<p>^^ It’s much easier to vote by mail like I did a few days ago.</p>
<p>Hello, Californians. My S had been corralled to register to vote during freshman orientation at age l7. He turned l8 while home here on Dec. 31. He was ALL EXCITED about his first voting opportunity. </p>
<p>He just called in and said the “lady” is really upset, that his application was lost (I don’t know if it was just lost because of his age, or because it was students assisting in the registering and they were careless with papers, or what.</p>
<p>Can he correct t on a same-day basis tomorrow? In other words, do you have same-day registration if he starts from the beginnning tomorrow?</p>
<p>We told him to just wait for the general (which is what “the lady” told him). H took the call so this is what I know. </p>
<p>If there’s a way to fix this one, though, I’ll dial it into him…</p>
<p>Otherwise, he’ll wait for the general Grrrr. He was so excited about it all, listened to every debate, all of that.</p>
<p>my friend turns 18 tomorrow, so she can vote!!</p>
<p>P3T, your son might be able to cast a provisional ballot tomorrow. </p>
<p>"PROVISIONAL BALLOT
You should go to the polling place in the precinct in which you believe you are entitled to vote, but you may go to any precinct in the county.</p>
<p>If the poll workers check the roster and cannot locate your name they will assist you to try to find your correct polling location. If you believe you are registered to vote and want to vote at the polling location where you are, you are entitled to a provisional ballot. (Because registration is allowed up to 15 days prior to the election some registrations may be processed after the roster for that election has been printed and so some names may not appear on the list of registered voters at the polling place.) You do not have to show any ID in order to vote provisionally.</p>
<p>After you vote, your ballot will be placed in a special provisional ballot envelope. Your vote will be counted if:</p>
<p>The county elections official can verify that you are, in fact, registered to vote and
You have not already voted
If you go to a precinct other than the one you are assigned, only the votes for the candidates and measures on which you were entitled to vote in your assigned precinct will be counted.
You have a right to know if your vote was counted. Contact your county elections office to ask if the ballot with your voting receipt number was counted.</p>
<p>The California Secretary of State’s Web site explains more about the process for casting a provisional ballot."</p>
<p><a href=“http://ca.lwv.org/lwvc/edfund/elections/e3person.html#prov[/url]”>http://ca.lwv.org/lwvc/edfund/elections/e3person.html#prov</a></p>
<p>To help him find his polling place, he can call 1-800-815-2666.</p>
<p>I hope he gets to vote. At least he should do the provisional and try.</p>
<p>Momof2inca: Thank you so much! I emailed that info to him just now. </p>
<p>He’ll have to figure out what that means about “believing he’s registered to vote” A young lady on campus, handling the voter registration applications, simply lost only his name in a group of names. I don’t know the details beyond that.</p>
<p>But if I know S, he’ll pursue what can be pursued. Many thanks to you!</p>
<p>How would the lady know that she lost his app though? Did he somehow check back in with her after a month (I’m assuming he registered before the deadline in January.)</p>
<p>Did he ever receive any kind of postcard in the mail or any voting materials in the mail? That would be a good sign that he is registered. </p>
<p>If the lady on campus has any record of his signing up that would be another good sign. </p>
<p>Good luck, I hope he prevails! </p>
<p>(For sure he should at least turn in the provisional ballot.)</p>
<p>Hey–do what you can to get out the vote for Barack tomorrow–here’s a video to get you fired up…(courtesy of Marite, thank you Marite!)</p>
<p><a href=“Featured Content on Myspace”>Featured Content on Myspace;
<p>I was looking for a thread where it would be appropriate to post a video I received from the Obama campaign when I came upon this one and found others had beat me to it. Now I’m giving it a bump:</p>
<p><a href=“http://my.barackobama.com/yeswecan[/url]”>http://my.barackobama.com/yeswecan</a></p>
<p>mom2inca, I still don’t see where the text of the speech is.</p>
<p>Also, noticed that since I first viewed this when marite posted it Friday, the number of views has gone from 22,000 to 1.2 million!</p>
<p>The text of the New Hampshire concession speech that was used for the song can be found here. The excerpt used by Will.i.am comes at around minute 11, toward the end of the 13+ minute speech:
<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe751kMBwms[/url]”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe751kMBwms</a></p>
<p>Take your camera–The New York Times online is sponsoring the Polling Place Photo Project–</p>
