We went back to the polling place and got some numbers from the poll workers on how many provisional ballots there were. Our precinct has 792 registered voters and about 20% had already voted or about 158 people. There were about 8 provisional ballots cast already today, or about 5%.

Another precinct at the same location has 808 registered voters and about 161 voted already. They had 3 provisional ballots, about 2%.

The poll workers we talked to said that they had never seen someone removed from the roster in the five years they had worked there and now about 5% were missing.

Amy just called the Summit County Board of Elections and it turns out that her voter registration was changed to the last name of Mizak and that her address is totally different, in Stow, OH. I kid you not, this is freaky. It was changed at the DMV about the time that she got her driver's license renewed. The records at the BoE show her name and address changing about 4 to 5 times in the span of a week. How this happens is beyond me and I wonder if that's what's happening with all of the others. Why the DMV is screwing with voter registration is beyond me also, especially when it's obvious they can't do it right.

The lady at the BoE said that they would let us know when it's fixed 'soon'. When amy asked what soon meant, like tonight or tomorrow, the worker said sometime in the next two weeks.

Oh, thanks.

Update: If you find yourself in this situation, here's what we were told to do by the Voter's Rights people.

• Call the Board of Elections and see what's up. It will help if you have your registration card with you. The registration card should have a voter number that will help them look up your record incase your name magically changes.
• Write a letter to the Board of Elections, if you filled out a provisional ballot. In the letter state all the facts about how you've been voting at the same place for 4 years, and all of the poll workers know you, etc. and include photocopies of your registration card and driver's license. The photocopies are our idea, but seems like good proof that your ballot should count.
• Call or write to your party's legal team. Hell, it can't hurt.

Related posts:

1. Ohio Elections Screwup My wife and I just voted and it looks like...
2. Ohio Elections Screwup (by Amy) I am so pissed off right now! My vote my...
3. Provisional Ballot Update Just got this from my wife: I just called the...

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 2nd, 2004 at 1:20 pm by Joe and is filed under General, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.