My mother moved to Oregon from Colorado back in June. One of the first things we did was have her fill out a voter registration card. With the mid-term elections fast approaching, and so much on the line, I began to wonder whether she was actually registered. She had never received any confirmation. I had recently heard on the news that one could check voter registration status online, so I went online and entered my mother’s details. I learned that she was not registered.
Next, I filled out the online registration form for her, and discovered that because she does not have a Oregon driver’s license or ID card that she needed to submit the paper version of the registration. I filled out the required fields online and discovered that the “Print” function was broken. Then, I found a couple of PDF versions of the voter registration card. They were ostensibly interactive forms, but the form fill feature was broken. The form itself was in a microscopic font that was too small for my aging eyes, let alone my mother’s 91 year-old eyes, so I took a screenshot of the form, blew it up so that my mother could see it, and had her sign it.
After that, we drove to the Washington County Election Division. At the Election Division, we were surprised to find that the handicapped parking was at the opposite end of the building from the entrance. It was a very long walk for my mom, but she was determined that she would get registered. Just another hurdle. The woman who greeted us was very nice and helpful. She went over to her computer, and looked my mom up. “Oh yes, we did receive something from you,” she said looking up at us,” but it is ‘pending’ because we could not verify the address.” She went on to say, “The unit numbers on record for that apartment building only go from 00 to 34.” We confirmed that she lived in 36, and that the numbers went well above that.
She agreed to extend the numbering schema to my mother’s apartment, but needed confirmation of the other numbers in the building. I volunteered to get these for her, which I did, as soon as we returned to the retirement community.
My mother is now registered, but I am still feeling unhappy with the system that put her into “pending” status with no notification that there was anything wrong with her voter registration application. It is unclear to me who is at fault in this situation. Is it the developer? The landlord? The post office? Who provides legitimate addresses to the Election Division? This must pose an enormous problem for the many people who are moving into new construction addresses, especially in Washington County, which is busting at the seams with new multi-family buildings. How many people think they are registered to vote because they submitted their voter registration cards only to find themselves without a ballot after it is too late to do anything about it?
Today, I once again went online to check to see if my mother was registered only to find that the My Vote feature of the state website is not working. Not to sound paranoid or anything, but the Elections Division of Oregon is under the leadership of Dennis Richardson, a Republican. It occurs to me, that during this cycle, he and his cohort may not be interested in signing up too many new apartment dwellers; they tend to be young, less affluent, or old–not all of these demographics are favorable to the GOP. Just saying that the hurdles for registering to vote in a state that prides itself on its progressive Motor-Voter program, and an all-mail-in ballot are more than they should be. If you moved recently, and have not received confirmation of your registration, you need to check to make sure that you are actually registered. If the state website is broken, call the Election Division for your county, or better yet, go in person!
255 Capitol St. NE
Salem OR 97310
503-986-1518
Toll free 1-866-673-VOTE (1-866-673-8683)
Fax 503-373-7414
TTY 800-735-2900