URGENT---Check Your Early & Absentee Ballots Online NOW: Do NOT Yield to Voter Suppression! [View all]

[PandoraAwakened]

Last edited Tue Nov 6, 2018, 10:40 AM - Edit history (4)

From the desk of: The American M.O.B. (Majority Opinion Blowback)

"My American M.O.B. over the GOP's Russian Mob any day, any time...Let's roll!"



URGENT ACTION NECESSARY: Check online to make sure your Early Ballot was not only received, but COUNTED!!!


"Exact-match signature" is in play in Arizona, as I'm sure it is in many other states. This past Friday, I had planned to knock on more doors, but found myself face-to-face with the proverbial "one in the hand is worth three in the bush" situation: Instead of canvassing, I ended up driving all the way up to NAU to bring my son's college friend back to where he is a registered voter because his straight-Dem vote was at risk of being suppressed.

The problem was that his mailed Early Ballot was going to be rejected because he had completed his voter registration using his full middle name, whereas he signed the green return envelope containing his ballot with his middle initial! Plus, his signature didn't look "exactly" like how he signed his driver's license, which, funny enough, is signed using just his middle initial! He found out about it after checking the status of his ballot on the Secretary of State's online site, which I had told my own son to do, who, in turn, had told his friends.

This young man is an 18-year-old, first-time voter who had no idea what to do when he discovered that his vote wasn't going to count. His own Rethuglican parents have turned their backs on him because he's gay. When he called his mother about it, she said, "Well, maybe this is God telling you that 'your kind' shouldn't be voting." Ughhh!!!!

This is a straight-A student on a 4-year college scholarship who also works part-time because even scholarships don't cover all necessities. While he does have a driver's license, he doesn't own a car and neither does anyone else in his group of friends, so he had no way of getting home to fix the problem. His parents haven't paid a damn penny toward his education and they couldn't be bothered to lift a finger to help him exercise his civic duty either. I swear, these Repugs never cease to disgust me.

My son told me that when his friend came to him on Thursday all depressed about losing out on his first chance to vote, my son said, "We gotta call my mom. She'll know what to do. She don't take no shit from anyone." Aww, bless his heart. [And yes, I did correct his language when he told me that---the word is "doesn't," not "don't," and the double-negative is a no-no. 😉]

Solution:

At the crack of dawn Friday, I made the 3-hour drive up to the mountains, picked them both up (thankfully, neither have Friday classes, although my son's friend did have to get off from work), drove 3 hours back to the desert, went straight to the County Recorder's Office where we got that mess straightened out, stopped for lunch, drove 3 hours back up to NAU, dropped them at their dorm, and drove 3 hours back again where I was welcomed home by hubby with a tall glass of red wine---after which I promptly fell asleep without eating dinner.


The moral of this story is:

Check your Early Ballots online RIGHT NOW! Do not count on anyone notifying you of a problem, particularly if you're a registered Dem, a first-time voter, or have a Latino surname.

Additionally, if you have a son or daughter away at college who has voted via Early or Absentee Ballot, make sure they and their friends check online TODAY to be sure their votes are going to be counted. You only have 1 more day to fix this, guys. After the election won't count.

Arizonans can check their ballots at the following Secretary of State site: https://voter.azsos.gov/VoterView/AbsenteeBallotSearch.do

VOTERS IN OTHER STATES: Check online for your Secretary of State's Office and look for a ballot status link. [If you're in Kansas, forget that; Kobach has removed the links that would normally allow you to check either "Early Ballots" or "Provisional Ballots."] Another option is to check online with your County Recorder's Office. Many use their own software separate from the Sec. of State that you can check with.

Finally, if you find others who are being marginalized with "exact match signature" suppression, do everything you can to resolve the issue by getting them to their County Recorder's Office. Also, make sure they bring with them every piece of ID they own, including voter ID card if they received one after registering and most definitely a government-issued photo ID (driver's license, passport, etc.).

It is up to everyone to do everything in their power to FIGHT THIS VOTER SUPPRESSION BULLSHIT at every turn and at every instance it rears its ugly head.

Nobody ever said stepping into Wonder Woman's shoes would be easy, but, yeah, that's just how f@*king important this election is at this critical juncture in our history. So, put on your Superman cape or rev up the Batmobile, whatever superhero mojo you need to get you through the extra mile on this one.

Tick-tock…1 day and counting.