Are You Registered To Vote?
 

For TFPers in the United States - are you registered to vote?

If you are, good for you....and I hope you vote on November 2nd. :)

If you're not, and you'd like to, I've found a fantastic Voter guide. It's a compilation of resources which is much easier to understand than previous voter guides on other sites.

The deadline to vote in many states is as early as October 2nd - that's Saturday!

I don't intend for this to become a political discussion - there's another board for that - but more of a resource for those who would like to vote but just don't know exactly where to start, or find all the information too confusing.

Voters Information Guide For The 2004 Election

Yes. me, sus, and mimi are registered. Our state's web site provides info and online forms. Most states do as well.

Here in KY, when you get or renew your driver's license you're automatically registered. A brilliant idea.

Myself and nearly everyone I know. :)

This will be my first Presidential voting experience. I've voted for everything else, but never a President. I was old enough to vote in the 2000 elections, but just didn't give a shit. What a waste, huh?

i'm registered. I even re-registered just incase they took me off the list or something.. Since it's been 2 years since I last registered and I haven't voted at all since...

I need to tell Will to register :T

I am and I do!

Thanks for the reminder. A lot of people gave up their life and liberty so we could have this right.

Absentee ballotter here.. just once in my life I'd love to be able to use a voting booth -- one of these days.. But yah. I'm registered... (You don't register, you can't vote, you can't vote, you have no right at all to complain about anything regarding the government)

I am registered, and I also spend about 4 hours a week getting people registered. On Friday night, I know many college campuses, or at least ASU, are holding huge voter registration parties on campus to get people signed up before the deadline the next day. So if you're on a college campus and not registered, register to vote and have fun!

So true.

Registered and voting, as always.


B.

Been registered to vote as long as I have been legally able :thumbsup:

U know it like a poet. I'll be damned if I let another election be decided by the Supreme Court!

registered to vote this year and doing absentee ballot so there's no voting machine problems(that and I'm in another state right now).

yeah, i'm a little concerned about this new electronic voting thing. absentee is a good way to go.

Registered and waiting for november! Cant wait for the first debate this week.

I've been registered since '88, and haven't missed one election.

Registered...ready and waiting :)

Yes I am and I'm eager to vote!

Bush, Kerry, or Nader? I just can't decide....yet :)

Registered and voting, ever since I turned 18 in 2000.

take your time, you've got a while to decide --

Debates thursday night - -tune in to that to help you along...

I think I'm registered, but not sure. Is there anyway to find out?

Hell yeah, Bush is goin down baby!!!!!!

I was walking out of the post office and a young lady with a clipboard accosted me and forced me to register against my will. It would have been almost traumatic if it hadn't been so easy (30 seconds of writing my name, address, and political affiliation).

If you find the website for your state's Secretary of State, they should have a registered voters thing on there somewhere, where you could probably check.

You know, there are other candidates

yes. yes there are.

Flood of New US Voters

Flood of new US voters sign up
By Robert Tanner in New York
September 28, 2004
NEW US voters are flooding local election offices with paperwork, registering in significantly higher numbers than four years ago as interest in the presidential election runs high and an array of activist groups recruit would-be voters who could prove critical come November 2.

Cleveland has seen nearly twice as many new voters register so far as compared with 2000; Philadelphia is having its biggest boom in new voters in 20 years; and counties are bringing in temporary workers and employees from other agencies to help process all the new registration forms.

Nationwide figures aren't yet available, but anecdotal evidence shows an upswing in many places, often urban but some rural.

Some wonder whether the new voters - some of whom sign up at the insistence of workers paid by get-out-the-vote organisations - will actually make it to the polls on Election Day, but few dispute the registration boom.

"We're swamped," said Bob Lee, who oversees voter registration in Philadelphia. "It seems like everybody and their little group is out there trying to register people."

Some examples, from interviews with state and county officials across the country:

- New registered voters in Miami-Dade County, a crucial Florida county in 2000, grew by 65 per cent through mid-September, compared with 2000.

- New registered voters jumped nearly 150 per cent in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) in Ohio, one of the most hard-fought states this year.

And that's with weeks left until registration deadlines fall, beginning in October.

