My mother's doorbell rang this evening. A couple of young college students were there--no, they weren't canvassing, they just wanted to introduce themselves as Mom's new next-door neighbors and let my parents know they'd be throwing a party Friday night. How considerate to check in with the neighbors!
The conversation turned to politics... they said they were glad to see the lawn signs my parents have out. Mom, who happened to have dozens in her car because she's going to help open a coast office for Kerry this weekend, offered them one, and they gladly accepted.
Then I said, "So no need to ask if you're registered, then, right?"
They laughed, and said, "Oh yeah!" One of the girls said, "Twice, even!"
This was too interesting to pass up. She said, "I heard nothing back the first time, so I registered again just to make sure."
I told them about the registration drives and the fraud... they looked totally alarmed, had heard nothing. I said, "Look, if you haven't gotten your ballot by the 20th, call the Elections Division and find out what's up."
They nodded seriously and said, "We just have to get that man out of office--I can't stand the thought of not being able to vote!"
My 20-year-old sister says that you can't move three inches on campus without running into someone asking you if you're registered, that it's almost impossible to get through a day without getting registered to vote, let alone be apathetic about it. The question I now have is, "Who was doing the registering?"
The good news is that there's a flood of new registrations at the elections division.
The bad news is that kids aren't getting the word about the vote fraud... so we're starting a "pass the word on" campaign, to get people aware that if they haven't gotten their ballots promptly, they need to call and check. My off-the-cuff date of concern is October 20th.
This kind of vote fraud in Oregon has one and only one advantage over vote fraud elsewhere.
We've got about 2 weeks to the election to take emergency legal action on behalf of the disenfranchised, as long as we can get the word out to the college students and others who might be affected!