I voted early, but my vote will not be counted.
My husband, Doggie269, and I early voted on Saturday, October 27th. We are in Northwest Indiana (NWI) in a diverse county about 40 miles outside of Chicago. Our early voting took about 45 minutes in total, which has never happened before. We usually can go right in and then fill out our ballots. I’m hopeful that the increased turnout here is repeated nationwide. I’m less hopeful because of the voter suppression and voter disenfranchisement efforts that are being repeated nationwide. Here is our story...
I received an email yesterday from the county office saying it was important that I contact them regarding our early vote from Saturday. Oh, great. After speaking with someone there later in the afternoon, I discovered that there was a “clerical” error and an emergency board meeting was being held this afternoon to determine how these votes would be handled. There were 122 votes from Saturday where a poll worker’s initials were missing. I was hopeful that whatever administrative error was made, that the requirement might be waived and our votes would be tallied. Apparently, I had misplaced that hope.
The Porter County Election Board decided that the 122 affected votes would be thrown out. www.chicagotribune.com/… We are now being asked to come back and re-vote.
The 122 voters who cast ballots between 8:30 and 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the North County Government Complex... are being asked to do so again during early voting after their ballots didn’t receive the necessary initials from two poll workers at the early voting site.
Of course, not all affected voters were able to be contacted. Not all affected voters are aware of the situation. Not all affected voters will be willing or able to vote again.
(Kathy) Kozuszek (the Democratic director in the county’s voter registration office) and Victoria Gresham, vice chair of the county’s Republican Party and the Republican representative in the clerk’s office, contacted as many of the voters as they could but could not reach several of them because they lacked the proper contact information.
Kozuszek said she reached five voters who were willing to come back in.
We will most definitely be returning this Saturday to cast our ballots (again). I’m livid that some voters won’t even be aware that their votes will not be counted. I’m livid with all efforts to suppress our votes, disenfranchise our votes, and make it harder, instead of easier, to do so. Voting is our constitutional right and that right should not be continuously made more burdensome, if not impossible for some. As Doggie said so well, “I do not care who they were voting for, their voice will not be heard. There are military cemeteries around the world of those who gave all for our democratic republic.”
At least we will be able to re-vote. Too many people never get that chance.
