Last Friday's mail contained a notice from my county's Board of Elections. After the s**t that's been going around the country lately, I panicked. I've lived in the same house since registering to vote in early 2003. The notice said "because of changes, we've sent you a new voter ID card." What changes??? Hmmm. The new card had the same font as the old one, all my voting districts were the same, I certainly hadn't changed my party to Red, I personally had not been eaten by a pod person: still, I was panicked. After all, Pennsylvania is just a few miles north, and that voter suppression mania might be contagious. It sure seems like it.... So I called the BoE and was obliged to leave a message -- courteous enough, but still frantic -- at 1640 hours Friday.
Spent the weekend fretting. A natural behavior for an old fart.
Results below the Fleur de Kos.
Got a personal call from a friendly lady at the BofE this morning at 0840 hours. "It's just because you renewed your driver's license last Tuesday," she offered. That's it. I dropped enough weight to need a new picture, and within 3 days they had run a check to make sure I could still vote in a few weeks (late October for early voting in Maryland), just to be safe.
Three days (maybe only two, since I couldn't read the postmark). Proactive. Automatic. A phone call returned quickly, definitively.
Ensuring that citizens can vote. Gee, what a concept!
See, Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas, et al.? It CAN be done, and it SHOULD be done. They make cheap computers that can do that sort of thing, honest!
Thank you, Maryland. You guys rock!