A day at the polls

Today is one of the historic days America has seen in a long time. Barack Obama, presidential nominee for the Democratic Party along with his running mate Joe Biden would be the first African American president of the United States. The Republican Party is backing John McCain and his Running mate Sarah Palin, who would be the first women vice president. This afternoon I spent a few hours on the SUNY New Paltz Campus polling station located in the Student Union Building on the second floor. I Interviewed 50 people from 1:30p.m. To 2:30p.m., just as they were leaving the voting booths. Time after time as I questioned people passing by they said they had no problems voting in this election, but seven unlucky people were unable to vote and some were enraged with the thought that the provisional, absentee, or affidavit would not be counted. One of the first problems encountered was a 21 year old senior whose family had recently moved while she was away at school; she had filled out the forms late, and was unable to cast her ballot. The second was a 21 year old who filed for an absentee ballot, and the forms were not mailed to her, so she was sent to three different polling sites to fix her problem. Next was two 19 year old, first time voter, whose name was not in the book and was forced to use and affidavit. A 19 year old voter was previously register on campus but had moved off campus this year, lost her vote because she did not realize the simple move required paper work. Next was my favorite, a 20 year old male was furious that his name was not on the registered voters list, he had voter three time for in local elections but when time came to vote here, he was labeled inactive. He was mad he used some choice words I would rather not repeat to express his anger, but I hope talking to me helped him calm down. Last was a 19 year old who received yet another affidavit. The amount of people whose votes will not be counted for inappropriate reason is unacceptable. Elections should count the votes of every person who will be affected, whether or not it be a simple clerical error or voter registration issue, people have the right to vote.