Friendly Reminder

Kristin Teigen

At BlueOregon, we may not always agree on everything (really?) but hopefully there is one issue that can garner consensus -- using our right to vote.

If you aren't registered to vote, now is the time, Democrats!! The deadline is Tuesday, October 16 to be able to vote on November 6. There are registration forms scattered far and wide across our fair city, from the Multnomah County Elections Office to PSU to the DMV to, sometimes, your local grocery store. Just be sure to drop the form off at your nearest county elections office by Tuesday.

That way, no matter how you feel about Measures 49 or 50, or the other handful of local issues on the ballot, you can make sure your voice is heard.

  • (Show?)

    When I first moved to Oregon, just over ten years ago, I photocopied my voter registration form out of the front of the Yellow Pages.

    Today, you can also get it here.

  • (Show?)

    Kristin, are you SERIOUS? I can't believe you'd sell out like this.

    This is totally a Republican plan: getting people to vote? Sounds like the Christian Coalition to me.

    What we need is a progressive plan to get only the right people to vote, not a sell-out-moderate feel-good Bush-loving everyone-vote plan. Heck, I bet even Gordon Smith agrees with you on this.

    Are you a tool of Merkley or Novick or their henchmen or what? Who secretly authorized this post? What sort of DC DNC DLC DORC-funded conspiracy is this?

    Sheesh. Outrageous.

  • (Show?)

    Evan,

    Thanks for the laugh! Yer a funny guy...

  • James X. (unverified)
    (Show?)

    Oregon should return to same-day registration. We have the largest gap in the country between youth and general voting rates, and states with same-day registration have among the lowest age gaps and highest overall voting rates. Why didn't the resolution on this issue get a vote last session? Was there not enough support, and if so, why not?

  • Steve (unverified)
    (Show?)

    "but hopefully there is one issue that can garner consensus -- using our right to vote". ?

    Not hardly, true blues would prefer we not be able to vote on anything by initiative. Having control of our many policly making institutions you also prefer we not vote on any light rail or other major expenditures. Heck Blues prefer not to even clean up the registration and voting process itself by requiring ID. Now how is it you are pro-voting?

  • James X. (unverified)
    (Show?)

    I guess I'm fake blue.

  • Kurt Chapman (unverified)
    (Show?)

    Thanks Krosten, my youngest son turned 18 about a month ago. I'll take him to the local DMV and get him registered tomorrow.

  • James X. (unverified)
    (Show?)

    I'm curious, though, who has said we shouldn't need ID to register?

  • (Show?)

    Are you a tool of Merkley or Novick or their henchmen or what? Who secretly authorized this post? What sort of DC DNC DLC DORC-funded conspiracy is this?

    Sheesh. Outrageous.

    Not only that, Tom Bruggere ran a bad campaign. Ten years ago! Oh, and Future PAC=BAD. Finally, a word of wisdom: some people don't follow politics closely.

  • (Show?)

    Steve,

    This is me not taking the bait.

    Silence. Crickets. Silence. Crickets. Ah, relaxing.

    Have a nice day! I mean, just a wonderfully amazing day! Seriously!

  • Steve (unverified)
    (Show?)

    JamesX, "I'm curious, though, who has said we shouldn't need ID to register?" Uh the DMV, the State, the governor. I'm curious, do you think ID is needed to register? If that's the case, you must also know that people noit so Blue have been trying to get the state to require ID for years. Who do you think has stood in the way and prevented that requirement? I'll give you a hint. They're Blue.

  • Steve (unverified)
    (Show?)

    Correction

    If that's the case, you must also NOT know that people not so Blue have been trying to get the state to require ID for years.

  • liberalincarnate (unverified)
    (Show?)

    Registered and voting.

    Evan is a secret Repubnagte plant... either that or he is drunk and/ or off his meds.

  • (Show?)

    Next thing you know, Evan will be asking us to ride our bikes, to practice thoughtful urban planning or another such atrocity. Man!

    Oh, and I admit it, I WAS tool for Novick, but then ---OHMIGOD -- I learned he's a CLEVELAND fan! That's IT! I'm voting for Smith.

  • LT (unverified)
    (Show?)

    Steve, are you so against postcard registration that you want to go back to the old days where someone had to appear in front of a qualified individual and register in person?

    I recall being about to take the class to be one of those people when postcard registration started.

    Back in the days when one had to appear in front of an official person to register, someone a friend knew wanted to register without stating a party. The registration person wouldn't let her leave without naming a party. So the woman said OK, how about socialist?

    If you want ID to register, would you restrict the registrars to duly sworn public employees? Would a party or other political organization have to pay one of these employees in order to be able to register potential voters at a fair booth?

    Scapegoating is one thing. Failure to answer logistical questions is something else entirely.

  • (Show?)

    Hey Steve, I'll bite.

    If you follow the link provided by Stephanie V. above, you'll find a PDF of our Oregon Voter Registration Card where it states:

    Identification

    New laws require that people must provide identifying information to register to vote.

    If you have a current, valid Oregon DMV Driver's License/ID, you must provide that number in section 4.

    If you do not have a current, valid Oregon DMV Driver's License/ID, you must provide the last four digits of your Social Security number in section 4a.

    If you do not have a current, valid Oregon DMV Driver's License/ID or a Social Security number, you must affirm this by marking the boxes in sections 4 and 4a, and if you are registering by mail, you must provide a copy of one of the following:

    • valid photo identification
    • a paycheck stub
    • a utility bill
    • a bank statement
    • a government document

    Also, if you have been registered previously, but have moved since you've last voted, you must update your address with the Secretary of State's Elections Division if you want to vote.

