Here’s an ugly little secret: I’ve never voted. Sure I have opinions on things and am unhappy with a lot of things, but I’ve never gotten off my ass to do something about it. I’m guessing I’m not alone on here, so now that I’m getting off my ass to do something about it I thought I’d put together a quick reference. Please help me correct any mistakes I might be making.
Step 1: Register.
If you click on “Complete English Form On-Line” under the last bullet on the right, it opens a PDF that you can complete online.
CAUTION: You can only vote in the primary election of the party you register in. I.E. You can only vote to make Obama the democratic candidate over Hillary if you register as a democrat.
Once you’ve completed the form, it must be printed and mailed to (if you want to vote in Erie County)
It says you must be registered 25 days in advance of the election you want to vote in. NY primaries are February 5th so your registration must be postmarked by this Friday January 11.
Step 2: Vote.
Polls in Erie County are open 6am till 9pm.
I can’t seem to find a list of polling places. I’m guessing every Town Hall in the county, among other places?
If you register as an Independant you are not allowed to vote in the primaries correct? And are you allowed to change your party registration in the future?
If you want to vote in the Democratic Primary you have to register as a Democrat.
If you want to vote in the Republican Primary you have to register as a Republican.
If you want to vote in the Independent Party Primary you can be registered as anything.
I have yet to find anything that says you cannot re-register at any time.
Its because of the two party system. Right now your not voting for whos president your voting who will run for president from each party. Ie - you dont want a bunch of democrats voting for Ron Paul in the Republican Primary so he would get the nomination and be an easy victory for Democrats later (being that Ron Paul is a joke lol).
And once you register the nice people from your party will come to your door and talk to you every year about the endorsed candidates, ballot initiatives etc. And if by chance your wife made the mistake of registering democrat in her young, green to the world college days they will kindly get you the paperwork to have that fixed. Speaking from experience there BTW
Doorbell, 90lb shepherd freaking out.
Democrat at the door (nervously looking at the dog now sitting at the top of the stairs where I told him to stay): “Hi, I’m so and so from the Democratic party and I’d like to talk to you for a minute.”
JayS: “You have 10 seconds to get off my property or I will release the hounds.”
Democrat no longer at the door: “poof”
JayS (to himself): “Man that guy can run fast”
The really funny part is the Republican rep stopped by a couple days later and the dog only barked a little to let me know someone was coming up the driveway. So it’s true, dogs can sense evil.
