the otherwhirled

The following is from Dan Patterson, aka Creepy Sleepy. I’m not surprised, but neither am I amused.

Friends,

Three weeks ago I applied for an absentee ballot from the state of South Dakota. I’m voting in SD because of personal affection for some running in local races.

When I applied for the absentee ballot I had the woman in the County Clerk’s office walk through each step of the application with me.

Today, however, I was told that I needed to send a photo ID in order for them to process the ballot. I politely informed the woman in charge of absentee ballots that when I applied I was not told of this necessity. She told me that they did not receive my application until October 27th (weeks after I had mailed it), and that there was no way for the State to get me a ballot short of overnighting it.

I asked her to proceed with an overnight. I was then informed that the State would need money up front to overnight this. Disregarding the fact that paying for a ballot is shady at best, I offered to send a photocopy of my ID and pay to have the ballot overnighted. I was then told I need a FedEx number or someone in South Dakota would have to bring them cash.

I would like to mention that my tone during the conversation was even and calm. I offered to make every accommodation possible in order to get my ballot. No need to point fingers, but the two different women that I spoke with were both immediately defensive - lots of sighing and aggregation in their voice tones. When I said that I don’t think it’s fair or right that I should have to pay to vote, she then told me that if the State were to overnight a ballot to me, they would have to do the same for everyone and if I had problems with that I should call South Dakota’s Secretary of State Chris Nelson.

Here’s a breakdown of the conversation:

“Sir, by asking us to just send you a ballot is asking us to bend the law.”

“I’m not asking you to bend the law at all, I would just like to have my ballot in time to vote. Can I PayPal you the money or give you my credit card number?”

“We don’t accept pay pay, won’t take a check, and have no way to process a credit card.”

“So I have to have someone in the state come up there in time for you to process the paperwork and mail the ballot today?”

“Yes”

“Is there any other way to get you the money?”

“Do you have a FedEx account number?”

“No, I’m an individual and don’t think that my work should have to pay for it.”

“Then no, there is no other way for you to get your ballot.”

Now, I can easily afford to have my ballot sent to me, but that’s not the point. Paying for a ballot is wrong and is a clearly tactic voter disenfranchisment. How many people cannot afford this cost, either in money or time spent with bureaucracy?

I will not pay or go through layers of bureaucracy to vote.

I will, however, do a story on this. And encourage you to use the media tools at your disposal to talk about issues of disenfranchisement that happen in your state. Using email, Twitter, Facebook, et al I encourage you to report any and all incidents of voter disenfranchisement. Talk about it, discuss the issues and laws in your state. Spread the word that even in this day of hyper-connectivity, disenfranchisement happens.

Thanks.

- Dan Patterson

Obviously, there’s not much we can do about Dan’s plight today or tomorrow. I’m especially chagrined about this because I was one of the ones who asked Dan to cast his vote here in South Dakota, where something other than conservative thought is so incredibly needed for this election cycle.

At the very least, though, we can spread the word about this. This is exactly the type of poor electoral management that unfortunately exists in places throughout the entire country. If you’re aware of situations like this in your local area (or anywhere else, for that matter), please be sure to document them well!

And please be sure to spread the word about this one.

Thanks.