Letters from NYC

Provisional Ballots - the hanging chads of 2004

UPDATED 10-12-04 at 10:12pm: I have provided 8 new source links on this post to show the seriousness of the situation. In visiting a reader's site, The Cassandra Page, I also came across this link to a Powerline post that talks about a reently uncovered voter fraud scheme in Wisonsin, relating to provisional ballots.

As if the 2000 elections were not bizarre enough, and the current political condition not tense or divisive enough, along come provisional ballots. What’s that you ask, “what are provisional ballots?” Well they are nothing more and nothing less than paper “ballots [made available to] voters if they cannot be found on registration lists, are in the wrong polling place or don't have proper identification but insist they are eligible to vote. Those people will be given "provisional" ballots that will be kept separate from others until their eligibility can be confirmed.”

Now lets see, if they’re at the wrong polling place, doesn't that mean that someone will check with the correct polling place that they didn’t already vote there before counting it here? Funny, I made sure I was able to vote and check my polling place online. I also checked what documentation I will need to present in order to vote. Of course the democratic party here has also sent me voting information on my polling place. That was nice of them, don’t you think?

There are already legal challenges in “5 of the most hotly contested states in the presidential race: Florida, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri and Colorado”. It seems that the Democratic Party’s intent via their 2002 Help America Vote Act legislation, was to ensure that people were able to vote. It was this skillfully crafted piece of legislation that allowed for these provisional ballots. Here’s some facts I’m sure will find interesting:

“27 states require that votes be cast in the precinct where the voter lives…
17 states allow votes to be cast in the proper municipality, county or, in some cases, anywhere in the state.
6 states either offer Election Day registration or don't require registration… (source: USA Today)

Hey, I should check to see if I can vote several times, after all, I do have official ID in: my maiden name and my formal name which is actually 4 names: first, middle, last name hyphenated with my ex-husband’s last name (I’m in the middle of my divorce). I also have my international driver’s license which only has my middle name and my maiden name.

But wait, my work ID only has my middle name and my married name on it, and I can use my library card which has my first and last names mis-spelled. Of course, I must thank the Democratic party for all these opportunities to vote. It kind of makes up for the few times that I lived in such remote areas that I wasn’t able to get absentee ballots in time to vote. Well, here’s my opportunity to correct that by voting several times. Won’t you join me in casting legitimate votes too?

Posted by Michele at October 11, 2004 01:41 AM