October 29, 2009
Dear Everyone:
It used to be that when you moved, you would be
dropped from the Voter File (also called the Voter Roll) and you would
have to re-register to vote from your new location.
But I found out in 1997 if you stayed within the same county,
your registration followed you to your new location.
That’s what happened when I moved from
Concord to
San Ramon; I stayed within
Contra Costa County.
And before the next election my voter information showed up at
the San Ramon address. You
stayed on the Voter File as long as you voted in every major election.
If you skipped one, you would be dropped and have to re-register
again.
We had a special election last May.
My Voter Ballot arrived at the townhouse.
Since I was still picking up mail there, I took it to the new
place, fully intending to vote.
But it got lost in the mountain of stuff on the dining table.
By the time I found it again, the election was over.
So I figured I was going to have to re-register.
Imagine my delight a few weeks ago when an official
Voter Ballot arrived in my mailbox, addressed to my new location.
Apparently, the special election didn’t count towards the
“missing an election” rule.
I was even still a “vote by mail” voter.
So I stuck it on the front of the refrigerator where it wouldn’t
get lost.
Today I realized the election is next Tuesday.
(It’s always the first Tuesday in November.)
So I pulled the envelope off the fridge and put it in my bag to
take to work tomorrow. It’s
only a local election, after all.
The mayor of San Ramon, who is campaigning unopposed, and two
council-persons. It even
said on the inside to get it into the mail no later than this Friday, or
don’t bother. Well, I
certainly intend to bother.
As to why the election is always held on the first
Tuesday in November: When
this law was put into effect, people traveled on foot, or by carriage,
wagon, or horseback. People
who lived a ways from town, like farmers and ranchers, could not be
expected to travel on Sunday.
So the law gave these people all day Monday and, if necessary,
most of Tuesday to reach town and cast their votes before the polls
closed in the evening. Then
they could spend all of Wednesday and, if necessary, some of Thursday
trudging back home again.
What is new to November, recently, is the end of
Daylight Saving Time. It
used to end the last Sunday in October.
In fact, when I woke up last Sunday, I thought it was earlier
than it was because my clock radio had dropped back an hour for the old
Daylight Saving Time end.
Also one VCR. All the other
clocks read an hour later.
Now Daylight Saving Time ends the first Sunday in
November. So this coming
Sunday, I will have to change all the clocks at my place, then go up to
“Jeannie’s” place and reset all of her clocks.
It’s an annual thing.
We do it every year.
Love, as always,
Pete
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