Curtis Gans at the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate said a clear national picture won't emerge until more applications are processed next month.

And Kay Maxwell of the League of Women Voters cautioned that some years that promise a boom in new voters turn out to be duds on Election Day.

The danger is that new voters may not be as committed to showing up at the polls as longtime voters.

"Turning people out to vote is tougher than getting them to register," said Doug Lewis, who works with local election officials as head of The Election Centre, a nonprofit group.

Rural areas, which tend to be conservative and Republican, aren't necessarily reporting the same growth as urban, more liberal and Democratic strongholds: Brazos County, Texas, hasn't beaten its 2000 numbers so far, though officials said applications are now rolling in. The state of Oklahoma, however, saw new registrations in July and August increased by 60 per cent compared with four years ago.

Oklahoma officials said they had 16,000 new Republican registrations, 15,000 new Democrats and 3500 new independents. In Oregon, where new registrations grew by 4 per cent from January through September 1, Democrats outregistered Republicans two-to-one.

Lewis and others say that no matter what the partisan breakdown, the registration boom is real - driven by a swarm of organisations such as Smack Down Your Vote (a professional wrestling-connected campaign), Hip-Hop Team Vote, traditional groups like the League of Women Voters; party-aligned groups such as America Coming Together, made up of deep-pocketed Democrats; and many, many more.

"There seem to be hundreds of them," Ms Maxwell said.

The groups' focus is on states where the vote was close in 2000, but even in several states where the election isn't as competitive, officials say they are seeing new voters register in higher numbers.

Officials in El Paso County, Texas, Maryland's Montgomery County, a suburb of Washington, and California's Los Angeles County said registration numbers were on pace to be higher than 2000.

In many jurisdictions, administrators complain that the crush of new registrations is overloading staff.

Clerks have hired extra workers in West Virginia, Ohio and Colorado. Philadelphia borrowed employees from other city agencies and started working overtime two months earlier than the usual post-Labor Day push.
<hr>
That's actually kinda neat, as ugly as this campaign has been, it's great to see people actually getting off their butts and registering -- now tehy just have to take those butts to the voting booth.

<--- Registered voter since 1980. :D

wow, i've been putting off registering but i guess i only got til saturday. thanks.

I'm really happy to see so many people registered to vote. Of course, the next step is making sure that you DO vote on that day. :)

From JustVote.org:

I'm registered, but I've since moved. My official address (on my drivers license) is still my parents house. Will I have to vote in that district? Or can I vote where I live now, or closer to work?

I think I remember back in 2000 getting a card in the mail telling me where I could vote. I didn't get one this time. Of course I'd imagine the booths will be at the same place.

you will probably need to file a change of address - if you go to the League of Women voters site (it's one of the most comprehensive) they'll tell you what you need to do.

Yeah, but then I'll have to change my license, and my checks all have my old address and such. I'll most likely be moving again early next year and I don't want to change all of that again.

I'll give a call to the number quadro provided tonight and find out :)

You can always vote absentee in the district you are currently registered in, Averett.

<------Registered to vote at 18!!!!

Been registered since the day I turned 18. I've voted in every election, primary and special election since then. My family has always been politically active.

Yep, both my wife and I are registered and looking forward to voting. This will be both of our first times voting, though I could have last election if I'd have voted absentee. I guess I'm glad I didn't, since at the time I'd have probably voted for the douche we've got in office right now.

Jason

Registered to vote, and wouldn't miss voting in this United States Presidential election for anything. Americans are so fortunate to have a voice.

There are so many reasons I'm registered and ready. Bring that booth on mofos!
There is NO WAY I will miss voting this year.

Not Registered, Never voted. I've got till Monday here. I'm sorely tempted to actually bother...I hate Bush and Ashcroft that much, more Ashcroft than Bush but he's not much better. And no, I'm not trying to start a politics war, just saying what has made me actually consider registering since my turning 18 in the early 90s.

woot friend of mine got 87 people registered this week.. mostly post grads from highschool last year and community old folks that didnt have a clue they could register and vote by not leaving the "home" he isnt that against the law? granted this "home" is for elderly that are "with it" somehow i think its against the law keeping them in the dark. many of them were estatic that they could still sign up to vote.

woa, I almost forgot. thanks for the heads up.

