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Voter Registration
updated: Oct 31, 2012, 8:29 PM

Yikes!!! I wanted to make sure that I'm still registered to vote, so i went to the site that's supposed to answer that question:

link

and entered my info. They say they find no records of me registered to vote!! WHAT??? I've been registered to vote at my address for at least 12 years; never changed addresses. Does voter registration expire? Was i supposed to refresh my information or something? If i don't get to vote, i will be SUPER bummed!! Has anyone else experienced this, or does anyone know what i did wrong, or what i can do?? Help!!!

And i urge everyone to go to that website to make sure YOU don't have any problems on election day (Tuesday, November 6th).

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 337754P	2012-10-31 09:27 PM
If you have voted at that address then your registration should not have expired; if you have not voted there, only registered to vote, then it's possible they have removed your registration as inactive. You should have received election materials for last year's (city) elections as well as this year's. If you haven't voted for several elections, then you're probably out of luck. Check with the Elections Office on Calle Real. state info: http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_faq.htm Santa Barbara Elections office.
COMMENT 337755	2012-10-31 10:17 PM
I would go to your normal polling place and cast a Provisional Ballot. The Poll workers must allow you to cast such a ballot. The county will then do a in depth check and will hopefully approve your ballot.
NATURE BOY	2012-10-31 11:19 PM
OP here, i hope i get to vote. I wonder if anyone else goes to that website and experiences the same problem... maybe there's a glitch?
NATURE BOY	2012-10-31 11:23 PM
Can other voters plug their info into this website, and confirm that it works? I'm freaking out!!
COMMENT 337763P	2012-10-31 11:37 PM
Call the County Elections office first (568-2200) and find out from them if they have you down as registered. Call 9am Thursday. (Ask them where your polling place is, too.) If you voted in the last election, you should be fine. Just be aware that, if you DON"T call the elections office and decide, on Nov. 6, to visit the poll where you last voted----you may not be in the "roster" book at that precinct. The polling places/locations do change. E.g., you may have voted at Roosevelt School last June, but this time you need to go to Museum of Natural History. Everyone: if you want to go to the polls to cast your vote, please look at your sample ballot when it comes in the mail. Your polling place will be printed on the cover of your sample ballot. (If I saved one person from driving around, trying to find their polling place, I will be happy.)
COMMENT 337764P	2012-10-31 11:45 PM
Okay, NATURE BOY: I keyed in my info (I already voted by mail). I only put the last two digits of my DOB in: 70. Then I saw my mistake. The site asks for all four numbers: 1970. THEN I put in the last four digits of my SSN. Guess what? DIDN'T WORK! Uh-oh. Said no on was registered with that info. So, I keyed in last four digits of my driver's license and all went well. I will call County Elections and let them know there's a BIG GLITCH!
COMMENT 337765P	2012-10-31 11:46 PM
Nature Boy, have you received your sample ballot and election guide? If so, then you likely have nothing to worry about. I just went to the Web site and plugged in my info, and was told there was no information on me. But I know I'm registered because I've already received everything in the mail, including an absentee ballot. There's definitely a Web site problem.
COMMENT 337768P	2012-11-01 01:37 AM
Nature Boy, I have already voted absentee. They send the ballot and the booklet and the sample ballet. They only send those to registered voters. So, I used the link. Put in my Bday and last 4 digits of my social - not registered. Then I put in my Bday and last 4 digits of my drivers license. Bingo, there I was. Did the same thing with my spruce's info. Same result. So - does not work with the last 4 digits of the social, but does with the last 4 digits of the drivers license. Bad instructions. Hopefully, it does work with the social for people who do not have a driver's license.
COMMENT 337769P	2012-11-01 01:50 AM
The "glitch" is probably happening due to the way one registered. If you registered with your driver's license instead of your Social Security Number, then that's how the system has you filed. I'm glad someone is calling Elections office. They need to be told to put some kind of qualifier in there, for example: "Depending on how you registered, either your SSN or Driver's License I.D. number will bring up your information. Please try both numbers." (Something like that, but more succinct.) Otherwise voters will continue to think they're not registered. What a snafu.
COMMENT 337782	2012-11-01 06:31 AM
I also wasn't successful when I entered the last 4 # of my social... worked w/ the last 4 # of my CDL though.
COMMENT 337791P	2012-11-01 06:56 AM
Natureboy: I put in my numbers, using slashes and not using slashes for birthday, using driver's license, using SS four numbers ... and I got that there was no record of me. But I am registedand have my ballot. Call or go to the SB office I listed in the above 754 link. And if you're not on the voting list at the polls do ask to file a provisional ballot.
COMMENT 337795	2012-11-01 07:17 AM
OP: did you get a sample ballot in the mail? If so, don't sweat it.
COMMENT 337801P	2012-11-01 08:04 AM
A woman came in to our local campaign office with a form she had received from some group in Sacramento. Voter Participation something or other. It instructed her to fill it out and return it and she would become a permanent absentee voter. We called the county and they couldn't find any record of such a group. Anyone have a similar experience or know of this group?
MTNDRIVER	2012-11-01 08:29 AM
Hi Natureboy--I plugged my numbers in and come up not registered using last four digits of SS, but registered using driver's license. Call the office as folks have suggested. If you didn't get a sample ballot, that would be a bad sign.
COMMENT 337814P	2012-11-01 08:55 AM
This seems like a mighty dubious posting a week before elections. I would advise edhat readers to ignore this and definitely NOT got to the website in question.
