Absentee Voting . . .

Well, we both voted absentee last Friday October 3. Our AFN TV spots make it sound so easy, but believe me, obtaining a ballot from Alabama is definitely NOT easy!

Although I sent the Jefferson County Board of Registrars our change of address in 2005 (after moving to Japan), we had not received any confirmation, so in January 2008, we contacted the Federal Voting Assistance Program to make sure we were registered & would be able to vote absentee in the upcoming AL Primary Election in March. We filled out Registration and Absentee Ballot Requests, using Holly's address since we had sold our house in Alabama, and her address was on our Alabama driver's licenses. Since there was a fax number included on the forms, we faxed them in, as well as mailed the originals to Washington DC. And then we waited . . . as the US Primary Elections all came and went.

At the end of April, we were surprised to receive the forms back in the mail from the office of Anne-Marie Adams, Absentee Election Manager at the Jefferson County AL Courthouse, with a note advising us that Alabama will only accept originals -- no faxed copies! So we filled out new ones & mailed them back.

In July, while we were in Alabama, Stan called the Registrar at the Courthouse to see if we were all set to receive our absentee ballots, and she said there was a problem with our address. It did NOT match our previous Alabama address, and we would have to file a change of address to use our daughter's address, and then submit new forms. So, we did this (again!), and Stan hand-delivered the forms to the Registrar's office in the County Courthouse in Birmingham. Then we returned to Japan in early August.

In early September, I received TWO voter registration ID cards telling me where to vote locally in Birmingham -- one for Holly's address and one for our old neighborhood address. Obviously, there was a problem! Then I received a copy of my form (only) with an unsigned note informing me that they did NOT have my original, only a copy, and an original was required to send my ballot. The note also said that my husband's was OK though . . .

So on September 7, I fired off a letter to Anne-Marie Adams -- mailing and emailing -- nearly 3 pages of dates & detailing how many forms we had already sent, copying the Governor of Alabama, and the Federal Voting Assistance Program in Washington DC. I expressed my frustration and asked for assistance. All we wanted to do was vote absentee in the General Election in November!

Three days later, I received an email from Ed Packard, Supervisor of Voter Registration for State of Alabama, that had been forwarded from person to person. He said that in checking the rolls, we were registered already to vote, and as soon as we completed the Absentee Ballot Request, we would be good to go. ( ! ! !)

Then on September 18, I received an email from Emily Thompson, in the office of Beth Chapman, Alabama Secretary of State. Ms. Chapman "understands the problems & issues that overseas voters face" and she's "working hard to tackle these problems." Later that same day, I received another email from her office saying that upon further investigation, she discovered our issues have been "taken care of" but if we need further help, do not hesitate to call. Here's what I wrote back:

Well, Ms Thompson, if by “taken care of” you mean:
1) submitting for us an address change (which we already supplied on the FIRST set of forms we mailed in 1/08) and,
2) providing yet ANOTHER SET OF FORMS to fill out & mail from Japan (which will take another 2 weeks to arrive in AL), then the forms languishing in the Jefferson County Courthouse (each time our forms have been returned, it has been several MONTHS later!). Then someone in the Jefferson County Courthouse mailing our ballots back to us (another 2 weeks) - that’s not going to do it. But thanks, anyway. I thought starting (nearly) a year ahead of time to attempt to absentee vote would be enough, but obviously in Alabama, it is not . . . I GIVE UP!

Last Wednesday October 1, my absentee ballot arrived in the mail, and on Thursday Stan's arrived. And "Gee" it only took about 10 months for us to vote. So, for those of you in the US who have to go "all the way" to your local precinct to vote -- PLEASE JUST DO IT!

It's not just our privilege, it's our obligation . . .

~Margie