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mahatmakanejeeves

(56,885 posts)
Mon Nov 12, 2018, 06:15 PM Nov 2018

"I Tweeted. Then Florida Removed Me From the Voter Rolls."

From Twitter to the voter rolls -- a wild one from new Atlantic writer @jemelehill



IDEAS

I Still Don’t Know If My Vote Will Be Counted in Florida

I went to vote in Florida—and discovered that my name had been removed from the rolls over something I’d tweeted.

NOV 6, 2018
Jemele Hill
Staff writer for The Atlantic

I had never been this paranoid about voting before. I checked my voter registration multiple times before flying to Florida for early voting. I traveled across the country to vote, rather than voting absentee. That’s how much I needed the reassurance of physically handing in my vote. Think of this paranoia as the post-traumatic stress of more than a century of blatant, consistent efforts by the right to undermine, discourage, and disenfranchise people of color. All too often, barriers have been placed in the way of our voting—or when election laws are applied, we’ve been held to a different standard. ... Unfortunately, my spidey senses turned out to be right. When I showed up at the polling site near my house, I found that I had been kicked off the registered-voter roll.

[Read: Voter suppression is a “labyrinth”]

A flurry of phone calls, and lots of head-nodding and “mmm-hmm”s from the supervisor of the polling site, failed to produce any explanation of why the system wasn’t showing me as a registered voter. I was allowed to fill out a provisional ballot. I was given two sheets of paper. One had my provisional-ballot number and explained my rights as a provisional voter. The other sheet listed a website and phone number for the Orange County supervisor of elections’ office in Orlando. I was told I could use that information to track my ballot.

It wasn’t until 45 minutes later that this voting mystery began to unravel. Shortly after I left the polling site, an official from the elections office called me and told me that a tweet I had posted a few weeks earlier had been brought to their attention. I had written that I had recently moved to Los Angeles, but was returning to Florida for early voting so I could vote for Andrew Gillum, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate.

Gonna be completely transparent here: So I just moved to LA this week, but yet I’m flying to Florida tonight because that’s where I’ve voted since 2005. I came for early voting because of this



....

I pressed the official who called me from the supervisor of elections’ office about how my tweet had landed on their radar. “Let’s just say it was a red brigade,” he said. ... I’m guessing that had I tweeted support for Gillum’s challenger, Ron DeSantis, no one would have questioned my right to vote in Florida. Also in the back of my mind was the dust-up I’d had with the president last year. I’m not accusing Donald Trump of trying to suppress my vote, but I wouldn’t put it past his ardent supporters.
....

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.

JEMELE HILL is a staff writer for The Atlantic covering sports, race, politics, and culture.
8 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
"I Tweeted. Then Florida Removed Me From the Voter Rolls." (Original Post) mahatmakanejeeves Nov 2018 OP
Message auto-removed Name removed Nov 2018 #1
But apparently it's cool for some folks to vote via email down there Docreed2003 Nov 2018 #2
But, the "something she tweeted" was that she moved to LA but was returning to Florida... TreasonousBastard Nov 2018 #3
Reply to replies #3 and #4: mahatmakanejeeves Nov 2018 #5
As long as she voted only in Florida, there's no fraud. marble falls Nov 2018 #8
she thinks ppl who live in LA are allowed to vote in Florida? nt msongs Nov 2018 #4
very weird indeed and she is hurting our cause now AlexSFCA Nov 2018 #6
It would depend on the residency laws Blue_playwright Nov 2018 #7

Response to mahatmakanejeeves (Original post)

TreasonousBastard

(43,049 posts)
3. But, the "something she tweeted" was that she moved to LA but was returning to Florida...
Mon Nov 12, 2018, 06:29 PM
Nov 2018

to vote. "Moved to Los Angeles" isn't a reason to drop her from the rolls?

C'mon-- isn't that what a lot of people are calling voter fraud? Even if it is legitimate that she moves around a lot, this may or may not be voter fraud, but it is voter stupid to advertise it.

mahatmakanejeeves

(56,885 posts)
5. Reply to replies #3 and #4:
Mon Nov 12, 2018, 06:40 PM
Nov 2018

Yeah, I was wondering about that myself.

If she's moved to LA, then vote there. There must be some mechanism whereby, if you've moved to LA too late to register there, then you vote at your previous place of registration.

AlexSFCA

(6,137 posts)
6. very weird indeed and she is hurting our cause now
Mon Nov 12, 2018, 07:12 PM
Nov 2018

she moved to LA which makes it illegal for her to vote in FL; horrible PR for dems in the midst of a recount. She is the textbook definition of voter fraud. It is one thing to say that she has not yet established residency in LA which would allow her to register to vote there but it is entirely different when she publicly states she moved to LA but will vote in FL anyway simply because she’s been voting there since 2005.

Blue_playwright

(1,568 posts)
7. It would depend on the residency laws
Mon Nov 12, 2018, 10:49 PM
Nov 2018

If I move two weeks before an election I should still have the right to vote.

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