I’m pissed as hell about something, enough that I wrote a letter to the editor that got published by the Philadelphia Inquirer. You see, I’m registered to vote in Philadelphia, but am temporarily living in New York state. To make sure I had a chance to vote, I mailed away for an absentee ballot a full month before the deadline. Weeks went by and my nervousness ticked higher, as no ballot made it into my mailbox. After calling the Philly electoral offices repeatedly (the line was busy 9/10 calls), they told me they were “swamped” and were probably sending out my ballot that day. The next time I reached them, a week later, they told me my ballot had been sent out already.
In the end, I did not receive an absentee ballot in time to mail it in (or at all). So I did what I could in my rage, calling the governor, the board of elections, my congressman, you name it. Then I wrote the letter below.
Thankfully, I have managed to take off work, and will make it to my polling place tomorrow. But I’m sure there are thousands who cannot, and who will lose their chance to vote. That’s bullshit. Mega bullshit.
From what I’ve heard, this has hit voting districts in poorer areas disproportionately. Unfortunately, I don’t think anything will be done about this.
Here’s the original, unedited version:
Spoiling democracy
Elections represent the bedrock of democracy, but unfortunately, it seems that a number of us will lose our voices next Tuesday. I will be away from my polling place on November 4th, and while I have done everything in my power to obtain an absentee ballot, I still have not received one just days before the election. Faced with a record-breaking turnout, Philadelphia election officials have been unable to handle the rush of new voter registrations and ballot requests. I was told over the phone that the election offices had seen a glut of applications and were simply “swamped.” As result, even people who filed weeks before the deadline have not received their ballots.
I should not be penalized for the backlog, lack of staff, or any other excuse the election offices could give, when all I want is the right to vote as an American.
If this problem is as widespread as I suspect, something needs to be done at the highest levels of our fine state. Perhaps the deadline for mailing in absentee ballots (Friday) could be extended. Extreme circumstances call for extreme measures.
Danila
