governor this year enacted a new law requiring certain forms of identification for voting—belying America ‘s promise that rich or poor, we are all equal under the law—they left Pamela Denton and thousands like her out. She has none of the forms of identification listed in the statutes, like an unexpired driver’s license, a utility bill, or a bank statement. She has only her social-security number. And so, she would not have been able to vote on Election Day. Now she will be able to because a federal court ordered it after 13 hours of negotiations. Ms. Denton sat in stoic vigil throughout, ready to testify. Her refusal to be disenfranchised should inspire us all to not take our own right to vote for granted. Indeed, it should inspire all of us to view voting not just as a right but a solemn responsibility. The consent order that the plaintiffs (the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless and Service Employees International Union Local 1199) received against Secretary of State Blackwell won back the right to vote not only for Pamela and other poor people, but for countless others—including college students and the elderly. Now, under the consent order, and long as voters have the last four digits of their social-security number, they will at least be able to vote provisionally.

  7. thanks taz:

    i think this is a good time to mention ACORN. groups like this a constantly disenfrnchising us by diluting our vote.

  8. I just voted in NYC – there was no line and it was very quick and easy. This is the first time I’ve ever voted in my life – very cool, actually.

  9. shripriya… congratulations – and saw your blog – tres kule… but … i swear – that voting machine looks a bit intimidating… it looks like a telephone switchboard from another era.. and that big RED lever..!! wow! is this the norm across the US?

  10. Just cast my ballot here in Ohio, and had the lovely opportunity to be initially denied a ballot because the poll worker was mistaken about what constituted “proper identification”. And this immediately after my friend had gone to the same polling location with no problem whatsoever.

  11. Just cast my ballot here in Ohio, and had the lovely opportunity to be initially denied a ballot because the poll worker was mistaken about what constituted “proper identification”. And this immediately after my friend had gone to the same polling location with no problem whatsoever.

    Shady shady. here in LA when i voted last week I didn’t even need to show an ID.

  12. Thanks for the info.

    The polling place locator link above, didn’t work particularly well for me. The polling station it listed was the one located in the county administrative building. (About 25 miles away!) I don’t think their database is fully populated. You may just want to google for your county + “board of elections”.

  13. Incidentally, I spent the morning driving senior citizens from old folks homes to polling stations for the Cardin campaign. They have pretty good transport operation going so if you know of anyone who is not too mobile, tell them to contact the cardin campaign HQ. And if you want to volunteer and end up doing so, don’t be offended when the old affluent retiree women start flirting with you. Though it feels odd, I think they just get a kick out of it.

  15. Voted in South Carolina (suburban Columbia) today.

    I had forgotten to change my address since I moved (which also entailed a precinct change), so I wasn’t on the rolls when I showed up this afternoon at the “new” precinct.

    While I could have made a ruckus out of it, the polling volunteer who couldn’t find my name asked me if I had a green card. I politely said, being in the polite South, “no, ma’am, I was born in the U.S.”.

    I don’t know what’s funnier (I tried to keep it funny rather than infuriating), the fact that I was “assumed” to have a green card (not too many browns in suburban Richland County, despite a very pro-Indian Republican congressman (Joe Wilson)), or the fact that um, I CAN’T VOTE if I have a green card.

    Anyways, this macaca thankfully just had to go down to the County administration building, get an address change, and vote with the booths provided there.

    Also, I do think electronic machines need to generate a paper trail or receipt. I’m not into Diebold conspiracy theories, but we need a way to physically audit well-designed paper documentation of voting (hanging chads don’t mean we have to go to all-pixels).

  16. I don’t know what’s funnier (I tried to keep it funny rather than infuriating), the fact that I was “assumed” to have a green card (not too many browns in suburban Richland County, despite a very pro-Indian Republican congressman (Joe Wilson)), or the fact that um, I CAN’T VOTE if I have a green card.

    I was just waiting for someone to post a comment like this. You should have started speaking in a heavy Indian accent at that point.

    “No ma’am. I am being born in the U.S.”

    How many white people get asked if they have a greencard?

  17. I voted in urban NJ – with a lot of other brownz on line, so if anyone made trouble we could have torn the place up. One suggestion: Though I knew which candidates I wanted to vote on for the major elections, there are a few “propositions” for state constitutional amendments on the ballot which I knew nothing about, so I didn’t vote on them. Check those before you go!

  18. While I could have made a ruckus out of it, the polling volunteer who couldn’t find my name asked me if I had a green card. I politely said, being in the polite South, “no, ma’am, I was born in the U.S.”.

