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Voting Screw-up - What do I do now?

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S

ScurryRay

Guest
OVERVIEW: Using poor judgment, I indicated that I lived at an old address, which I no longer live at, to be able to vote in the Presidential election yesterday. I need some advice on what to do from here.

About 1 year ago, I moved from Address #1 in County A to Address #2 in County B. At that time, I did not update my voter registration records, which still bore an old address, Address #3, which was in County A, the same as Address #1.

I had not originally intended to vote, as, in 15+ years of being able to vote, I have never chosen to exercise the right for various reasons. As the election grew nearer and I read more and learned more, much of which alleviated reasons I had not voted before, I decided to vote. I was excited about the possibility of voting and did a great deal of research on the various candidates.

A few days before the location, I called the registrar’s office of County B (my current address), explained the move situation and asked if I was registered to vote, as I was pretty sure I had registered years ago. The woman told me that yes, I was registered, but I was registered in County A and would have to go there and vote. I specifically asked if I could just go there and vote and she said yes, but to call and find out where I needed to go vote.

I called County A and asked where I needed to go and vote. She advised me of the location where I needed to vote. On Election Day, I went to the designated location after work intending to cast my vote. I walked into the voting area and went to the section that contained my last name. The woman looked me up and asked to see some identification. I showed her my driver’s license (which bears Address #1, in County A). She indicated that her records reflected my address as Address #3, also in County A. She advised that they would need to validate if the address on my license was in the same district so that I could still vote at that location.

Another gentleman came over and asked what the situation was. The woman indicated that my license reflected a different address than what was on their logs. The man asked me which was my correct address and I told him that Address #1, in County A, the one on my license, was the correct address. This was my first mistake and I take full accountability for this. I should not have indicated that an address I moved away from a year ago was my current address. At that time, I simply just wanted to cast my vote and did not realize what a big deal this was becoming.

The gentleman said I needed to go to another table, which we did. We spoke to a woman there, who asked for my license and gave me some forms to complete. She got on the phone with my license, presumably to verify the information, while the man took me to another table and pointed to a number of boxes that I should complete on the form. I completed the form, which asked me to fill in my current information (which I completed with the information on my license) and my old information, which I completed with the information they had for my original voting registration. At this point, it was becoming such a big hassle, that I just wanted to get up and leave and forget the whole thing. I considered it quickly, but there was this gentleman hovering over my shoulder and the woman had my license on the phone. I could not see any simple way to get up and leave and thought that if I did, it would cause some big commotion. Again, this was a mistake, I should have just gotten up and left at this point.

I completed the form and signed my name to it where the gentleman directed me to. The woman finished her call and gave my license back. The gentleman then lead me to the original table, where the first woman checked my name again, was given the “go-ahead” from the gentleman (who told her to mark an “S” next to my name, which I did not know the meaning behind). They gave me my information and sent me to the voting booth, where I cast my vote (not even for one of the two major candidates, nonetheless – as a matter of fact, the person I wanted to vote for was not even on the ballot, so I chose a second option, rather than creating more commotion with a write-in).

I completed my voting and went home. I had this feeling that I had done the wrong thing and it did not sit well. I did some research on the Internet and found out that what I did may be considered voting fraud, which is a felony with some serious penalties. My intentions in voting were not to commit fraud or cause any undue anguish, but rather, having not voted in 15+ years and finally concluding that I should vote, my intention was simply to cast my vote and become a part of the electoral process. The fact that I was voting in a county that I had lived for the previous 15+ years and had recently moved from, did not strike me as a huge deal. It seemed like they want people voting in the right counties for orderly process measures, rather than for some reasons related to crime prevention.

The bottom line is, regardless of any other factors or circumstances, I did something I should not have done and made a mistake. I regret doing it at all and realize how serious this is after reading various sources of information. I simply wanted to vote and went about it the wrong way.

Question: Should I contact the County Registrar and explain what I did and face the consequences or should I just let things be at they are? As I mentioned, my vote was not for one of the top two candidates (the person I voted for got less than 1% of the vote).

Also, if I explain what happened or if I do not and it comes back to bite me, does anyone have any idea what may happen to me?

Thanks for reading and your opinions. Again, I realize what I did was wrong and stupid, so if your intent in responding is to make me understand that, I already do. The question is what to do now.
 
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