open for advice about my voting history

[dweller]

I doubt anyone would remember that i posted in Nov.04 of my experience when i went to the polls, didn't seem all that important at the time (post election) but a quick synopsis.
-After waiting in line for a good hour or so, in early voting here in my district, as i finally got to the sign in, presented my voter registration card for a ballot...the person looking up my ID# questioned me: "haven't you already voted?"
I said No, and waited while she checked something else on a laptop, then asked if i had already voted absentee?
Again, i said no. . . she asked me to step aside for a moment and took the next person in line, then told me she had cleared it up, something about a previous screen she was viewing, and gave me a ballot.

I voted by paper-scan ballot, in person, for Dem down the line. Placed it in the scanner, saw it process.

Just last nite on a thread here on the greatest page (it's not available now, but it was titled something like 'just in case you thought it didn't matter' and was about voting this Nov.) someone provided a link to check registration status, mine was: http://www.sboe.state.nc.us/votersearch/seimsvot.htm

that allowed me to find out if i was still registered (that may have been the gist of the thread, i don't remember now) and i checked, and sure enough, i'm still reg'd. But i also took the opportunity to check my voting history. I intitially wanted to check to see if my youngest daughter's registration had gotten in on time, which it had :thumbsup: to her, first time voter, but i learned that according to MY voting history, in NOV/04, i voted absentee! BS! I VOTED IN PERSON, WAITED IN LINE, VOTED EARLY, and this pisses me off.

now, do i pursue this? anyone have any advice? This post is in partial response to a thread now on the greatest page about those who 'troll' here and cast gloom and doom on prospects for Nov/06.

i am not a troll. But i do want my vote to count, and it has plagued me since learning that in the last major election i supposedly voted absentee (esp. after the questions posed to me by the pollworker) and i want to make sure this time i'm getting it right, with indelible ink even if i have to shove it down the throat of an optiscanner/pollworker, or kick it all the way to DC and nail it to the WH doors with my **** forehead.

it's late, i'm tired, so if you respond i may not get back with my gratitude for a bit. Work is keeping me really busy right now.

peace
dp

[dweller]

1. obviously

still not important now.

thanks all the same
dp

[welshTerrier2]

2. just one little old lady

there's a famous story that's taught to people learning a branch of accounting called auditing ... it goes something like this ...

there was a little old lady (Chicago i think) who for years had been mailing in the exact same payment on her mortgage every month ... one month, after receiving her monthly statement, she decided to go down to the bank in person ... when she got to the teller window, she asked the teller why, after all these years, the monthly amount due had changed ... it had increased by exactly one cent ... "i don't mean to complain or anything but it just seemed a little peculiar."

the teller had no idea and told her he would investigate the situation and get back to her ... the answer turned out to be that the actual amount she had been paying was a rounded off number ... the actual amount due would have been a few thousandths of a cent higher ... after some number of years, to compensate for all those fractions of a penny not paid, one additional penny was due ... that was the little news that came from the investigation ...

the big news was much more interesting ... it turns out that someone had been using the inter-bank system to steal all the fractional amounts due ... it wasn't just the amount from the little old lady; it was fractions of a penny every month from millions and millions of customers around the country ... the amount stolen added up to million of dollars ...

the point of all this is that what happened to you may be the tip of an iceberg or it may be just a single clerical glitch ... it sounds like it will be almost impossible for you to obtain much information because voting records are not usually maintained for very long ... in my state, computer disks that record the vote can be erased after 30 days if the election is not contested ... how crazy is that?

the first step you might take would be to determine the likelihood of a simple clerical error where another voter's absentee ballot was recorded as your vote ... for example, is it possible someone with a similar address voted absentee ... in my state, they look you up on the voter rolls by your address ... so, if you live at 123 Main St. maybe someone who lives at 124 Main St. voted absentee or maybe 128 because a 3 can sometimes look like an 8 ... you might check with your neighbors ... another possibility would be addresses like 123 Maple Street and 123 Maple Lane ... and finally, you might check your phone directory or one of the online directories for someone with the same last name or a similar name in your town ... no guarantees this process will prove anything but it's a starting point ...

i would also directly question election officials to see what explanation they might have ...

of course, absent solving the case with any of the above ideas, you might just be a little old lady scenario ... how cool would that be if you could bust them?

[NMDemDist2]

3. some counties do whats called "Absentee in Person" early

it's actually early voting but logged as absentee. confusing? yes

here in NM they had the voting set up in our county building since the 10th and in order to vote I had to sign an "Absentee request" and then voted normally. it was the only poll open.

Yesterday the county started "Early Voting" in several other locations (more polling places) and they are considered to be Early Voters and don't have to sign the absentee thingie

It's confusing and I never did get it explained clearly but I'll show up as an absentee voter too even though I went to the County Admin building and voted in person

:shrug:

edit to add this link on the different states

http://www.ncsl.org/programs/legman/elect/absentearly.htm