(thought this was important enough to warrant a diary...looks like it might get lost in "comments" on KOS' entry)
I'm working in an Elections Office this Election...and I can tell you, without going into detail that could get me in trouble, that there are a wide variety of simple, basic reasons to get people booted off the rosters, too.
Might I make a few suggestions to make your voting registration a bit more "trouble free"
1. WRITE LEGIBLY. Don't assume someone can read your scrawl. Take some time and write out your information keeping in mind that someone on the other end has to try to decipher.
2. READ THE INSTRUCTIONS. When the form says the Registrars Office needs information, and provides space to fill in same, FILL IN THE FREAKING BLANKS.
3. IF YOU KNOW IN ADVANCE THAT YOU WILL BE OUT OF TOWN ON ELECTION DAY AND WANT TO REGISTER TO BE AN ABSENTEE VOTER: a) don't wait until the last day or the day after the last day to register to decide that fact. b) make sure you're registered to begin with c) don't think that your spouse can fill out the form and sign it for you. d) don't assume that faxes and fed-ex deliver on time. e) make note of #1 and #2 above.
4. IF YOU MOVE - RE-REGISTER
5. IF YOU CHANGE YOUR NAME - RE-REGISTER
6. IF YOU CHANGE YOUR PARTY AFFILICATION - RE-REGISTER
7. IF YOU CHANGE YOUR MAILING ADDRESS - Re-Register or contact the Elections office PRIOR to when voting peripherals are mailed out. If something is returned UNDELIVERABLE chances are, you will be booted from the list.
8. DON'T "BORROW" SOMEONE ELSES MAIL FROM ELECTIONS OFFICES to send in for yourself. Pick up the freaking phone or pen and get your own. If it looks like someone is usurping someone elses stuff, more than likely both will be booted.
9. DON'T TRY TO REGISTER RELATIVES WHO HAVE NEVER LIVED IN THE U.S.
10. IF YOU'VE CHANGED YOUR SIGNATURE - Contact the elections office and make sure they have your "new" and hopefully improved "John Hancock"
11. DON'T DECIDE YOU'LL GO BY YOUR MIDDLE NAME INSTEAD OF YOUR FIRST right before any election. Pick a better time to get "artistic" with your sobriquet.
12. IF YOU'VE REGISTERED AS A PERMANENT ABSENTEE VOTER, could you please remember that fact instead of sending in double, triple OR EVEN QUADRUPLE copies of requests.
13. KNOW WHICH FREAKING COUNTY YOU LIVE IN. Don't try to register in one county when you live in another. Oh, yeah....REMEMBER WHICH STATE YOU LIVE IN TOO.
14. REMEMBER THAT P.O.BOXES ARE NOT RESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES.
15. WHEN THE FORM ASKS FOR A STAMP, put one on or better yet, drop off your form.
16. KNOW WHICH VOTING DISTRICT YOU LIVE IN, sometimes you just can't vote for the Representative that you really want to vote for, because they're not running in your district. Yelling at the Elections folks behind the counter won't change that fact.
17. IF YOU ARE DOING A REGISTRATION DRIVE, get some training from the Elections staff on how to fill out the form before you go and give wrong advise, and, remember to turn the forms in on time.
18. CONSIDER YOUR VOTER REGISTRATION FORM A LEGAL DOCUMENT and SIGN AND DATE IT before you turn it in.
19. DON'T TRY TO REGISTER AS SEVERAL OTHER PEOPLE.
20. Be thankful that there are hard working, truly dedicated people trying all year to make an election happen. It doesn't happen overnight. It often takes HOURS trying to read and input a single registration when there are problems that could have been easily prevented. It takes weeks of preparation and training of people to man the polls, to answer the phones, to deal with the press, to deal with the various campaigns and the sycophants that often accompany same. It takes months trying to get places to even host the polling stations. And, yes, it does cost money.
Sorry for "YELLING" but I am completely shocked at how lazy, and well, quite frankly, idiotic, some of our citizens are...on ALL sides of the aisle.
I also have a huge "problem children" file to work on bright and early tomorrow morning that I am not really looking forward to.
Sometimes it's just not Diebold. It's pure lack of attention or interest on the part of voters.