5. Called Hamilton County Elections Board - WOW

I finally got a chance to call the Hamilton County Board of Elections today - wow. The conversation had a lot in it that raises concerns but I'll just stick to the highlights.

::Clifnotes Section::

1. My vote could have been counted until the 16th of November since I'm 'overseas'.

2. They claim to not have gotten my THREE emails with my ballot attached on Nov 6th, Nov 9th, Nov 13th. They say they only got the one with my simple request for conformation of my vote.

3. They offered me no suggestions or ideas about what to do, even when I asked.

4. They rejected my thoughts that this indicates a SERIOUS issue in the voting process with the fact 'you were the only one to call'. Despite the fact that 3/4 of my emails they didn't get.

5. When I asked them what they were going to do with the information, like were they going to the State Election Board, they seemed to have not considered doing anything with my report. They responded, I don't know, I don't know if this is something to report to the state.

6. One lady there offered maybe they didn't get it if Emails work like a fax machine.

7. I've called Trent Deckard- D in the Indiana State election's board and left a message. We'll see if I get a call back.

::DETAILS BREAKDOWN::

They say that they haven't gotten ANY of my emails other than the one that they responded to saying that 'the deadline was the 6th and they're sorry'. I have sent them my vote 3 times and they say that they never got it? This means one of a few things:

1. There is something seriously seriously seriously wrong with the current online voter system.
2. They are unknowingly incompetent in some way.  "Quote, 'Maybe we didn't get it if email is like our fax machine' "
3. They are purposely suppressing my vote and ignoring my emails

I'm going to go with option one. Let's work with that for now.


They seemed to have no long-term concern about the fact that my vote wasn't counted. Yes they said that they were sorry and that they couldn't explain it many many times which I believe them on. But when I asked them what is the protocol on this? Were they at the election board going to contact the state or some other official? They responded.. I don't know, I don't know if this is something that we would tell the state about. They go on to say that I'm the only person who has called and that they send a conformation email every time they get a vote. They offered no other ideas, solutions, avenues of exploration on their own or when I pressed them for any.

Here is why the statement about me being the only one is ridiculous and why this has undoubtedly happened to others:

1- I wouldn't have known they send conformation emails unless I got one.
2- I wouldn't have known my vote wasn't counted unless I investigated and found out there is a "track my absentee vote" on the Indiana State website.
3- I'm 'overseas' ... calling is difficult because of the time difference (I work), and the fact that it's expensive. I email as do many other Americans abroad!
4- How do they know how many people have had this problem if only 1 in 4 of my emails got to them?

I also told them if it happened to me it must have happened to others and there could be serious problems with this - they down played it again saying I was the only one .... right.

I'm now investigating this as to why either a. the email system is beyond broken and why this wasn't fixed or b. why wasn't my vote counted.

The ladies at the Hamilton County Elections board were nice to give me the number to the state elections board. I left a message highlighting my situation and concerns about the email system on Trent Deckard's (Indiana Election Division Co-Director - D) answering machine with my Canadian phone and email. We'll see if he gets back to me.

4. Women's League of Voters - Indiana

Alright I heard back from the Volunteer Women's League of Voters on Novemeber 19th, they say they're going to get to the bottom of this, but I'm continueing this on my own anyway since I'm somewhat concerned that they didn't know I could vote through email. I've also contacted the Green Party to see if they can do anything since the Democratic Party Abroad hasn't gotten back to me. More Updates soon!

3. Other Organizations

I've now contacted the:

- ACLU - local chapter http://www.aclu-in.org/
- League of Women Voters http://www.lwvin.org/contact.html
- Democrats Abroad http://www.democratsabroad.org/group/canada


I haven't heard back from anyone but I'm going to continue to reach out until I get an answer! Let me know if anyone else has any places I can contact or things I can do.

2. Emails sent to and from Hamilton County Election Board

Emails!

I sent an email on Nov. 8th to the Hamilton County Election Office asking for confirmation that my vote was counted. Three hours later I got this response:

M******,
Every time we received an emailed ballot & ABS-9, we sent a confirmation email.  I show that we emailed your ballot to you on 10-10-12, as soon as your voter registration status became active.  I do not see an email from you, either in my personal email box or the Election Office inbox, sending us your emailed ballot.  The deadline to receive was noon Election Day, November 6.  I am very sorry.
Joyce
Hamilton County Election Office

Naturally, I'm upset by this, I send back this email later that night, forwarding my original email (names removed):

Hello again,

Excuse me but I voted and I have the email right here to prove it below! What are my options in getting my vote counted?

M*******

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: 
To: elections@hamiltoncounty.in.gov
Sent: Tuesday, November 6, 2012 3:27:27 AM
Subject: Oversea Voter Absentee Ballot Attached

Hello back in Indiana,

My Absentee Ballot is Attached, if you could send me an email confirming that you got this and counted it that would be great. I've attached the ballot twice, it both loose (5 different files) and also in a zip folder (MR_Vote.zip: has all 5 pages in it).

Thank you so much and hope your day isn't too frantic!

M*******

I received no response from that email, so on the evening of November 12th I forwarded my original email again with my vote attached again and attached this message:

Hello again,

I would appreciate a response to my previous email. I know none of my emails were bounced because my email account always informs me if the email didn't get through. What are my options in getting my vote counted?

M*******

It is now the end of the day on November 14th with no response from either of my follow up emails. I'm looking into contacting other organizations. They picked the wrong person to mess with!

1. My vote wasn't counted!

Hello everyone -

I'm a Hoosier and US citizen temporarily living in Vancouver British Columbia, Canada to get my Masters Degree. I emailed in my scanned vote to Hamilton County 6 hours before the deadline. I followed up the next day by looking online to see if my vote had been counted - it had not.

This blog is going to be dedicated to my efforts to get to the bottom of this and a collection of ideas for anyone else who was denied the most basic right of being able to vote this year.

Step 1: Here is the link for any Indiana Absentee Voter to see if your vote was counted:
https://indianavoters.in.gov/PublicSite/Public/FT1/PublicLookupMain.aspx?Link=Registration

Step 2: If it says they didn't get your vote, I emailed the county Election Board to see if my vote was counted, googling to get their contact works, but here are all of the County links for Indiana:
https://indianavoters.in.gov/PublicSite/PublicMain.aspx


Many other states have these sites as well so good luck to anyone else looking for the truth! Updates to follow.