The Voting Virgin: Part 2

Where there is a voting will, there is always a way!

By Stephanie Agresta


When we last left Aliza Sherman (back at BlogHer in San Francisco), she was pumped up and ready to go register to vote!!  Inspired by WE Vote '08, Aliza set out to complete the voting registration process in her home state of Alaska.

However, it seems that even for a techie like Aliza, the process was a bit more frustrating than she expected.  We can all relate to being busy and overwhelmed with the stress of every day life (work, kids, home and family)! Calgon take me away!! But as you can see from her story below, with a little grit and determination, she is making it happen!

And of course ladies, here at WE Vote '08, we're helping to make the process a bit easier for everyone. To begin with, our state-by-state map gets you to the right office in your state. You might have to maneuver a little (depending on your state), but as Aliza's story shows us - where there is a voting will, there is always a way! Let's hope someday the government figures out ways to make the process easier. If you register and get involved, you can help make that happen.

If you need some help, reach out to your friends. WE Vote '08 'is hosting voter registration socials in cities across America this week!! It's not too late to organize your friends locally and make sure they are registered as well. If you happen to be in one of the following cities, we'd love to see you there.

New York
 
Houston (tentative due to Ike)

Boston

San Francisco

Anchorage

From the desk of Aliza Sherman, Cybergrrl:
 

I've been busy with life and not actively pursuing registering to vote, especially after not being able to access the Division of Elections web site the day I was psyched to register. I was so motivated, that I called the Division of Elections office and left a message asking how to vote online. I received a nice, long message from their office giving me drawn out instructions on how to even find the link to the PDF form to download, print out, fill out and mail. That frustrated me to no end. Why have a link on a website to register to vote only to be nothing more than an old-fashioned, slow, time-consuming process? Totally counter intuitive to a geek like me!

Getting to the office - and there is only one office in Anchorage - isn't impossible but is hard when trying to keep on top of my work, take care of my toddler, run errands for my business and for my family, and spend quality time with my husband. Running by the Division of Elections office just doesn't make the top of that list.

Today I called the office and asked if they could send a Registrar to the Sept 16th event but they don't have anyone who can be there to help women to register. But they will mail me a stack of applications that I can have people fill out at the event. I'll be the first "guinea pig" to do so. Then I have to bring them by the Division of Elections office the following day. Because I'll be bringing applications for other people, they'll have to show their I.D. when going to vote - but that is something everyone has to do anyway so it doesn't seem like a big deal.

I wish it was more of an online process, but I wasn't about to give up! This means way too much to me. Thanks WE Vote '08 for the inspiration.