Registration mix-up disenfranchised voter
I was an unaffiliated voter until 2008 when I changed in order to vote in the primaries.
This political season I enthusiastically followed all of the debates and daily political news events. Imagine my surprise when I was not allowed to vote.
In 2012, I changed my address at the Department of Motor Vehicles. Apparently I did not check the box on the registration card indicating whether I wanted to enroll in a political party. I must have assumed that since I had already enrolled in 2008, it was unnecessary. Maybe it’s a matter of semantics, but why would I re-enroll if I had never withdrawn my 2008 enrollment? And why would I care to have anyone at the DMV know my affiliation? I was completely blindsided and feel that simply moving across town is not enough reason to be disenfranchised. I urge all voter registrars at DMV or the Town Hall to highlight the small box on the change of address form and inform the registrant that if they choose to stay affiliated with their party, they need to mark this box.
You may never appreciate your right to vote until you are told you can't!
Leslie Nicholson Suarez
Waterford
Editor's note: According to the Waterford registra, voters who fill out a registration card or change of address with the registrar's office, rather than the DMV, should not encounter the problem of losing party affiliation.