{"id":2911,"date":"2004-11-02T09:26:26","date_gmt":"2004-11-02T14:26:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/2911.html"},"modified":"2004-11-02T09:26:26","modified_gmt":"2004-11-02T14:26:26","slug":"your-turn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/your-turn\/","title":{"rendered":"Your turn"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been looking forward to today since the evening of Dec. 13, 2000<\/a>. And no, I couldn’t sleep last night either.<\/p>\n

Many of you have already voted, but for those who haven’t, the Center for American Progress put together some handy-dandy suggestions for making sure everything goes smoothly for you. Here are some of the highlights, with a few additions of my own.<\/p>\n

* If you aren’t sure where you’re supposed to vote, MyPollingPlace.com<\/a> has a helpful polling place locator to help you find your voting booth. If that site is busy, call your state’s elections officials; the group New Voters’ Project provides a handy list of phone numbers<\/a> for each state.<\/p>\n

* Just to be on the safe side, bring your I.D.<\/a> The rules vary in different states. Also, poll workers are often confused about the law and may turn away voters by mistake. The the Center for American Progress, in a joint statement with other progressive groups, recommends, “The most preferable form is a current government-issued photo ID such as a driver’s license or a passport. Voters who do not have this should bring other types of valid photo ID, or other documentation showing the voter’s name and address, such as a bank statement or utility bill. Additionally, several states may require proof of citizenship in the form of a voter’s naturalization certificate.”<\/p>\n

* The Election Protection Coalition is ready to provide help to voters on Election Day. Voters needing assistance can call the toll-free number 1-866-OUR-VOTE<\/a>. Multi-lingual assistance, including Spanish, will be available to callers. The hotlines will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. PST.<\/p>\n

* Want to know your rights? People For The American Way has a list of states<\/a> with Voters Bills of Rights. Voters can find their state and click either on a short version, which explains their rights in clear and simple language, or the longer version, which provides all of the state laws backing up each of those rights.<\/p>\n

* Don’t forget provisional ballots, if the GOP tries to stop you from voting. The New York Times explains<\/a>, “No voter can be turned away in any state this year without being allowed to vote. If there is a question about your eligibility, you must be allowed to vote on a provisional ballot, the validity of which will be determined later. But if you are entitled to vote on a regular ballot, you should insist on doing so, since a provisional ballot may be disqualified later on a technicality.”<\/p>\n

* If you’re voting after work, get in line — and stay in line — even if it looks like you won’t get the chance to vote before the polls close. If you’re in line, officials are not supposed to be able to turn you away.<\/p>\n

* Lines might be long; bring something to read<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* Some lines may stretch outside of voting stations, so bring an umbrella<\/a>, comfortable shoes, and if you live anywhere near me, a coat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been looking forward to today since the evening of Dec. 13, 2000. And no, I couldn’t sleep last night either. Many of you have already voted, but for those who haven’t, the Center for American Progress put together some handy-dandy suggestions for making sure everything goes smoothly for you. Here are some of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2911\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}