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Today was South Carolina’s Republican Primary and, since I’m registered Republican, it was my honor and duty to cast my ballot for the person I believe should be in the running for the next President of the United States of America.
I’m not going to tell you who I voted for as that’s not germane to my story today. I’m going to tell you about the process that has to be what makes you question if your vote is actually being counted and if the election process as it’s done today is, in fact, a viable process.
I’ve lived in Abbeville County since 1998. When we moved here in September of 1998, along with transferring my driver’s license, utilities, phone, etc, I registered to vote. My voter’s registration card says I’ve been registered since January of 1999. Until two years ago, I voted at the polling place that was just a couple of miles from my house — at the city hall which is behind the post office. The post office is behind that building in the picture with the scene painted on the side of it. Yes, Donalds is a TINY town!
Two years ago, I received in the mail new voter registration cards instructing me that with the 2000 census we were now considered to be in Due West voting area and had to drive the 10 miles to Due West to vote.
I called the voter registration office in Abbeville and spoke with the lady who answered the phone, she directed me to a political map of the county and, although the roads were not marked on the map, we did determine that we are just over the line in Due West’s area. I wasn’t happy about that — who would want to drive 8 more miles than they had to when the polling place was just around the corner? I drive enough for crying out loud!
So, on voting day, we turned up at Dixie High School in Due West to cast our ballot.
We weren’t on the registration book. 
HUH??? After all the discussion with voter registration, we’re not on the book?? I have a card. Doesn’t the book get printed from the same data the cards are??
At any rate, I had to vote with a paper ballot and was assured that it would be corrected and we would be on the books for the next election — which was today — and we’re STILL not on the books, so once again I had to vote with a paper ballot.
It’s not the paper ballot that’s the issue, so much as all that goes WITH the paper ballot. For one thing, my name and address are on the envelope that the paper ballot is put into — this is SUPPOSED to be secret ballot, but how can it be secret when my name and address are on an envelope that the ballot is contained within?
For another thing, why, after TWO YEARS are my husband and myself not on the register for the precinct? We pay taxes, we shop locally and support local businesses. In other words, we’re known around here at least by some people! 
I was promised once again that this situation would be corrected by the next election, but who wants to bet? 
From Due West, SC 
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January 19th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
I’ve seen that happen before. I was a poll worker a few years back and we ran into some people that had been moved during the redrawing of the district lines and some of them weren’t in our books either. What if you just register again? I wouldn’t hold my breath if you’re expecting the government to make the correction.
January 21st, 2008 at 2:35 pm
As ridiculous as that might sound, it is probably the normal thing.
We live in an area that is something like that. The lines have not been redrawn for a while so we can vote at the same place we used to. What we decided to do is vote an absentee ballot that we could get at the court house. There, all you do is vote and you put it into a box that’s locked. Now, I have no idea if you have that type of setup but it might be worth a call to find out. The shot of it getting straightened out is slim and none from what I have experienced in the past.