Would you want to wait in this line (at Blackham School) only to be turned away? Probably not.
After a half hour waiting in line at Blackham School in Bridgeport to vote this morning, I got to the front of the line — only to be told that my address wasn’t on the voting rolls. This wasn’t entirely unexpected. I moved not long ago, and this is my first time voting since then. I headed to the verification line, ready with evidence that I had indeed moved to my current address.
But when I got to the front of that line (a wait of about 5 minutes), I was told that I wasn’t registered. OK, friends, this is not true. I’m registered. I’m TOTALLY registered. I might be registered under my old address, but I am ready to do my civic duty. I tried explaining this to the monitor, and even suggested I might be registered under my maiden name, but I was told simply to go to City Hall and try to work it out there. No, I wasn’t given a provisional ballot.
Shell-shocked, I drove back to the office and call the election hotline listed on our front page today (866-733-2463). There, a nice man did a little digging and found out that I am indeed registered under my maiden name, and my old address. So now I have to go back to Blackham School, explain this all to them, fill out an affidavit and hope that the people working there aren’t too harried to listen to me.
Wish me luck.