Voting Do's And Don'ts

AARP's Mark Kitchens Offers Five Tips To Minimize Odds Of Being Hassled At Polling Place

(CBS)  The best way to make it likely you'll have a smooth time of it when you go the vote Tuesday is to be prepared.

That's the bottom line of advice doled out on The Early Show Monday by AARP Senior VP Mark Kitchens, who offered five basic pointers:

Make sure you're registered and bring your ID

Before you can vote, you have to register (except in North Dakota). Each state has a different deadline for voter registration, but in most states, you need to have registered at least 30 days before Election Day. A few states don't accept MAIL-IN voter registration forms, which means you must register in-person.

The states that have same-day registration are: Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

The AARP advises everyone to bring information identifying them by name and address and, if possible, with a photo. At the very least, bring a utility bill from your current home address and, if possible, a driver's license or work ID. Again: Check your state's rules; some locations require a voter registration card.

It is critical to note that such ID -- especially photo ID, except in Georgia, Indiana and Florida -- IS NOT REQUIRED. The reason to bring ID is to protect against some glitch in the voting rolls, or some quirk in local procedures, or at worst, some personality trait that causes an election official to question your right to vote. Better to have an easy answer than risk having to spend time proving your identity. First-time registrants who didn't show ID when they registered can be required to show ID.

Know where your polling place is and when it closes

Most polls close between 6 p.m. (such as Indiana and Kentucky) and 9p.m. (such as New York and Maine). In some states, such as Maine, you only need to be in line at the time the polls close in order to vote; others may not be as lenient. Also, make sure you're voting at the correct voting place -- your vote may not count if you go to the wrong location.

Your state election board will have the details, or you can go to Pew's Election site at www.electiononline.org. Or see the tool we have on the left of this story.

Democrats and Republicans vote on the same day

Election Day is Tuesday. Period. Sadly, we see the rumor that Democrats and Republicans vote on different days perpetuated at election time. Flyers are left in neighborhoods stating that Election Day is one day for Republicans and the other for Democrats. For federal offices (president, Congress), Election Day occurs on the Tuesday following the first Monday of November, regardless of state, party, religion, race or sex. There have been robo-calls going out misleading people on the date.

Leave the political gear at home

Many states will allow you to cover up a political t-shirt or button, but best to just leave all political gear home until after you vote. This varies widely by state. For instance, Washington, D.C. and Maryland will permit you to vote if you have an unapproved t-shirt or sticker, as long as it's covered or removed before entering the polling site. Across the Potomac River in Virginia, however, you're not allowed to vote if you come within a certain proximity of the poll site with an unapproved t-shirt, etc. The distance from the poll site for disapproved items also varies from 50 feet to 500 feet across jurisdictions - just within Virginia!

Your vote matters

Here's a fact: The 2004 election was decided by fewer than 120,000 votes in Ohio. The 2000 election came down to 537 votes in Florida. That doesn't even count statewide races, such as Washington's 2004 gubernatorial election, which was decided by 129 votes. The reality is that, in 2004, more than 14 million people who were registered to vote, didn't. When elections come down to thousands, hundreds and sometimes dozens of votes, showing up is everything.

[cingore]

Your information about wearing political gear in Maryland at the polls is incorrect. There are no restrictions.

[tomr83]

Are there any: "Don''t Blame Me I Voted For McCain" stickers out yet? Please send me one.

[mucramente]

yes we need to vote for Obama to make sure those crazy white ringers (oops Right Wingers) don''t cause any more hurricanes like Katrina. i don''t know how they control the weather but somehow they must because anything bad that happens to me is their fault cause i''m sure not responsible. pluse Obama is gonna give me money for a new flat-screen baby! I''m gonna put that puppy in my house that he is going to stop forclosure on that Bill Clinton forced Fannie Mae to loan me the money for (even though I don''t have a job, wink wink). Life is great baby, i''m living the american dream. GOBAMA!!

[newsthought1]

America is fed up with all the scandals from Republican crooks, liars, perverts, lawbreakers, and used-car salesmen hucksters that have trashed this country over the last eight years:

Bill Frist
Randy "Duke" Cunningham
Jack Abramoff
Tom DeLay
Mark Foley
Larry Craig
Ted Haggard
Bob Ney
Trent Lott
Ted Stevens
Alberto Gonzales
Donald Rumsfled
Karl Rove
Scooter Libby
*** Cheney
George Bush

Lying about reasons for going to war with Iraq (Uranium,
false claims about Iraq''s supposed weapons of mass destruction.)
Torture in Abu Ghraib.
The treasonous exposure of a CIA agent by White House officials.(Plamegate)
Letting Osama Bin Laden escape from Tora Bora
Halliburton%u2019s overcharging and outright fraud for services in Iraq
Lack of body armor for troops
Enron
Katrina
Illegal wiretapping
Political influence peddling
S.e.x scandals
Troopergate
Travel fraud
Election tampering
Ballooning federal debt
Economy in a tailspin

And these are just for starters%u2026

Enough is enough, America is ready for change!

[neederbaur]

DONT BE A JOEY PLUGGS HAHAHAHA.From Dreams of My Father: "I ceased to advertise my mother''s race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites."

From Dreams of My Father: "I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother''s race."

From Dreams of My Father: "There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white."

From Dreams of My Father: ; "It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names."

From Dreams of My Father: "I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn''t speak to my own. It was into my father''s image, the black man, son of Africa, that I''d packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, Dubois and Mandela."

From Audacity of Hope: "I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."

[rdsoregon]

It''s remarkable how we have yet to hear of any voting machines flipping McCain votes to Obama, but we''ve heard many, many instances of the opposite happening. Very curious.

Here''s a video of the Right Wing machine in action. It''s called McChapter 7 - Morally Bankrupt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8gJ_rPHXtk

Please send it to anyone who might still be undecided or persuaded away from the McCain/Palin Mess. We need to stop the Right Wing Lunacy.

[vb7ue-2009]

I am completely dumbfounded by the media''s blackout of the prank call to Palin!

Dont the citizens have a right to know what their Vice Presidential candidate really is? We are on the verge of electing a completely dumb person to the position of the most powerful person in the world! Wont it be shameful for US to elect such a woman? Or is it that it is so shameful to even print it?

In fact, the audio is the most hilarious thing I have ever heard.. and the most scary as well! She behaves like a schoolgirl.. doesnt even know who Canada''s PM is, when Canada is the centerpiece of her foreign policy experience?

Vishal