Website Update

We hope ElectionPreparedness proved helpful to you – and to your being able to vote and have your vote counted. If you had not registered before your state's deadline or your name was not on the registration rolls, we encourage you to follow up with your local election officials to apply or re-register to vote for future elections.

More to follow….

Absentee or Early Voting in an Emergency

Submitted by Steve Kamp on Wed, 10/29/2008 - 1:43am

In most states, you must apply for an absentee (mail in) ballot in advance of the deadline, usually seven days before Election Day, but sometimes more. What happens if you suddenly become ill after the absentee ballot application deadline has passed? Or if you get suddenly called out of town on a business trip and cannot return until after Election Day?

In many states, you can request an “emergency absentee ballot” or ask to vote early at the county elections office. However, the laws in each state are different. For example, in Kentucky, you and your spouse can get an absentee ballot if you suffer a medical emergency between October 21 and November 3, but otherwise you have to demonstrate that you are absent from the county on all other days in which “absentee voting at the county clerk's office” is taking place.

  

Fight for your right to cast a ballot

Submitted by KS Unger on Thu, 10/23/2008 - 3:54pm

We ALL need to confirm our voter registration.  In fact, if you've done so already, check again since unlawful purging of names from the rolls is ongoing in many states.

Even in states where registration deadlines have expired, it's still possible that some county clerks will allow you to show identification to them before November 4 so you can vote on a regular vs. provisional ballot.

You really don't want to use a provisional ballot if you have a choice. Large numbers of provisional ballots will be thrown away. (Note that some states allow provisional voters to take further steps for a limited time after the election so their vote can be counted.) Analysis of the 2004 election showed that a third of all provisional ballots - as many as 1 million votes - were uncounted, with similar results in 2006.

Your Absentee Ballot - What you and your post office need to know!

Submitted by KS Unger on Mon, 10/20/2008 - 3:13pm

According to USPS communications available only to Postal Service employees, "Absentee balloting materials must not be detained or treated as unpaid mail." (The foregoing was dictated over the phone to me by a USPS customer service representative.)

The U.S. Postal Service should make its no-return policy public and ensure that local post offices know as well.  

So why should you care and bother to add postage to your absentee ballot before mailing it? Well, we're still going to end up paying for this postage one way or the other, starting with higher postage rates.

Avoid long lines – and longer waits - on Election Day

Submitted by KS Unger on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 2:23am

There is one thing on which there is bi-partisan – indeed, non-partisan – agreement: the voter turnout on Election Day will be of historic proportions.

Unless you are certain you can spend however long it takes (remember Ohio: up to 12 hours in the cold and rain…) for you to wait in line to vote on November 4, apply for a mail-in (absentee) ballot or vote early in person, if either option is available to you .

Polling places were overwhelmed during the primaries this year with a record 56 million voters, 23 million more than ever before. Many millions of voters have been registered since then, with an increasing and intense interest in this presidential election. Two-thirds of voters will encounter new equipment, and we can expect more instances of all-too-common flawed machinery.
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