I need to get all of my friends to go today.

The wife and I are both registered, and neither one of us will tell the other one whom we're voting for. I keep telling her that I'm voting for Ralph Nader, but I'll probably do a write-in vote for Ringo. Wasn't Richard Starkey the president's name in Kevin Costner's "The Postman?"

Several guys just walked past my office.. chanting "Choose or Lose" and asking everyone in the offices if they are registered to vote. One guy in a Bush mask and another in a Kerry mask. One guy carrying a banner saying Choose Or Lose, and playing some patriotic music.

The deadline for registering to vote is nearing.

I have several friends that told me last night they haven't registred to vote but want to(I registered back in march). Are there any places I could take them today to get them registred? Who's going to be open on a saturday that could register them (We're in Illinois,SIU to be exact).

Registered I am!

Registered last year, waiting to recieve my absantee ballot in the mail. Those who can vote but don't, shouldn't be able to complain about officials that they could have voted against.

Yeah, I'm registered. This will be my first time voting for actual political offices. I voted back in the spring for some school bond, but I was BARELY (a few weeks) too young to vote for the last presidential election.

Motor Voter -- one useful outcome of the Clinton years ;)

Yes. I will definitely vote on November 2, 2004.

I'm probably in the minority here, but I actually think motor voter is a <I>bad</I> idea. I think it should be <I>more</I> difficult to register, not easier. When everyone is registered you end up with more people who have no clue voting, and that's bad. I'm not advocating one candidate or another here, I'm just saying there's more to being politically active than pushing a button. You need to read up, understand the issues, and THEN vote.

A friend of mine once said "it would be great if issues just scrolled across your TV and you voted with your remote control." That was the scariest thing I had ever heard at the time.

Get educated. THEN go vote.

Registered and ready to cancel out my wife's vote in November.

registered even though my vote barley counts in texas.

Would be, but I don't have to. North Dakota is, I believe, the only state in the union where you don't have to register to vote. Show up with a Driver's liscense (proof of age) and you can vote.

Well I've been complaining about the government scince I was 15, this is my first time to change the numbers myself. I'll be voting every election until the day I die.

I've been registered to vote for years but I just got my brother and mother to register today, horray!!

I am, but people who ask that usually wish I weren't

Amen to that.

Oh yeah, and I'm registered to vote. Did so on the second to last day in true SecretMethod70 fashion ;)

So if you aren't a United States citizen, you have no right co complain?

Since you are not participating in the process, and until you've chosen to educate yourself about the US Government, you have no right at all to bitch about the government,

There's constructive complaining, where you've taken the time to educate yourself on the process, and there's just bandwagon bitching where you just spew forth whatever the bigger mouth on the media tells you to bitch about.

Acctually I can bitch, and not vote, becouse of a prcedural error my right to vote has been taken from me, and will cost about 300 dollors to get back, all becouse the State of Va declaried me incompatent, becouse I marked the wrong box on the form.

Untill I pay the re instament fee no right to vote.

From what I gather:
When you can vote, but are not aware, you cannot complain.
When you cannot vote, but are aware, you cannot complain.
When you can vote and are aware, you can complain.

Is that right?

I have real problems with the "you can't complain" mantra. If it were not for third party candidates, I may have decided to not vote in this election since neither of the two major candidates really represent me. Well, what if Badnarik didn't make it onto the ballot in my state? Am I supposed to put my voice behind someone I don't agree with just so I have the "right to complain?" But then, what if that person wins - this person I didn't want to vote for in the first place but did anyway since I was not given an option to vote for anyone I liked but wanted to have the right to complain? If he wins, then I can't complain because I voted for him. But I wouldn't have voted for him - or at all for the matter - if not for the fact that I had to vote in order to complain.

Sorry, I don't buy it. If you don't like either candidate and there are no other options, or no other options that you're aware of at least, then don't vote, and you have every right to complain. Saying otherwise just forces people to half-heartedly put their support behind one of the two major candidates, enforcing the duopoloy they have on government.

