In the USA? PLEASE VOTE
00:00, 7 November 2006
.. Posted in Personal.. Link
Americans: Please vote today. There is nothing more patriotic than voting. A bumper sticker on your car or flying a flag is NOTHING -- voting is EVERYTHING. Also:
- Go to the right polling station. Independent Web sites such as http://canivote.org/ have state-by-state interactives linking a voter's address and polling site.
- Bring more than one kind of identification. Some polling workers, mistakenly, will require this. If you don't have a driver's license or passport, bringing recent utility bills showing your name and address, as well as a voter registration card, may help streamline ID questions.
- If you're using a touch-screen machine, make sure you take extra time to thoroughly review your choices. Once you press that 'cast ballot' button, your vote is FINAL, so make sure it's correct! If you need help, ask for it. INSIST ON IT.
- If your name does not appear on the polling site's registration list, or there are other questions about the validity of your registration, you have the right to cast a so-called provisional ballot. To cast a provisional ballot, you must fill out a form at the polling site, listing your name, address and party affiliation. Your sealed ballot is placed inside the form. If officials find you are indeed registered to vote, your sealed ballot goes into the voting box. DON'T LEAVE UNTIL YOU ARE ALLOWED TO FILL OUT A PROVISIONAL BALLOT if you are prevented from voting. And take the names of all poll workers for later reference.
- When in doubt, ask a poll worker, NOT one of the partisan poll watchers. If someone represents him or herself as a poll worker, make sure you confirm that is true. It's perfectly OK to ask for help. That's what poll workers are there for.
- TAKE YOUR CELL PHONE and plug in the phone numbers for local television stations and your local newspaper, as well as 1-866-OUR-VOTE. If you have any problems at all, particularly regarding not being allowed to vote, or trouble with electronic voting, call the "Our Vote" hotline, and all the local press.
- Be patient, stand in line for as long as you have to, don't give up, and take all the time you need.
