Californians- Voter problems - DONT LET IT SLIDE. Get it on record

[shance]

It is important to make public any and all problems, confusion, and/or irregularities to get them on (public)record.

Who to call: your local Democratic office, call the Secretary of States office in Sacramento, your state representative, and CALL YOUR LOCAL PAPER.

Or call the radio station, most importantly, just get it out there and spread the word.

If anyone else knows where people should call, like non-profits that are working with the public on voter concerns, let us know.

The more problems they receive, the more we can gage a scope of what is happening around the state and ultimately what we can do about it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Call the local ACLU as well

they are the ones getting the legal side of this

[nannygoat]

2. Another DUer posted info about a website where you can post

problems:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=487541

[shance]

4. Thanks for the info.

n/t

[Baconfoot]

3. Yeah I had this problem:

I'm going to post this question elsewhere and I don't anticipate any of you'd be in a position to provide an answer but:

I changed addresses in September and reregistered to vote at the DMV well before the deadline (9/12/2003). I received my sample ballot in the mail. This morning, I showed up at the polls and attempted to vote. I was informed that my name was not on the rolls and I would have to fill out a provisional ballot. This situation may turn out to have been a common situation as there wasn't enough time to adequately prepare for this election and many people move into California and from place to place in California each year.

On the provisional ballot envelope were boxes marked something like "registered and did not move but was not found on the rolls" and "moved and did not register". THere was NO box marked "moved and registered but was not found on the rolls." My envelope was checked for "did not register" and I was required to provide two forms of proof of where I reside. (As one of my proofs, since you could use mail addressed to yourself, I used the sample ballot which had been mailed to me.) Now it is my understanding that these provisional ballots will not be counted until the eligibility of the voter in question is verified. My question is: Do you think this will skew the exit polls and perhaps the final results? My guess is that a disproportional number of NO on the recall votes will be sealed in those provisional ballot envelopes.
These votes will eventually be counted, but my worry is that in the meantime reports as to the current status of the election might be off.

There were PLENTY of provisional ballot people, surprised to find their names not on the rolls at my polling place. In my opinion, far too many.

[shance]

5. Please call the ACLU and California Democratic party with that information

They need to know and need to have it on record.

[Renew Deal]

6. I have read about a lot of this today.

WTF is going on in this country. We handle elections like 3rd world wanna be. :wtf:

[KFC]

7. Shouldn't skew the results

There is no reason to believe that a disproportionate number of NO recall votes will be on provisional ballots.

And, like you said, the votes will be counted anyway, so the provisional vote issue is no big deal. In fact, my newspaper pointed out that provisional votes are a convenient way to vote in any polling place in the state. No excuse for not finding your polling place.