Monday, September 29, 2008

Ballot Trouble Explained

It took me a week to get up the courage to call about my ballot. I hate dealing with bureaucracy, especially over the phone, especially long distance. But, I finally called and fortunately there IS an explanation. There is a court dispute involving a would-be candidate who is not on the ballot but fighting to get on so Erie County has not printed there ballots. Therefore, overseas voters have to use the write-in ballot because the court battle is preventing the timely distribution of ballots to overseas voters.
The person I spoke with was very nice and was able to ask the person responsible immediately and get the answer. I am grateful for that.

I wish they had put a letter of explanation in my packet, though. Adding to my confusion, they included the instructions for the actual ballot that say,"You must blacken the oval completely. Do not put a cross or check mark". The write-in ballot has squares, not ovals and the instructions,"Put a cross or check..."

I need to look over some things for the local issues and then get this ballot mailed back tomorrow or Wednesday.

In other political news, Ian's Barack Obama t-shirt came today. Pictures tomorrow...

No comments: