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Early today, Stadlin's van picked up William Woods, 59, at the soup kitchen of the Bishop Cosgrove Center.
"I never voted before," Woods said, because of a felony conviction that previously barred him from the polls. "Without this service, I would have had no way to get here."
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1. LEGAL NAME. Your full legal name including any suffix such as Sr., Jr., III, is required on this form.
2. ADDRESS. Provide residential address. This information is required.
3. MAILING ADDRESS. If mailing address is different from residential address, complete the mailing address section.
4. PERSONAL INFORMATION. A telephone number is helpful to registration officials if they have a question about your application. Gender and race are requested and are needed to comply with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but are not mandated by law.
5. VOTER IDENTIFICATION NUMBER. Federal law requires you to provide your full GA Drivers License number or GA State issued ID number. If you do not have a GA Drivers License or GA ID you must provide the last 4 digits of your Social Security number. Providing your full Social Security number is optional. Your Social Security number will be kept confidential and may be used for comparison with other state agency databases for voter registration identification purposes. If you do not possess a GA Drivers License or Social Security number please
check the appropriate box and a unique identifier will be provided for you.
6. OATH. Federal law requires that you answer the citizenship and age questions. Read the oath and sign your name. If you cannot complete this application unassisted because of physical disability or illiteracy, you must either sign or make your mark on the signature line, and the person assisting you MUST sign the signature space for person assisting voter.
7. POLL OFFICER QUESTION. Your willingness to be a poll worker will have no bearing on your application for registration.
8. NAME/ADDRESS CHANGE. Complete these sections to change the name or address of your current voter registration.
9. MAP/DIAGRAM: If you live in an area without house numbers and street names, please include a drawing of your location to assist us in locating your appropriate voting precinct.
10. DELIVERY INSTRUCTIONS: Verify that you have completed and signed the application. Enclose a copy of your ID if you are submitting this form by mail and registering for the first time in Georgia. Fold the application in half, remove the tape at the top, and press the edges together. The application is ready for you to mail (postage is prepaid) or deliver to your county voter registration office.
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5. VOTER IDENTIFICATION NUMBER. Federal law requires you to provide your full GA Drivers License number or GA State issued ID number. If you do not have a GA Drivers License or GA ID you must provide the last 4 digits of your Social Security number. Providing your full Social Security number is optional. Your Social Security number will be kept confidential and may be used for comparison with other state agency databases for voter registration identification purposes. If you do not possess a GA Drivers License or Social Security number please
check the appropriate box and a unique identifier will be provided for you.
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PITTSBURGH (AP) - U.S. Rep. John Murtha says his home base of western Pennsylvania is racist and that could reduce Barack Obama's victory margin in the state by 4 percentage points.
The 17-term Democratic congressman tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in a story posted Wednesday on its Web site that, as he put it: "There is no question that western Pennsylvania is a racist area."
He says it's taken time for many Pennsylvania voters to come around to liking Obama, but he should still win the state, though not in a runaway.
In a separate interview posted Wednesday on the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Web site, Murtha says Obama has a problem with the race issue in western Pennsylvania that could shave 4 points off his lead in the state.
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Auditors compared data in the TEAM system to data obtained from the Department of Criminal Justice and the Bureau of Vital Statistics using criteria developed by the Secretary of State’s Office. As a result, auditors identified 49,049 (0.4 percent) of 12,374,114 registered voters for the May 12, 2007, special election who may have been ineligible to vote. These included the following:
- Voter records for 23,114 possible felons.
- Records for 23,576 voters who may be deceased.
- Duplicate records for 2,359 voters.
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County voter registration offices are ultimately responsible for determining voter eligibility, which limits the Secretary of State’s Office’s ability to ensure that voter registration records are accurate and that ineligible voters are removed, as required by HAVA.
The Secretary of State’s Office does not monitor county voter registration offices that investigate potentially ineligible voters. Once potentially ineligible voters are identified by the TEAM system, the Secretary of State’s Office does not have processes to ensure that county voter registration offices investigate these voters and cancel registrations for ineligible voters in a timely manner. The Secretary of State’s Office’s policies and Texas Election Code require county voter registration offices to investigate each voter and to cancel the registrations of voters who are deemed ineligible. However, the Secretary of State’s Office does not monitor the county voter registration offices to ensure that the registrations of potentially ineligible voters are consistently investigated and resolved. The Secretary of State’s Office’s management stated that some county voter registration offices cause delays because they do not promptly investigate and resolve the registrations of potentially ineligible voters. As a result, a risk exists that voters flagged by the TEAM system as potentially ineligible could retain the ability to vote if county voter registration offices do not verify their eligibility.
...
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An exclusive KIRO Team 7 Investigation discovers the state will send ballots to thousands of convicted felons in the next week, even though many can't legally vote.
The Secretary of State’s Office fired up a new multimillion-dollar computer in 2006. Its job was to catch, and then cancel, illegal voters.
Well, not all illegal voters.
KIRO-TV recently ran its own data to double check the state's work. Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne found out the system was set up to ignore the existence of approximately 24,000 convicted felons.
The State of Washington never stopped sending Tracy Wilkinson ballots in the mail, even though it appears she's not eligible to vote.
In 2002, she pleaded guilty to a felony prescription drug charge, then, according to court files, failed to pay all her fines.
A Snohomish County judge ruled "the defendant is not entitled to restoration of civil rights or discharge" - legal speak for "you can't vote!"
Wilkinson admitted to Halsne that she is a felon, but thought she could still legally vote.
Halsne: "You're a convicted felon?"
Wilkinson: "Yeah. I am. I fought it, but they said no jail. So, then, it really never bothered me because I thought, well, I'm never going to be president, so I don't care. Really. Then, when you brought up that I'm not supposed to vote, they send me my ballots. I've been voting for the last 10 years. "
An extensive computer analysis, independently conducted by KIRO Team 7 Investigators, found that Wilkinson is just one of 23,927 criminals on the active voter database.
6,812 of them are considered "very likely voters" because they already cast a ballot in other elections this year.
Unless something changes soon, every one of the felons will get a ballot for the November election, even though the state admits it has no idea if they are eligible.
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In a brief unsigned opinion, the justices said they were not commenting on whether Ohio is complying with a provision of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 that lays out requirements for verifying voter eligibility.
Instead, they said they were granting Brunner's request because it appears that the law does not allow private entities, like the Ohio GOP, to file suit to enforce the provision of the law at issue.
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JACKSON, MS (WLBT) - Mississippi's voter situation is hard to believe. Places like Madison County have over 123% more registered voters than people over the age of 18.