Alternately titled: One more reason I hate the DMV

Alternately titled: What happened today when I tried to vote

Let’s start with a little back story. Back in September I had to renew my drivers license. Simple enough, right? Even if the DMV does take a year and a half to do anything. Well, as it turns out, Colorado doesn’t reissue drivers license numbers. So if you’ve ever had a license in Colorado, you’ll keep that number forever. Makes sense, but it meant that my renewal wasn’t just a renewal, it was a name change. (Because Brian and I were living in Texas when we got married, I went from a Colorado license with my maiden name to a Texas license with my married name.)

Anyway, after waiting forever at the DMV, then doing all the paperwork for a name change in addition to a renewal and getting registered to vote, they sent me to wait in line to get my picture taken. (What is the DMV without the waiting, right?) Finally it’s my turn, they call me up to the counter and show me a paper and ask if the information is correct. Uh, no. It’s still my maiden name on all the paperwork. They send me back to wait in line some more, while they redo the name change stuff. My turn again, finally all the information is right, get my picture snapped. Then I ask about my voter registration card. (When I registered to vote in my first election at 18, they gave me a little card saying I was a registered voter with my info and signature. I assumed things were the same.) She informs me that they don’t do those anymore, but that I’m registered and it will say so when they mail me my license.

I checked, and YEP! Registered.

(See that little “Voter: Y” in the bottom right corner?)

Fast forward to today. Took the kids, stood in line for an hour, got up to the front and found that I am NOT IN THE SYSTEM. Anywhere. Not under any variation of my last name, not under my birthday, not even under my maiden name (even though I voted in 2 elections in Colorado under that name so I KNOW I was registered under it.)

Apparently even though I’m listed as a voter ON MY DRIVERS LICENSE, the DMV didn’t mark the box or push the button or WHATEVER that sends that information to, you know, the people who actually deal with voting. So I had to vote provisionally. That’s right, my vote *might* get counted. Maybe. Even though I did everything I was supposed to do.

And then, just to add insult to injury, they gave me this sticker on the way out:

Don’t worry, I fixed it:

Yes, 12 days. In 12 days I can check a website to see if they counted my vote or not. Maybe in 12 days we’ll actually know the results of the election?