Election day adventures

My adventures in voting:

6:07am - Roll out of bed, throw on some clothes, brush my teeth. Polling places in NJ opened at 6am.

6:13am - Walk to my polling place and get in line. This was the line at my polling place this morning, and it stretched into the building. I heard someone say "There has never been a line here before! This is history right now, folks."

While waiting in line I heard 5 different people say something about not being able to vote. One of them came up to the guy in line behind me and I asked her what happened and she said that they told her she was in the wrong place to vote even though she thought she was in the right place and she said she didn't know because she never got anything in the mail telling her where to go. I told her that if she's not on the list that she can still fight for her right to vote. Another woman was an elderly lady who was walking out with help from a man who might have been her son. She said "Why did I have to write his name in on that piece of paper? I thought I would go into the booth like everyone else." She asked if she had done something wrong and the man said, "No, you just weren't on the list, so that's a different type of ballot, and we're going to make sure that you're on the list next time." So clearly, I'm not the only one with problems today.

I waited in line, even though I knew I wouldn't be on the roll. I was advised by the ACLU voter protection hotline to go to my polling place just to make sure that I didn't magically appear on the rolls. I was also told not to take a provisional ballot. I asked one of the official challengers what my precinct was and explained that I didn't know because I never got anything in the mail, and he said that he had the numbers of lawyers who are working today to get people the right to vote, and to come back and see him if I wasn't on the list.


6:38am - I'm officially not on the roll. So I head back to get the numbers of the lawyers (who are affiliated with the Obama campaign) and head home.

6:46am - Left a message with the Obama lawyer, then hopped in the shower.

7:09am - Spoke to Obama lawyer, who said she was going to make some phone calls and get back to me with a plan.

7:40am - I got dressed, ate breakfast, talked to the lawyer again and now, we have a plan. I need to be at the Trenton courthouse at some point after 8:30am, find the judge I've been assigned to and ask for a specific lawyer who should be in that courtroom.

7:56am - I'm gonna finish getting ready, pack up all the ID I can possibly bring (passport, SS card, license, utility bill to prove that I live in Princeton, work ID, birth certificate), a book (Sarah Vowell's Partly Cloudy Patriot), my camera (that I probably won't be able to use except to take photos of the outside of buildings), some snacks, and a notebook to keep notes on what happens through the day.

9:02am - Arrive at courthouse and get in line. Apparently there are a bunch of people willing to fight for the right to vote in this election. The man in front of me was told he was not on the roll, but he had a voter registration card, and the woman behind me was with her friend who just became a US Citizen and was told that her registration wasn't complete because a birthdate was not filled out on the registration form. All kinds of reasons for people not to be allowed to vote.

9:28am - I meet with Obama lawyer #2. He happy to hear that I filed a complaint last week and we find out that my paperwork is already at the courthouse. This is very helpful in moving my case along. People who just show up have to call the Superintendent of Elections, file a complaint and then wait for that office to fax over an official form saying that they filed a complaint. Depending on the backlog, this could take a while. What they don't really tell you (and thank god there were lawyers there) is that the lawyers representing the state have to argue AGAINST your right to vote. And these state's attorneys will just walk up to you at the courthouse and say "Hi, can I help you?" and if you don't say that you have a lawyer or that you would like a lawyer, they just tell you that they're representing the state and they are not your lawyer and then get all your information and take you before the judge. It can be very intimidating.

10:06am - A state's attorney asks me questions (with my Obama lawyer present) and I tell her what I've told everyone: That I registered at a Voter Registration drive and discovered after the registration deadline that there was no record of my registration.

10:12am - I'm sworn in and we argue the case. The attorney for the state brings up some arguement that I needed to live in the state 30 days before registering (which is false, you have to live in the state 30 days before the election). When the judge went into his chambers, my lawyer told me not to worry, that even if that was the case there was argument that the state needs to inform voters of any mistakes or missteps on their voter registration and that never happened.

10:23am - I am granted the right to vote because I put forth a good faith effort to register on time and due to no fault of my own, that registration was never accounted for!

10:28am - I'm officially handed the piece of paper telling me I can vote at a voting machine and I head out of the courthouse, on my way back to Princeton and my polling place to cast my vote!

After calling the first Obama lawyer from this morning to tell her the good news and then driving back from Trenton, grabbing a quick snack, and calling my mom to reassure her that I am indeed going to vote, I head to my polling place.

11:32am - get in the (shorter than this morning) line.

11:40am - hand my paper to the guy behind the table for District 1. He gets totally confused, reads the whole sheet about 6 times over, apologizes because he doesn't really know what to do, no one told him about these court orders, etc, etc... He finally decides that he does know what to do and gives me my official Voter Authority and I am shown which machine to use.

11:52am - my ballot is cast!! I voted!! On the way out, the guy who gave me the phone numbers for the lawyers is still there and he shakes my hand, congratulates me and quizzes me on how my morning went. I told him everything and that there was a line at the courthouse, so democracy is working at least a little bit.

12:11pm - I'm finally on my way to work. I don't know that I'll be able to concentrate on anything today.

I don't know if I can watch the returns in public tonight or if I just need to stay home. I found myself crying watching the televised Obama rally in Virginia last night. Never have I been so proud of a Presidential Candidate and so inspired to put forth effort to make sure he makes it into office. To say the least, I'm fired up and ready to go!