I seriously wonder if there is this concept in other democracies. I really doubt it to be honest. This idea that voting for SOMETHING in a democracy is more important than voting for what you believe in is *extremely* detrimental to democracy IMO. I will not vote for Bush "just so I can complain" when I dislike Bush's policies. I will not vote for Kerry "just so I can complain" when I dislike Kerry's policies. If no one else is on the ballot in my state, or I am not aware of the other candidates (thanks to the two major parties control of the media), then what do you expect me to do? If I vote for Bush and he wins, since I'm supposed to vote first and respect my ideals later apparently, then I "can't complain" about his foreign policy. If I vote for Kerry and he wins, despite that he does not match my ideals either, then I "can't complain" about his economic policy (not that Bush's is better mind you ;)). So, tell me, what is someone who is unable to vote for or unaware of the third party candidates supposed to do when they disagree with both major candidates?

Badnarik and Cobb (let alone any of the other third party candidates) have gotten almost no media attention. Badnarik and Cobb were arrested yesterday for protesting not being allowed into the debates, yet it wasn't on the news anywhere (besides some obscure locations on the internet) that two PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES were arrested for civil disobedience. The only stations that the major third party candidates have been on are PBS and C-Span, and only sparingly. If I'm a person working 50 hours a week with a family, or a student at school full time who also works part time on top of it, how am I supposed to know about these third party candidates when they're basically not on TV, not in the newspapers, and not anywhere else but the internet since that's the only place they can freely express their message? What if I'm not internet savvy and, like many people, just use it to check my e-mail and use google? What then? How am I supposed to educate myself beyond the two major candidates whom I don't agree with while at the same time doing all my schoolwork, working at my job, or what have you. Oh, and finally, what if I'm like most people and since people have told me over and over that a vote for a third party is a wasted vote I don't even consider it?

Where are we now, society has told me if I vote 3rd party it's a waste, and that's if they're even on the ballot in my state, and I disagree with both major candidates. But society has also told me that not voting makes me not able to complain, so I guess I'm supposed to go vote for one of the two major candidates whom I disagree with, just so I can complain.....but only if that person loses.....even though I didn't want them to win.

Are you confused yet? Good. Because it doesn't make sense. At all.

If you don't like your options, don't vote. And complain all you want. And don't tell me that you can just hand in an empty ballot. Tell that to the uneducated masses (uneducated regarding voting and politics at least) who are never told that by the two parties since they want their vote. People have no idea that handing in an empty ballot is an option. And, frankly, lack of voter turnout is a bigger message to the two parties than empty ballots it seems.

I'm not sure....I sent in my application (for Ca.) but haven't recieved any information back. Meanwhile, my boyfriend who has been back-packing through Europe for the past 5 weeks has received a lot of information on ballot measures/voting throught the mail...who knows!

i registered and i'm excited, this will be my first time to vote

Nope, too young

Registered!
Voting by absentee ballot this year. I hope it backs back in time, and it actually gets counted.

I have to work on election day, so I need to go vote absentee soon.

Finally got my registration card this weekend. I was a bit worried after having just moved and re-registering. But is showed up with time to spare.

Being that I am in FL, every vote counts - that is if we can figure out how to do it right. :rolleyes:

Gotta vote this week since I'll be gone on 2 Nov.

If you're going to be out of town on 2 Nov, make sure you get your absentee ballot!
If you even thing you **might** be out of town, get your absentee ballot!

Something else to remember...in a lot of states there are laws on the books that require employers to give employees so much time to go to the polls so they can vote.

It is for this reason that I now support the idea of a "None Of The Above" option in the US election process. Enough of these votes should send the parties back to find new candidates. The reality is that we don't get good choices for political office in this country any longer but it likely won't change because the two major parties will not really allow it to change. We no longer vote for the best candidate here in the US. Rather, we vote for what we view to be the lesser of two evils. Which one will screw things up the least.

Oh yeah, I'm registered too.

I registered about 5 years ago and I have not voted once. I have either been to lazy to go down the street to vote or I am working and I can't take the time off to go because I need the money. Slacker, I know but hey, the people I would have voted for have won anyways.

I'm registered and ready to vote in my first presidential election.

<--- Registered when I turned 18, I re-registered in the spring when I moved.