When someone close to you resigns themselves to not voting, it makes you angry. Very angry. Here's the story of my disenfranchised friend.
One of my best friends, I'll call her Marcy, is from New Jersey. She recently moved to Seattle to work for Americorps, but planned to vote absentee in New Jersey. She uses her sister and brother-in-law's residence as her permanent address, since she was living with them before she moved.
In September of 2007, Marcy's sister and brother-in-law moved. At that time, both she and her husband submitted change of address forms. In August of this year, Marcy had her brother-in-law mail her change of address form. In mid-September, Marcy requested an absentee ballot but never received it. She called the county board of elections, who said they had no record of her voter registration, but she has voted at least four times as a New Jersey resident before.
Her sister and brother-in-law's registrations have also mysteriously disappeared from the rolls, even though they submitted change of address forms over a YEAR ago.
What kind of shenanigans have your loved ones been party to? And is there anything they can do to raise a ruckus? I've advised my friend to call the DNC's voter suppression hotline, but it looks like none of these three Democrats will be voting in this election, and that makes my blood boil.