EIPCa has been receiving calls regarding people showing up at the polls to vote in person, only to be told that there is no registration found in their name.

These people are long time voters and received a mail-in ballot for this election, so clearly, they are on the registered voter list. Even two candidates on the ballot in two separate counties have experienced this issue.

The most likely cause is user error.

What to do if this happens to you or someone you know:

1.  Ask poll workers to double check that they are spelling your name and address correctly when they enter you into the system. Sometimes a space or lack of a space in names that have two parts, such as McDonald or Van Halen, makes a difference.

2.  If the poll worker assisting you still insists you are unregistered, ask for the supervisor of the polling location or vote center to be called over to assist.

Electronic poll books are touchy. Often workers are instructed to enter only the first 4 letters of a voter’s name. If the entire name is entered, the response will be “no registration found.” Voters should ask for Supervisor involvement if there are issues.

If the Supervisor cannot resolve the issue, ask them to call their elections office HOTLINE and put you on the phone. Explain your issue and ask to be connected to someone in the Elections Office who can address your situation.

3.  Go online (from the polls if possible) to the website of the Secretary of State or your County Elections Office and check your registration status.

Enter your information and see whether that database reports you as registered. If you received a vote by mail ballot, you should find yourself there.

If not, follow step 4 and/or 5 below.

4.  If all of that fails, and you have the ability to do it, go down to the County Elections Office and ask to speak to someone who can help you. Do not hesitate to request going up the chain to people of higher authority until your situation is resolved.

5.  Your last option is to ask for a Conditional Voter Registration (CVR) ballot.

Do not accept a provisional ballot. In case you have accidentally been dropped from the voter rolls, the CVR will return you to the voter rolls and your ballot will be counted.

If officials subsequently find that you are already on the voter rolls, they will cancel your re-registration and count your ballot.

If any such issue happens to you, whether you’re able to get it resolved or not, please fill out a Citizen Incident Statement and mail it back to EIPCa headquarters as instructed.

It is vital that we have more than hearsay evidence (i.e., email, text or phone call) that these things are happening to legitimate voters because of a complicated, hackable and fallible electronic system.

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