Angry, Tired, and Successful
I haven't missed an election in my life. I don't plan for that to change any time soon. I have always had a hard time understanding why others don't feel the same way - but then I see crap like this, and I get it.

I just got to work, after spending an hour and a half making sure Beth could vote. They turned her away because she didn't have adequate proof of residence; after a few phone calls, talking with a few lawyers, and begging her roommates for additional paperwork, I managed to both get her ballot counted and the voting judges to hate me. But with any luck, I've successfully re-enfranchised a few dozen voters today. I feel accomplished, and a little bit sick.

The judges at my polling place were fine. They recognized me, they looked at my signature (actually updated!), and they gave me a ballot. No muss, no fuss. There was a line, but it wasn't huge, as you'd expect from my relatively small district.

This was not the case at Daniels Hall.

This was Beth's first time voting. Much like most of America, she's been fairly lukewarm about the idea, due to things like having tendencies that don't match those around her, and the knowledge that this isn't exactly a state where the Presidential elections matter as much. (They do matter, but nobody really feels that way.) But I poked and prodded her into getting registered anyway, confirming her registration, and at last actually showing up at the polling place.

We knew going in that there may be problems. She's a student voter; for various reasons, students are held to a higher standard to prove that they're eligible to vote. Bringing a photo ID and proof of address is the rule of the day; this is supposed to discourage voter fraud, in some nebulous way that only applies to student (read: Democrat) voters. Still, unless I'm willing to run for County Clerk there's no way I can make much of a difference on that point, so we had to track down some IDs.

The first was easy to find; every student carries at least a couple of forms of photo ID on them, one to prove they're a student to the University and one to prove it to the bars. The latter is trickier. Students generally have their parents' address on their driver's license, so those don't count. So instead they require some other form of ID, such as a bill, or (ideally) a voter reg card.

Unfortunately, Beth has few bills. Most are paid by her roommates; those that aren't she shreds right away, due to continuing concerns over identity theft. She never got her voter reg card. We still found several forms of proof - a torn up credit-card bill, a letter from Dad addressed to her, her checkbook, some others.

The line was long when we got to the polling place - probably 10-12 students, which was a bigger turnout than I'd seen for years (especially at 8:45am). Beth was already worried that they wouldn't let her vote, that her IDs were inadequate; I wouldn't hear it. Still, we weren't shocked when we got to the end of the line and they said "I'm sorry, none of those IDs count." We asked - what would it take? "Voter reg card, utility bill..." Why not this credit card bill? "We don't know that it's legitimate; it needs to be government issued." Never mind that it's still a utility bill...

We left, dejected, as did others. Beth proclaimed that she wasn't going to bother to vote; I wouldn't hear it. We returned to her place to try to track down a copy of her lease. She insisted that she didn't have one, but I figured one of her roommates might...

On the way, I gave my Mom a call; she was at the Naomi Jakobsson office answering phones, and she had me call their main number to try to work something out. I was quickly connected to a lawyer, who (over several phone calls) assured me that a credit card bill did count as a utility bill, and that he had checked with the County Clerk to confirm that. Of course, much as I was inclined to fight this on principle, Beth just wanted the whole thing done... So when we shortly thereafter found a copy of the lease, we just ran over with that.

Beth did get to vote. While this was going on, though, I was explaining to the election judges what the lawyer had told me - that the statements were legit, and that he was on his way over to relay this information in person. The judges, students by their look, began to grow grumpy at me; they seemed extremely relieved when they discovered that I was not actually voting in their district, and they could chase me off. I didn't make any friends there... but with any luck, they actually got that proof that a credit card statement counts.

I still feel bad. I know that others behind us were turned away, and probably others already had been; I should have done more to make sure they got to vote too. But I still feel...invigorated. Excited. My adrenaline high hasn't gone away entirely. And I am *angry*, so angry that they would *do* this to the students. That *students* would do this.

And yes, I do understand why some of this is necessary. I saw the students turned away because they didn't understand the concept of "precinct", where they showed up at the wrong place and just expected to be okay. The system isn't set up to allow that kind of thing, and while it probably should be... *shrug* Maybe later, once the technology has been properly rolled out.

If you can vote, vote. If they try to turn you away, call somebody and make sure they can't. Do not give up. It matters.