Letter to the Editor

Snafu leaves citizen without voice at ballot box

Saturday, November 3, 2012

To the editor:

This is one way my voice will be heard, since the Blytheville (state) DMV has silinced me for this election by losing my voter registration card.

On Sept. 20, 2012, I went to the Blytheville location of the DMV to get my vehicle tag renewed and to register to vote, seeing that you can do both there. After finishing with my tag renewal, I asked about registering to vote and was handed a registration card to complete and sign. I filled out and signed my card and asked the young lady behind the counter, "Now what do I do?" She said to me, "Nothing, we'll take care of it for you," as she took the card off of the counter.

Now on the 29th of October (this past Monday), I went down to the bus station to do my duty as an American citizen and have my voice heard through my vote. I went in and proudly handed over my picture ID and gave the ladies my name. They looked through the book, but I was nowhere to be found. I was told that I was not registered to vote. After making a fuss that I knew I had registered, they called the courthouse just to make sure the card was not there. It wasn't. They did, however, allow me to vote on a "provisional ballot," which means if they can find my registration card, then my vote will be counted; but if they can't, it won't. They also stated that they have had problems in the past with the DMV getting voter cards back to the courthouse, so I should check with the DMV.

Then off to the DMV I went to find out what happened to my card. I was instructed by the supervisor to talk to the same young lady that had helped me in September. I informed the young lady that I had filled out a card, and at that point, she got huffy and told me that I didn't get a card and that I would have to sign the new machine that now does the registering. I again said that she had given me a paper-type card to fill out and to sign and I hadn't dealt with the machine. Again I was told that I didn't know what I was talking about because they are using the new machine and I would have had to sign my name into the machine. Now, it was at this time that the supervisor spoke up and said that they were still giving out the paper cards back in September because the machine was not ready to use at the time. At this point, the young lady asked another worker to hand her a paper registration card. She looked at me and asked, "Is this what you filled out?" I responded, "Yes." She then said, "I told you that you had to take it to the courthouse." I again reminded her that I was told by her back in September that she would handle the card and deliver it with the rest of the cards. At this time she told me that I should go to the courthouse to look for my card there, since I would have had to take it there myself since they don't do it. Neither she nor her supervisor ever got up to look to see if the card was still in their office. They were no help at all except for blaming me in their error.

I left and went straight to the courthouse and into the voter registrars' office. I told the ladies in the office about my plight. They were very nice and very helpful. They pulled a bunch of cards out and said, "These are the ones that the DMV has sent to us." They looked through all that they had, but I was not in the bunch. They then apologized for me not going to have my vote counted this time and asked if I wanted to register again. I told them "No, thank you," because I had re-registered at the bus station on Monday after I cast my non-counted vote.

So as it stands, I have no voice in this election, although I played by the rules and did as I was supposed to do. It was someone else's (state DMV) screw-up that has caused me to be silenced, and I am mad.

I also have another big concern. On this registration card went my name, address, date of birth, sex and my SSN. Since my card cannot be found, how do I know that an identity thief isn't trying to use the information from the card?

Ashley Farmer
Blytheville