    Pertinent section of the recently mailed Voters' Pamphlet:

    October 16th is the last day to register to vote for this election if this is your first time voting in Oregon. Because of our new centralized voter registration database, you can change your address until Election Day at 8 pm and still have the opportunity to vote. If you have more questions about voting, please visit our website at www.oregonvotes.org. There you can find the locations of your local county elections office as well as links that will help you find official ballot dropsites. Remember, every vote counts, so make sure yours is among them. The future of Oregon rests in your hands! Best wishes, Bill Bradbury Secretary of State

    Happy voting everyone!

  • Steve (unverified)
    (Show?)

    LT, Where are you coming from? Old days? I mean why all the speculation about who would do what to register people. Oregon could simply adopt any number of registration policies the many other states who today require ID use.

    And what question did I not answer?
    JamesX's was the only question I was asked and I answered him. The DMV, the State and the governor, by policy, say ID is not required. And from what I can tell anyone Blue here agrees with that approach. I haven't the slightest idea why you do. Many, or most other states have that very fundemental and prudent policy of requiring ID and without any old days problems.

  • (Show?)

    James X:

    We tried to get this passed during the last session, but it never made it out of Committee. I don't really understand why it didn't. The only ones who spoke against it at the hearings were the county elections office (it would take too much work) and the supposed head of the Oregon Young Republicans (who happened to be working for a Republican legislator on the committee who was against same day reg).

    A good number of us went down to Salem to testify on the bill and why it should be passed. I'd really hoped it would go through.

  • (Show?)

    Don't want to preach to the choir, so I urge you to all make sure your friends and family are registered to vote and that they vote as well. Also, kudos to our friends at the Bus Project who were out in force today registering people to vote at the AIDS walk downtown! If you see one these wonderful people on the street shoot them a smile and thank them for preserving our democracy!

  • ellie (unverified)
    (Show?)

    There are registration forms scattered far and wide across our fair city, from the Multnomah County Elections Office to PSU to the DMV to, sometimes, your local grocery store.

    Not to be a pain in the ass but... I just wanted to point out that this is BlueOregon, which should encompass more than the "fair city."

  • (Show?)

    Ellie,

    You're right. Extremely good point. My apologies.

  • James X. (unverified)
    (Show?)

    Steve, the information Colin Maloney provided is what I'm familiar with.

  • James X. (unverified)
    (Show?)

    Jenni, thanks for the answer, and all the work you do.

  • (Show?)

    Steve and his rightie friends are so obsessed with making sure illegal immigrants don't vote (though they can't identify a single case in Oregon) that they forgot to notice that they already won the ID-to-register fight. It's over. You won. Get over yourself.

  • Jack (unverified)
    (Show?)

    Steve and his rightie friends are so obsessed with making sure illegal immigrants don't vote (though they can't identify a single case in Oregon) that they forgot to notice that they already won the ID-to-register fight. It's over. You won. Get over yourself.

    Have they/we? I've been voting in Oregon for quite some time now and I honestly don't remember ever showing any state employee my ID. I simply filled out a form, gave/mailed it to someone, and got a ballot in the mail. I could be a German Shepherd for all the state knows. While I am 100% against illegal aliens (round 'em up, ship 'em out), I doubt they vote in significant numbers. Most are illiterate peasants who come from an ultracorrupt kleptocracy, so their interest in Anglo democracy is limited to non-existent.

    And Kristin, thanks for the reminder. Does that mean I still have time to register as a Republican so I can vote for Ron Paul in the primary :)

  • roxanne bruns (unverified)
    (Show?)

    The really amazing thing about the post is that this is the 26th comment on a column about the voter registration deadline. The comments on BO have bordered on the trivial for the last week.

  • Eric J. (unverified)
    (Show?)

    Kristin's post is just a reminder, yet some people have shown how emotionally stressed out and extremely uptight they are over this small issue. Reminders are great, but not to be stressed out over.

    Roxanne is right. And there are also bigger fish to fry than this...

  • Robert G. Gourley (unverified)
    (Show?)

    Now how is it you are pro-voting?

    It would be better if political offices were filled by lot, and that we only voted on the Generals.

  • (Show?)

    Eric and Roxanne,

    You are both so right. I dunno how a quick reminder could illicit such vitriolic comments about immigrants...nutty, nutty, nutty. Surprising where hatred will spring up...

  • Eric J. (unverified)
    (Show?)

    It's not really hatred...it's self-imposed ignorance to the point of no-return fear.

  • (Show?)

    Please send me meds and more booze. My hangover's hell. 4047 NE 14th, Portland, 97212.

  • Kelly (unverified)
    (Show?)

    Well, I for one THANK YOU for the reminder! I just moved back to Oregon from a 5 year exile in one of those hideously scary right wing states. I didn't know that you couldn't register on the day you vote. Now I just need to figure out how to make that happen by tomorrow! And not for nothing, I'm giddy being back in Oregon. You don't know how special it is here until you are forced to live in one of those "other" states!

  • (Show?)

    I doubt they vote in significant numbers. Most are illiterate peasants who come from an ultracorrupt kleptocracy, so their interest in Anglo democracy is limited to non-existent.

    Yeah, and one more thing. If you're an illegal alien, would you put your name and address on a form and mail it to the government? In order to get a ballot?!

    Not very likely.

    I do believe that our Secretary of State Bill Bradbury still has an open challenge to the public to name one illegal alien that's registered and voted.

    <h2>(Jack, thanks for dropping by - but please use a secondary identifier. A last name would be great, but Jack from Tigard or Jack Z. would be fine too. Just something to distinguish you from all the other Jacks.)</h2>

connect with blueoregon