Bad news: You might not be registered to vote
October 1, 2008 at 2:11 pm by Thomas Wheatley in NewsMonday, Oct. 6 is the last day to register to vote. And if you think you’re already registered but haven’t cast a ballot in the last three years, you may be turned away when you try to exercise your right.
There are murmurs that some folks who, after visiting Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel’s website to see if they’re registered, are told they’re not, and this is one of the reasons listed as why:
You have not had written contact with your board of registrars office within the last 3 years (which includes voting, change of address, updated voter registration application), which would cause your name to be removed from the voter rolls.
Emphasis added. So if you haven’t voted in the last three years — or you’ve been a bad citizen and not written a letter to your dear old friend Karen Handel — you may not be eligible to cast a ballot.
Don’t let that happen to you when you go to vote. Double check your registration status here. It takes less than a minute. Literally. (I found out I’m still registered in Cobb County, so I’ve got to fix that mess.) Tell your friends to do the same. If your status is not listed as “ACTIVE,” contact or visit your local registration office or the secretary of state. You can download a registration application here.
Don’t let one of the most politically exciting times in your life be screwed up by bureaucratic bullshit. You’ve got until Monday, Oct. 6.
October 1st, 2008 at 3:02 pm
So I just checked mine (still in Cobb County too, yuck)… and it says INACTIVE, however down at the bottom of the page is says
* Inactive Voters – An inactive status does not affect your ability to vote.
What’s up with that?
October 3rd, 2008 at 9:44 am
It means that the person hasn’t voted recently and could be eligible to be purged after 1 or so elections, but is still eligible to vote in the upcoming election. So you are ok.
“Inactive” voters will be “active” after they vote this election.
I got this info from the Deputy Field Director for the Obama campaign in Georgia.