This is probably a little presumptuous, but I need to ask a favor of you.
[In this space, there used to be an unredeemable attempt to allude to an episode of The West Wing in which staffer Donna Moss arranges a sort of swapped-voting deal with a White House Naval officer played by Christian Slater. Something about absentee ballots... While Donna's plan worked out, my efforts to summarize it did not. Alas]
So. I learned recently that Maryland Votes, a no doubt admirable group, whose non-partisan work to register voters (particularly young voters) seems to have gone well, neglected to mail the voter registration form I gave them at a campus rally in late September (well before the deadline for Tuesday). We made an inter-county move, see, and this means my registration needs to reflect that.
This frustrates me to no end. Can't vote. On the phone, folks at both counties' boards of election have said (with varying degrees of confidence) that I can legally vote in the old county, but the clearly printed guidelines on my voter card and at the state board's site indicate in no uncertain terms that voters cannnot go home again, as it were. Voting law is not something I'm into breaking.
Sharing all of this is meant to accomplish three things.
1) Mea culpa for not mailing the form myself
2) Quiet complaint about the fact that an otherwise noble group has sort of let me down
3) I hope it begins to make up for my inability to vote and serves well as the foundation for my plea, which is as follows:
If you're looking for a reason to vote (ideally in MD, but anywhere will do), then have this one. Dave blew it. One less participant in the process. So let's add a participant to the other column.
If you and I know each other already (that is to say, if you and I are old pals), and if you're a local in need of transport, I'll come pick you up and take you to your local polling place. I've promised to volunteer at one polling site in the evening, so it would have to happen in the morning. Friends, let me know.
Like I said... presumptuous.
Posted by dave at November 5, 2006 11:39 AM