Thursday, October 23, 2014

Election Day





















Changing California voter registration from one county to another...

The answer how to do this, is to just re-register once you've moved, and here is one site for that:
http://registertovote.ca.gov/
and avoid the rigmarole I went through in the lengthy tale below!!

quote

Voters who have moved within their county without re-registering to vote. The voter's name is not on the polling place roster because they moved within the county but did not re-register to vote. This also happens when a voter updates their driver's license with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) but the DMV's computer system doesn't update the voter's registration information, as it is required to do by law. In either instance, the voter is entitled to vote a provisional ballot at the polling place based on their current address. The elections official is required to count the ballot if the voter's signature on the provisional ballot envelope matches the signature on the voter's prior registration form. The elections official is then required to re-register the voter at their new address for all future elections. (Elections Code sections 14310, 14311, 15350, 15100 et seq.)

unquote























Morning started out routine enough (Morning starts for me like after Noon!), showered shaved brushed the teeth, and was sitting on the back porch step, contemplating the Backyard after tying my hiking boots...and Brown Squirrel showed up...got the long lens, but Squirrel gone...took a seat in the yard awhile, maybe Squirrel would re-appear...took Sparrow pic...and sighted Hawk, Donut Pond's Cooper's Hawk, I'd say...high up faraway pics...something for the blog, I thought, seeing how I'd be about the day interior wall painting, again, and no rollabout...I really don't like house painting...anyway, before picking up the paint roller, I thought to call up and find out why I haven't got any voter info in the mail for the upcoming election...I suspected something happened in the change of address from Mariposa County to Orange County...and I thought this had been taken care of when I did my change of address send in forms at the Post Office in the Valley...but no, I was told over the phone by Orange County...no record of me...'that can't be!' I protested, 'after all, I should be on a State list'...'we don't have that list, just our County's' the response...'let me talk to supervisor'...same response...and I learn that the 20th has passed, and I can't register (in time for 11/4 election)...'but I am registered!' I kept saying...'we have no record' they kept saying...'I can't vote Nov. 4?'...'you're not registered, we have no record'...a co-worker at Last Chance, from the Deep South, once said on review of a dust up with the boss, 'they were making me hot!' with a for me treasured memory of the intonation on the word 'hot'...I was getting hot...and layed out that I was a US Citizen, and have the right to vote...'we have no record'...I left off, and thought a bit, and then called the California Secretary of State number...'we have no record'...nearly an identical conversation!...'I'm a US Citizen, and I hope to hell this conversation is recorded'...'you can fill out a complaint form...we have no record of your changing counties'...I left off, and thought..and called Mariposa County...'we removed you from the rolls when you moved'...repeatedly to all I tried to explain the cards I filled out when I changed address...'so you know I moved, didn't you inform Orange County?'...'we don't do that'...'isn't that supposed to happen, like the card said?'...'card specified that you must tell the new county of your move and re-register'...'that's not what it said, as I recall, but if so, it's my error....how can I correct it, how can I vote?'...'register in your county'...'I cant, it's too late for this election, why didn't you tell them?'....'it's like registering a car at dmv, it's up to you to tell dmv when you move'...'no it's not, I protested, that's apples and oranges...this is about my voting right, I'm a US Citizen, I carry that where ever I go, and the State should have a list!'...'we only have our county's records...'...'I can't vote..,I'm disappointed in all this...'...'I'm sure you are...'...and I left off for the third time, and thought...DMV...I changed my voter registration location at DMV too, I recall...so I called DMV...fifteen minute wait...'do you have record of my changing my voter registration address?'...'let me check...(this took awhile and the DMV gal went out of her way!)...yes, Feb. 2014'...'Orange County was informed?'...'yes'...this made sense, as Mariposa knew I had moved, but why Orange County didn't I hadn't fathomed yet...'thanks so much!'...'you're welcome'...left off, and called back Orange County...'we have no record'...'DMV says Feb. 2014'...'we have no record'...'let me talk to supervisor'...'I have it that DMV informed Orange County of my move in Feb. 2014'...'we have no record'...supervisor answers...'but sometimes things get lost'....now, with the talk of the Post Office notification, it always came back that I was to blame somehow, or the Post Office lost the mail, somehow, and my only recourse was to re-register in Orange County, with the implication that I'd miss this election...'you can vote with a provisional ballot in this coming election' supervisor says...so, so, now that I inform Orange County that the ball was dropped between them and DMV, and likely dropped form Orange County's hands, somehow, I am given the provisional ballot...no one previous had said anything about a provisional ballot...and there was a lot of talk back and forth about how I could vote...but at the mention of 'provisional ballot' I cooled off immediately...and so supervisor gave me polling place address, and apologized!!...remarkable...somethings to note:  the quote above, found when martialing arguments from the web...and the fact that there is a state wide list of registered voters, and why the counties didn't acknowledged this, and the Secretary of State's office, I don't know!...it should be the simplest of things to look up one's voting history and counties of residence...and once you register to vote, you carry that where ever you go, that isn't something you need to re-new when you move in Califronia, and if you have done everything you can to tell California of your move with in California, you should be re-registered in the new county...one thought I had when talking to Sacremento: 'can I go to Mariposa and vote?'...this before calling Mariposa...'no, that would be illegal, you are not living in that county'...'so you know I'm in Orange County, why haven't they registered me?'...'you can fill out a complaint form....'....and that is the crux of the matter, why didn't Orange County know I live now in Orange County?...both the Post Office notification, and the DMV, said to them as much...I cant fathom that both these sources were 'lost'...sunny clear warm...I find, that I can do like one thing a day...this is my one thing today!...and like Curly said...'just one thing...' now....I should add, the quote above is about 'in county' moves...but if one reads the DMV form it tells of between county moves...in county, between county, is a quibble...I'm a US Citizen!

1 comment:

Sally said...

Welcome to the land of bueracry (I know, I can't spell anymore)...or otherwise known as the land of the lost.