Time to Doublecheck That Registration

If you care about jobs or the budget, the June ballot offers plenty of ways to express choices, via candidate campaigns (a U.S. Senate seat and statewide offices from governor to superintendent of public instruction) to ballot initiatives on public power and auto insurance. But, if you're voting by mail, sending in a ballot isn't enough to guarantee your vote will be counted.

Election lawyers offer this warning: People's signatures change over time. And your county election official is supposed to check the signature on your mail ballot with the signature on your registration card. If you signed a voter registration card years, or even decades ago, you run the risk that the signatures no longer match. In that case, your vote won't be counted. And you won't be notified.

So now is the time -- before the May 24 deadline to register to vote in the June 8 statewide primary -- to drop by your county election office. Make sure your signature is correct. And doublecheck that your registration information is correct. There have been recent fraud cases in which people found their party registration had changed without their knowledge. If you have any doubts, send in a new registration form now (you can find one at the post office or the DMV) to make sure the correct information is on file. Better safe than disenfrachised.

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