From the Styx by Peggy Tibbetts

Or – why I’m voting by mail.

Uh-oh. Our election system seems to be in as much disarray as our financial markets.

The news is not good, people.

Is Colorado the next Florida?
Watchdogs worry huge turn-out and a new untested voter database could spell disaster on Election Day
By Naomi Zeveloff

First there was Florida. Then there was Ohio. Will Colorado be next?

The state’s got a brand new voter database system, the longest ballot in the nation and hundreds of thousands of new voter registrations to contend with, all of which raise the specter of chaos at the polls come November. And while elections officials maintain that Colorado can pull off its elections without a hitch, several voter watchdog groups say otherwise …

Huh. Get this. According to The New York Times, removing voters from databases violates federal law:

States’ Actions to Block Voters Appear Illegal
By Ian Urbina

Tens of thousands of eligible voters in at least six swing states have been removed from the rolls or have been blocked from registering in ways that appear to violate federal law, according to a review of state records and Social Security data by The New York Times.

The actions do not seem to be coordinated by one party or the other, nor do they appear to be the result of election officials intentionally breaking rules, but are apparently the result of mistakes in the handling of the registrations and voter files as the states tried to comply with a 2002 federal law, intended to overhaul the way elections are run.

Still, because Democrats have been more aggressive at registering new voters this year, according to state election officials, any heightened screening of new applications may affect their party’s supporters disproportionately. The screening and trimming of voter registration lists in the six states – Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Nevada and North Carolina – could also result in problems at the polls on Election Day: people who have been removed from the rolls are likely to show up only to be challenged by political party officials or election workers, resulting in confusion, long lines and heated tempers …

It’s enough to make you scream.

Paranoid yet? Well, I am.

As I have shown you on this blog for the past several weeks, your vote is not safe – no matter how you vote. And not only is your vote not safe, your voter registration is not safe. You should verify your voter registration right now at Voters Unite!

Newly registered voters! If you haven’t provided your County Clerk with a copy of your driver’s license, go the office and show them your driver’s license. If you did send a copy of your driver’s license, be sure to double check to verify that you are indeed registered to vote.

I’ve suffered permanent brain damage from all the research I’ve done on voting. Some experts say vote by mail. Some experts say don’t vote by mail. Everyone agrees that you should vote – and vote early.

I can’t tell you what to do because I don’t know the answer. One thing’s for certain. I absolutely will not vote on a voting machine. I did vote on a voting machine in the August 2006 primary election and it creeped me out. The machines can be hacked. Period. That’s all I need to know.

So here’s my plan, which is already in the works:

1 – I received my voter registration card in the mail. But I still verified my voter registration with the CO Sec of State’s office online. Anyone anywhere can go to Voters Unite! and verify their voter registration. Then I printed a copy of my voter registration.

2 – I decided to vote by mail. A mail ballot is a paper ballot. It has a number that corresponds with my name. Therefore it is a physical object that I can trace.

3 – I mailed my request for a mail ballot. Now I wish I had dropped it off at the County Clerk’s office instead because I’m paranoid that my mail ballot request got lost in the mail. Argh!

4 – I received my CO blue book and I’m working on filling out the “cheat sheet”. We have 14 ballot issues (recently pared down from 18) this year.

5 – When my ballot arrives I will be sure to sign it exactly the way my name appears on my voter registration and I will check to make sure my address is correct.

6 – After I check off the right boxes, or fill in the right squares, I plan to scan and make a file of my voted ballot, including the ballot number. Or, a voter could make a photocopy of his voted ballot.

7 – I won’t mail my ballot, I will deliver it to the County Clerk’s office in person.

8 – If there are problems with the vote in Colorado, after the election I will trace my ballot with the County Clerk’s office.

Election Integrity put together an amazing Wiki that has so much info it’ll make your brain numb. They also have a super blog. The Election Defense Alliance will be conducting their own independent EVP exit polling on Election Day. You can find out more at their website.

Only 25 more days …

Click here to add From the Styx to your RSS reader.