A Cautionary Tale

By GrannyMumantoog, a Trail Mix Contributor

Some recent news articles have shown that there are still people out there trying to mess with voter registration. Mostly they are just using scare tactics by making people think that there is much more voter fraud than has actually been proven to be true. In addition, there are still some people working to get last minute laws enacted to make registrations and voting more difficult. In this crucial election it behooves us all to be ever vigilante and work on behalf of ensuring that everyone who can vote is legally registered!

dont-voteA few days ago, feeling a little paranoid about the state of voter registration, I decided to look into the subject a bit. I discovered that there are wildly different rules, deadlines and methods available for people to register to vote in different states. I learned that my state had a nice online area where I could check my registration status so I did! As expected, I was registered just fine! What I didn’t expect was that my oldest son (Turning 50 Monday yikes!) was not! He had put in a change of address with the DMV some time ago and I remember that I talked with him about making sure his change of address was on his voter reg too. Well, apparently he didn’t do that in time and yes, it turns out that there is a deadline to do it. You can’t just show up at your previously recorded poling place, as he thought he could. His deadline had passed and he was no longer a registered voter! Needless to say I emailed him a link to the voter reg page and he took care of it that day.

This got me thinking that I should share this information with as many people as possible. I was amazed to see how many different deadlines exist when you look at the lists by state! This election is too important to leave anything to chance!

Here are some links people can use. Two of them are to find out more about voter registration in each state. One is a universal form to use to register online, for people who are not yet registered. If all else fails, people should be encouraged to check their state’s official website and find a page with voter information they can click on! For the most part, there’s only a couple week left to accomplish this.

Rock The Vote offers a handy online form taking registrants step by step and linking to one’s state registration site if applicable: https://www.rockthevote.com/register-to-vote

Be aware that some states do not have online registration so voters need to be even more aware of deadlines by mail, determined by postmarks, or in person.

The New York Times has all the state deadlines an links to each state’s online registration where applicable: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/24/us/politics/voter-registration-deadlines.html

Here’s another site with deadlines listed by state: https://www.vote.org/voter-registration-deadlines/

Now, go  forth, and get out the vote!

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So Long Arnie

Mourning Arnie tonight. Grew up a short walk to his course, Bay Hill (Orlando). He and his family good friends to my parents. My first paying job in life was on his greens crew as a high school student. One of my tasks was carefully removing weeds from the putting greens with a steak knife, not marring the surface. More than a few times he would be playing through and stop to inspect my work, was proud he never complained, as he was prone to do when his beloved course was not meticulously maintained. Pic here is my Mom and Dad at one of his famous New Year’s Eve parties, where they would dance the jitterbug with he and wife Winnie, she and Mom were big buddies.

palmer_crawfords-2

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