I voted but...

I still cant be passionate about politics. Obviously the US needs a change and thankfully Bush is on his way out. Its odd because I live in a home where my husband is in the military and his paycheck and possible deployment is changed based on the government. I have different views on a lot of issues than my husband but we both fully respect each other and our views. I'm not one to openly discuss politics but this year the lines have been blurred a lot easier because everyone wants to talk about it. I have been excited to vote for a long time and I was really happy today to actually do it.

Sooo... when I asked my parents to look and see if I was on the list for Andover and they called and said i wasn't I was shocked. I last voted there and I haven't changed anything since then. I called the Boston town clerk to see if I was registered to vote in Boston. I wasn't. I'm not an active voter. Apparently if you don't return a postcard that says you still live in that house every 18 months they make you an inactive voter. How many people does this happen to? I'm pretty sure I would have mailed back a postcard if I got it. So annoying.

So my options were to cast a provisional ballot. I went to Charlestown voting station and I was given two options for a provisional ballot. I also asked about why my voting status became inactive. I got a frustrated answer back - the same answer she gave to hundreds of people today. Apparently with home foreclosures and people moving the "active" voter list is very difficult to keep active. I was told they passed a bill recently with the current economic situation that people can vote nationally (ie for the president only) or state wide (president, senate and other state wide issues) but you cannot vote for the local issues and local politicians. I choose to case a state wide provisional ballot instead of having them verify my local address and then actually have my vote cast in 6 months.

What an ordeal huh? I have a feeling that with my Coast Guard life I'm going to have to deal with this over and over again. I need to remember to re-register to vote every couple of years and every time I move so I can make sure i am "active".

I feel better to know that at least my vote will count (but not for a while). Its nice to be a part of change.

Now I can thank the good lord that all of the political ads will be off the TV. I was going insane watching the NH senate commercials.