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Great cartoons this week!
I voted, but it almost didn’t count.
I had all my proper ID and was registered. All was legit. So, I wasn’t challenged.
Because for the first time I was using the handicapped parking where poll workers came to the car, checked registration and ID, and then retrieved a mobile voting machine to make voting easy, I had no idea of any differences from normal voting procedures.
The lady wrote down my information on a green envelop and then says “oops”, telling me to select one of three green envelopes she held in her hand. I went ahead and selected the one she had already filled out.
Only then did the second poll worker say, that is a provisional ballot.
I thanked him for this crucial information. I tore the provisional ballot and envelope up and asked for a real ballot. Without yelling I told her that she must use real ballots instead of provisional for voters meeting all requirements,
I told her that provisional ballots are not counted unless cured for more or corrected information. And, if people don’t know that they used a provisional ballot, they would not know to go to their county courthouse to correct it, even though the info itself is already correct.
In Texas, I would have had to visit our county elections office within six days of the election to either show a valid ID or submit another form called a reasonable impediment declaration, which declares why you couldn’t get a photo ID to vote. Then the provisional ballot would count.
In my case, the ID was correct. Nothing to correct. Yet, my vote would not have counted.
The first poll worker sounded like she confessed to doing this to qualified handicapped voters a few times already that day.
Without the second poll worker, I would not have known it was provisional, so I would not have known to go the courthouse to cure a ballot that did not need curing as I had all my correct ID.
I called the person in charge of that polling station the next day to have her refresh all the poll workers on the rules for using provisional ballots, so that no one loses their vote.
The first poll worker having confessed, I thought perhaps she was not a MAGA corrupted person, but maybe elderly, forgetful. At least that was my impression. She had been a volunteer for almost 2 decades.
Everyone, make sure you have a real ballot whether challenged or not.
I saw this information:
Instead of relying on a provisional ballot, call 1-(866) OUR-VOTE. They have lawyers ready to help you with challenges.
Thanks for the comment, Bev @2.
It’s troubling that, even with best efforts, vote suppression can occur as a result of inadequate poll worker training.