    After which, you stretched your arms out, made a swishing sound, and starting doing the running airplane thing they do in futbol! Damn those desiplanegeeks.

    Did you have a Cubs jersey on? That may have helped. Or they may have though you immigrated from Chicago. “Do you have a visa?”. “No, ma’am, I was born in the U.S. Chicago is a part of it, Ma’am.”

    Also, I do think electronic machines need to generate a paper trail or receipt. I’m not into Diebold conspiracy theories, but we need a way to physically audit well-designed paper documentation of voting (hanging chads don’t mean we have to go to all-pixels).

    Agreed 100%. Anything and everything with Government paperwork needs a verifiable audit trail.

  19. And if you want to volunteer and end up doing so, don’t be offended when the old affluent retiree women start flirting with you. Though it feels odd, I think they just get a kick out of it.

    I do the same every year and I usually get total “bitching rude” from the ladies and total “charming sweet” from the old men!

    Could someone give me a good response to the statement: “I don’t vote, it’s a waste of my time!”?

    You know other than hitting the person over the head with a hammer!

  20. “I don’t vote, it’s a waste of my time!”?

    More political power for me, less for you! – Sorry, that was a snarky response. what i do end up sayin’ is something like “every vote counts!” and ramble some statistics.

    But if you can pull it off (which I know you can), I’d get real close look them straight in the eye and and your best seductive voice say, “But voting is soooooo sexy…!” The power of female persuasion. {FYI, I’m wearing this shirt today ;-)}

  21. hairy_d, the voting machine I used was non-electronic. Once you gaze at it for a few minutes, it becomes quite clear what you need to do. I actually liked the big lever and all the little levers. Felt like I was doing something major! I don’t think it is the same all over the US – a lot of states are going electronic. Soon, we won’t have any more of these machines, which would be kinda’ sad in a way…

  22. “But voting is soooooo sexy…!”

    But usually it’s some moron who couldn’t inspire me to be sexy hehe. In that case perhaps it’s best he doesn’t vote because he won’t know his head from his ass.

    LOVE the tshirt.

  27. I’m not into Diebold conspiracy theories, but we need a way to physically audit well-designed paper documentation of voting (hanging chads don’t mean we have to go to all-pixels).

    I’m with you on this one as well, largely because I’m all about Diebold conspiracy theories.

  28. “But voting is soooooo sexy…!” The power of female persuasion. {FYI, I’m wearing this shirt today ;-)}

    When I was registering people to vote I wore a white tank that said “Virgins Wanted”. Shit works, yo – especially when you’re looking right at someone with hopeful eyes (that they’ll fill out a voter reg form).

  29. I wish I could vote…unfortunately I’m playing the citizenship application waiting game. I guess if I went to Richland County they’d let me…after all, I have a green card…

    It frustrates me when people who can vote either don’t, or do so without educating themselves first. Someone at work told me today that she automatically votes “no” on all propositions (I’m in California). I hear that when you register to vote, you’re sent a packet of information about the ballots, the propositions, arguments for and against them, etc etc etc…with that, along with various helpful websites, why would you not read up on what you’re voting for? Gah!!

  31. I’m not into Diebold conspiracy theories, but we need a way to physically audit well-designed paper documentation of voting (hanging chads don’t mean we have to go to all-pixels). I’m with you on this one as well, largely because I’m all about Diebold conspiracy theories.

    The least they can do is make the source code public, so that people can confirm that the code does what it claims to do and has no glaring vulnerabilities. If nothing else, it would cool off the conspiracy theories.

  32. 2 questions:

    1. Why do Americans use voting machines, all of which have problems and can (and apparently do) skew election results? In Australia we use pencils to mark bits of paper which are collected in ballot boxes. This seems to work fine and while there are still irregular or unacceptable ballot papers (often made by choice as a protest), vote-counting is not generally viewed as a fraught political issue.
    2. What’s with the elephant and the donkey? Where did these symbols come from? What connection do they have to anything?

  33. Real Quick, wanted to clarify the myth that if you voted provisionally your vote won’t be counted. It will- at least, they registrar’s office has a set amount of time to verify your vote. You have the right to contact your registar’s office to see what happened to your vote- just have your voter receipt from the provisional ballot. So CALL them, and keep them in check- it’s your right to have your vote counted!

    League of Women Voters Info http://ca.lwv.org/lwvc/edfund/elections/e3person.html#prov

    Sec of State Info http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/elections_provisional.htm

    Free Access system to call and check for LA County (800) 815-2666 option 3 http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/nov06_freeaccesssystem.pdf