<p><a href=“http://pollingplaces.nytimes.com/content.cfm/how_to_participate[/url]”>http://pollingplaces.nytimes.com/content.cfm/how_to_participate</a></p>
<p>I intend on asking if I can take photos first–not sure of the rules!</p>
<p>Will do our part in NJ-California hoping you come through, the eyes of country are on California :)</p>
<p>Youdon’tsay,
There are lots of “Yes We Can” videos floating around now on Youtube. Here’s the one that has the text of the speech to the right side of the screen as the video plays on the left:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHEO_fG3mm4[/url]”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHEO_fG3mm4</a></p>
<p>SouthJerseyChessMom,
We are going to the polls in record numbers! Lots of young people. Very exciting.</p>
<p>Tremendous excitement in the air in our town too, and the weather is cold but beautiful and sunny. I am helping with GOTV (get out the vote) all afternoon and evening. Yes we can!</p>
<p>Mominca,</p>
<p>I phoned S this morning to go over details about how to proceed on the provisional ballot. Many thanks for your dedicated follow-up.</p>
<p>But honestly, he sounded deflated. He says he’d be okay with either nominee of his party, so is making a choice today to wait until the general election, rather than spend his day (or so he perceives) on this when he has an all-day training for being an RA next year, crucial to us financially.</p>
<p>I wanted to know if it was tearing him up that he couldn’t vote today. He said no; he had tried; he wouldn’t lose his option to be an RA next year by taking up time today to pursue the provisional ballot option. I can’t fault him for his civics. I think he tried his best, and nor will I push him around by phone to try to pursue this. He’s on the scene and knows how it balances out to distribute his time this day. He also doesn’t have a car, so I don’t know what it means to him to get to the polling places, either, from his California campus location. </p>
<p>Lesson learned: if you or your kids are part of organizing an on-campus registration effort, please don’t lose kids’ paperwork! </p>
<p>Here’s what I believe happend: Civic-minded folks were making it easier for kids to register, especially first-timers, during Freshman Orientation week. Yesterday, when he went to collect the postcards at some “easy” place on campus, his wasn’t there. Until yesterday, he believed he had done all he should have to be ready to vote today in a primary. Nothing came to him by personal mail and frankly, he put it out of his mind, assuming all was in order. He pursued the lady last night and best she could do was assure him his registration would be in order in time for the General. She, too, was frustrated with herself.</p>
<p>For me to push it beyond the email sent and phone call just now would be micromanaging his day, so I’ve decided to back off. </p>
<p>Maybe I’ll vote twice here in New York. JUST KIDDING.</p>
<p>I treasure the right to vote. My other S is voting in NYC, my H encouraged all to vote from the pulpit, although of course one can NEVER say for whom to vote at the risk of losing tax-exempt status for the church, mosque or synagogue.</p>
<p>But== to vote!! That is sacred. People have died for that right. So long, I’m getting off my soapbox and off to my local polling place, hope all who are reading are similarly inclined, regardless of candidate. VOTE. It counts!</p>
<p>Well, I totally understand you backing off at this point. I would do the same thing. But… just in case he isn’t aware, the polls are open until 8 p.m. here and his polling place is most likely on campus and wouldn’t require transportation. If he shows up he can just cast a provisional ballot without going into all the details. It wouldn’t take any more time than a regular ballot and he would at least have voted. So, send this to him and tell him that you don’t want to micromanage and will butt out now, but that some caring mom out in California feels his pain and is angry about what happened to him and thinks it’s wrong, and that if he can squeeze out time after his RA training she thinks he should still go vote. It’s his right and he should exercise it… emphasis on exercise in this case 
). </p>
<p>To P3T’s son, don’t let a glitch in the system stop you from being heard!</p>
<p>^^I’d want you on my team, any day of the week!</p>
<p>Will send your email. It’s okay if another mom bugs him.</p>
<p>And tell him I send him a hug and am proud of him for taking his responsibilities as an adult so seriously (both the RA training and his attempt to track down what went wrong with his voting registration). He sounds like an adult I want on MY team (no matter which way he votes).</p>
<p>Yes hug for him from me too. We nagged my son about voting when he was here for winter break. He was saying he didn’t really care, none of the candidates cared about the things he cared about. (Freedom on the internet is probably his only issue. :rolleyes: ) We badgered him into sending away for an absentee ballot, I hope he voted!</p>