Yesterday the Tulsa County election board sent out a plea for absentee voters. They are expecting turnout so heavy this year that voting may actually be a serious hardship for many people. Given that, I'd like to request that everyone reading this blog register and vote absentee this year.
Just yesterday I requested an absentee ballot myself. Here's what you do:
Get an absentee ballot request form.
The easiest way is to download it from the state's website, but forms are also available at your county election board (555 N Denver for Tulsa County). Our headquarters at 3930 East 31 Street should also have the forms.
For most people, the form you need is this one. Click the link and print it out now.
If you are "physically incapacitated", or are the caregiver for someone who is, they request you use this form instead.
Get Your Registration Info
To help in this process, I suggest you go to the state's polling place locator website to find your registration information. Fill out the blanks, hit the "Search" button, and you should be presented with your registered name and your voter ID.
If the search does not turn up your registration information, move on to the next step without it and try to do the rest as best you can. However, after you have sent in your request, I highly suggest you call your local election board and verify your registration.
Fill Out the Form
You will need to fill in the following information:
- Your Name as it appears on your registration
- Your Address as it appears on your registration
- The name of the School District or Board of Education district in which you live. Sadly, this information is probably not on your registration record, so you just have to know this. For the Tulsa area it's probably something like "Tulsa", or "Jenks", or "Union", etc.
- The town or "Ward" you live in.
- Mark a box and fill in a date for which election(s) you want ballots for.
To make things simple, I just marked the last box next to "all elections for which I am eligible during calendar year", and filled in the blank to read "2008". This will probably be the only remaining election this year. If you'd like to do this again for future elections, I'd suggest submitting another form to do so later.
- Fill in the address you would like your ballot mailed to. This can be different than your registered address.
- Sign it
That's it!
Send it In
Once it is all filled out properly, you need to send the application to your county's board of election office. For Tulsa County that would be by mail (or walk-in) to 55 N Denver, Tulsa 74103-1014. You can also fax the completed for in to their fax number, which for Tulsa County is 596-4536. That is the way I did it yesterday.
Deadline
You must have all of this done and the request must be in their hands at the county office no later than next Wednesday, the 29th.
I cannot stress enough how important doing this is. Just you alone doing this will not only will it make it easier for you to vote (+1 vote for Obama there), but it will also possibly allow one more person who walks in on election day to vote, rather than having to leave in frustration. The people who are going to have the toughest time with the lines are going to be the working poor, the infirm, and those with small children and no secondary caregivers. All of those groups are largely democratic. So every person who votes absentee is potentially 2 votes for Obama that wouldn't have happened otherwise.
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