COMMENT 337825P	2012-11-01 09:06 AM
I would suggest that the link in the OP be taken down - it looks like a very amateurish site, and could be harmful as well.
COMMENT 337827P	2012-11-01 09:07 AM
PS Why do posts not have little buttons for user feedback. I would hit negative for this OP.
COMMENT 337829	2012-11-01 09:09 AM
You people are so paranoid. Even the county of SB uses a .org domain. If this website produces real information about you, which it does, that means it cant be a phising website because they ALREADY have your information.
COMMENT 337835	2012-11-01 09:14 AM
If you miss an X number of elections or one presidential election you are wiped off the voter rolls. Gotta re-register.
COMMENT 337836P	2012-11-01 09:23 AM
Please delete 337827P and 337825P. I did some research and the form is a valid page reached via this site: http://www.sbcvote.com/Home.aspx
NATURE BOY	2012-11-01 09:44 AM
Dear paranoid people: I called our local elections office to inquire about the validity of the website (not because I had doubts, but because you did). They confirmed its validity, and the fact that there were some technical problems with the SSN search feature. How could a phisher benefit from only knowing your DOB and last four of SSN or driver's license? Wouldn't they at LEAST ask for, um, your NAME maybe?
COMMENT 337853	2012-11-01 09:46 AM
@337803 You seem not to understand how phishing works. There's nothing any site can do with just a DOB and the last 4 digits of a SSN or driver's license ... aside from the fact that it is easy to establish that this is the official site of the SB County Assessor's office ... try searching for that at the county of Santa Barbara website. @337825P You're not looking at a site, you're looking at a web page. Go up one level to the domain and there's nothing amateurish about it.
COMMENT 337854P	2012-11-01 09:48 AM
You may register for permanent absentee voter status through your own county registrar of voters. THAT's the safe place to do it. Some random address that comes in mail or from elsewhere? Fuggeddaboutit. Just t reminder, if you haven't sent in your absentee ballot, you may deposit it at ANY polling station on election day, not just the precinct polling place where you'd vote in person, or hand return it to the County Registrar of Voters office through election day. Just hand it top the poll worker and be sure it's put in the ballot box. Don't forget to smile and say 'thank you' to those hardworking volunteer poll workers! (take cookies/finger sandwiches/energy bars?)
COMMENT 337878	2012-11-01 10:41 AM
OP: The same thing happened to me. I realized a couple of days that I never received a sample ballot so I went to the website to make sure I was registered. I entered my social # and nothing came up so I called the office. The person I spoke to told me that when you register to vote you use either your social security # or your driver's license # but not both so their database has one or the other keyed to your voter registration. The website unfortunately does not make this clear at all!!! My registration was confirmed via phone. The County Recorder needs to get on this and fix the wording, like yesterday! It's such an easy fix that it's absurd this is even a problem.
COMMENT 337882	2012-11-01 10:47 AM
I also went to that site to see if I was registered and it said I wasn't so I just called the County Elections Office checking to see what was going on...the website is not accurate and indeed I was registered.
COMMENT 337917	2012-11-01 11:44 AM
Didn't work with either my husband's information or my own. But we both received registration cards in the mail. I wouldn't trust the website.
COMMENT 337935	2012-11-01 12:31 PM
I keyed mine in and it had my info, but it said inactive. Does this mean I am out of luck? I hope not because I really want to vote.
COMMENT 337951P	2012-11-01 12:56 PM
It seems like lots of people did not get their booklet/post card with the polling place listed. Did they omit that step this year?
EDHATBARBARA	2012-11-01 01:57 PM
Interesting; it calls for your DOB and either the last four digits of your SSN or the last four digits of your driver's license. I put in the last four of my SSN and it didn't find me, but when I put in the last four of my DL, it did. My husband had a problem where he had registered as a permanent vote-by-mail voter, but wasn't getting his mail-in ballot and had to keep going over to the voter registration office (like five or six times) until they got it straightened out. He's now FINALLY getting his ballot in the mail, but it really took a lot of repeated explanations with the folks over there. There was some computer glitch that needed to be tracked down and worked out to fix it. Just stay on it is all I can say, unfortunately.
COMMENT 338060	2012-11-01 03:57 PM
Hi OP and everyone. I think this type of posting by the OP is perfect for EdHat. The discussion is very interesting, informative and entertaining.
COMMENT 338089	2012-11-01 04:36 PM
When I looked up my registration using last 4 digits of my SS# it said it couldn't find my records, but when I used my driver's license, it did. Guess the DMV communicates with the Elections office better than the Social Security administration., which makes sense since elections are run by the State.
COMMENT 338134P	2012-11-01 05:34 PM
Always got our booklet/post card before, but not this time, as far as we know. We'll take our previous cards which should at least get us to a provisional ballot.
NATURE BOY	2012-11-01 05:34 PM
Thanks everyone who gave helpful, friendly info. I went to the election office and they said it must be a glitch, and i'm indeed registered.
COMMENT 338144P	2012-11-01 05:58 PM
BTW, people can phish about you with just four digits of something. They zero in on somebody and by watching them over a period of time, a digit of something here, a couple digits of something there, an address here, etc., gradually build up enough info. here and there that they have enough to, e.g., do identity theft.
NATURE BOY	2012-11-01 07:22 PM
But your date of birth and the last four of your driver's license is something any cashier at Von's can gather when they card you. I don't think any phishing could come from that. True, if someone stalks you and gets other, more detailed info, they could phish. But those things aren't much of a jumping-off point. Not enough to get paranoid about, anyway.

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