This current election year I decided to do absentee ballot voting in my state as I am currently experiencing a number of health issues. I live in a red state; a state which yielded one of the highest voter turnouts for Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
Yesterday, I received a letter in the mail stating there was a problem with my absentee ballot application. I have voted absentee ballot several times in the past. In my state, a person must submit an application to vote by absentee ballot, which when approved by the election board, the voter registrant receives notification in the mail. One can also look online to confirm the applications approval.
The letter started off as follows:
Dear voter:
I regret to inform you that the County election board was unable to accept your application for absentee balance for the following reasons:
Your absentee application was rejected because we were unable to match the identifying information you provided on your absentee application with the information included on your voter registration application.
If you still wish to vote by absentee ballot , please complete a new application . If you are unsure of the identification number you provided when you registered , you may provide both your driver's license/state identification card, and last four digits of your Social Security number.
If you have any questions, please call the county election board at ###-###-####.
So I called a phone number that was listed on the letter to inquire as to why the application was disapproved. Actually, the person would signed the letter answered the telephone. In my state, and in the small town I live in, I by default assume most people I deal with are Republicans.
I asked her to confirm my voter identification number and I began to read it off. She interjected that was not the problem on the application but there is a problem with the last four digits of my social security number. That was a absolute load of malarkey and at that moment I knew what I was doing with--just one of those gut feelings hitting my spirit. I suggested to her because of proximity regarding dates of birth within my family, there might be a glitch with their computer system because companies have mixed my social security number with a sibling in the past. She next shifts gears and states "oh, it was not your social security number. You left your driver's license number off the form."
I can emphatically state I did not leave the driver's license number off, because I doubled checked and then later triple checked the application form because I know how the Republican party is and what type of shenanigans they engage in to prevent non-Republicans from voting. I am a registered Democrat living within a locale consisting of a thick swamp of Klan type Republicans.
This woman obviously lied, and could not keep up with her lie on why the application was rejected. Again, I absolutely put my driver's license number on the application form and distinctly recall taking out my magnifying glass to make sure every number was correct. Recall the controversy with pernicious Brian Kemp over voter registrants applications and how Stacy Abrams exposed the underhanded tactics being implemented to thwart votes in Georgia.
I learned a hard lesson. From now on, if I vote absentee, I will make a hard copy of the application before I send it in. In less than a minute after hanging up the phone with this lady from the election board, I began to fill out a new application and immediately proceeded to make a copy of it. Sadly, when Republican shenanigans are discovered or exposed, where's one to go in this country which has a Department of Justice equivalent to the integrity of a sick cesspool.
It is getting down to wire folks! REGISTER NOW and VOTE!
