I’m another one that had problems voting today in Texas. I filled out a provisional ballot, but the election official (after spending an hour trying to figure out how to get me to able to vote) said that it wouldn’t matter. I wasn’t eligible to vote. I did complete the provisional ballot on the off chance that the committee of appointed individuals (who appoints them? and what’s the process for that?) will accept it. If not, then the law requires that they send me a letter explaining why.
This is not for the reasons that everyone is complaining about though. It seems to be a little known crack that people fall into.
Basically, I moved. I completed the voter registration form and mailed it in. However, because I switched counties, I have to be registered as a “new voter” and the deadline is 30 days prior to the election day.
What’s really interesting is that if I had gone to early voting, they could have registered me on the spot and my vote would have counted. But actually, I couldn’t have because I didn’t get my new driver’s license with the current address until after early voting was over.
I don’t blame this on the voter ID laws. I blame this on general problems with the voting and registration process. It’s massively inefficient. I think the Obamacare website is more efficient than the voting process. But that’s an argument for another day.
Suffice to say that myself and some unknown number of people can’t vote because of when we move… at least in Texas.
