I’m confused. First of all, why do I have to draw a diagram of the area I live in to vote?
Second of all, there is a spot that says “attach ID here”. A driver’s licence I guess? A photocopy? Do I have to get something notarized? I’m cutting pretty close to election time, and I want to do this right the first time. 
I suppose the diagram is so they can confirm what district you’re in. Why they wouldn’t know this from your address is a complete mystery. Perhaps it’s to cut down on fraud.
The instructions clearly say to attach a copy of your ID if it’s your first time registering in your county.
Quite often, the various fire districts, school districts, water districts, congressional districts, and whatnot will have fairly weird borders. It is not at all rare for one voting precinct to overlap more than one of the other types of divisions, so they need to be really specific about your home to make sure they give you the ballot with all the correct issues for you on it.
In most cases, they probably don’t need the diagram to figure out which ones will apply to you, but they want it there in case it is helpful.
The types of ID accepted are clearly specified there on the form, in the gray box: “a copy of a current valid photo ID or a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, paycheck or other government document that shows your name and address in this county.” You just need a photocopy; it doesn’t say anything about notarizing. Actually, you don’t even need that: you can leave it off as long as you bring ID with you when you vote for the first time after registering.
[I just noticed, at the bottom of the form is a “For Voter Registration Board Use Only” section that has boxes for all the different districts they’ll need to categorize you into as part of registering you to vote.]
I’m acting as a Election Judge this fall, and took the Election Board’s little preparatory class just this past Wednesday. I’m sure things are different in your state and county, but the ID thing is part to the federal “Help America Vote Act,” so I heard about it.
Now, do not delay. Get that registration in pronto!
Wow, I sound like a ditz. Just to clarify, this is the first time I have ever registered to vote, and I am easily intimidated by Government Bureaucracy. 
You can just call the county clerk. She won’t bite.
Oh, and I think the drawing is part of the Help America Join Correspondant Art School Act. You, too, can learn to draw like an artist.
Don’t worry. At least you can spell “Bureaucracy.”
Hi torie. I helped with registering people to vote in IN, so I may be of some assistance. I can’t be 100% positive, but I’m pretty sure the “draw a diagram of where you live” is for people that are homeless or have an incredibly strange address that no one understands. Pretty much it’s for people that don’t have an address so they can know where to reach you if necessary. They told us when I was “trained” that it was for people that didn’t have an address.
As for the ID thing, if you’re really nervous about it, photocopy your ID (driver’s license, passport, etc.) when you send in your registration. All you really have to do is write your SS# or DL# in the box. And be sure to bring your ID when you go to vote.
Another thing I would encourage you to do is register for an absentee ballot. And do it right away as the deadline is approaching. Even if you’re not gonna be absentee, you can still vote that way and it ensures you get your vote in, just in case you are too ill on election day to go vote or if an emergency comes up. If you vote absentee and decide on election day that you want to go to the polls for whatever reason (change your vote, or just because it’s more fun to use the booths) you can still do that and your absentee vote will simply be discarded.
Don’t let anything stop you from voting!! Go to a local Dem or Rep party headquarters if you need help registering. Or you should be able to find a booth at a local county fair.
And I want to thank you for being concerned about this and taking the time to find out how to do it right!
Are you sure this will be true in her district? These things vary. If someone was given an absentee ballot in my county, they can’t vote in person unless they present the absentee ballot as “surrendered” or sign an affadavit that they never received it or it was lost or damaged. AND we have to call the local clerk to get an okay. Then, and only then, may the person vote in person. There is no accommodation, as far as I know, for people who already voted once by absentee ballot but changed their mind about their vote or just about voting absentee.
Maybe we’re behind the times, or something, but that’s how it goes here.
Well, Cranky, I can’t say for sure. This is what they told me during my debriefing. I suppose it may very well vary district to district. That was perhaps a bad assumption on my part to think it was coutry-wide. I still think absentee ballots are a very good thing because it guarantees your vote gets in (well as guaranteed as any vote, I guess - maybe there are problems in FL 
).
If you want to be sure you did it right, open your phone book to the blue pages and find your local voting registration office. Call them or go on down and they can help you then and there. It’s probably in one of those government buildings you pass every day and never notice. If you do it in person, they’ll check your forms to make sure it’s all good. Very easy and it shouldn’t be intimidating at all.
(Now get ready to get called up for jury duty!)
Why would they want to know your race?
Statistics, probably? It’s useful to know who registers to vote.
It isn’t country wide. Absentee ballot information varies from state to state, and it looks like in South Carolina you need a reason for being an absentee voter.
torie, thank you for voting!
So, while my guess is that they’ll be ok if you write down the cross streets closest to you and then put a big “X” where your home is, that might not be true…
So, go to the place where they register voters (try libraries, city buildings, and if all else fails, the one of these that is in your county) and say “I want to register to vote.” Someone there will help you through it.
torie-you are not stupid.
Last time I checked, South Carolina was a modern, civilized place, and there’s no excuse for anybody to make voting difficult. I’m sure your local officials will help you get it done.
Voter registration is easiest in person. The county clerk’s office is a good place. Most states will also register you at the place where you get your driver’s license. It is quite illegal for those places to make registration a great big hassle. Let us know if that happens, and we can help you get it straightened out, I hope.
If you plan to register with one of the two major parties, there will be people at the local party office who will fall all over themselves to make sure that your registration is correct. Hell, call them up and they’ll probably send someone to your home.
Haj
The Greenville County voter registration office seems to be at 864-467-7250. The address is:
301 University Ridge
Suite 1900
Greenville, SC 29601
As per this website: http://www.greenvillecounty.org/Voter_Registration/
Probably more helpful than random people on the Internet.
New York State also has the intersection diagram, but with the instructions : “If you live in a rural area but do not have a street number, or if you have no address, please show on the map where you live.”
So it’s for you if you’re homeless (you can’t be denied your vote due to lack of a permanent residence), or if you live, say, om an RFD.
I don’t understand why South Carolina seems to want a diagram from EVERYONE.
Hey Saltire, next time I see you remind me to ask about this, OK? If it’s not too late I’d like to look into this gig myself.
Oh, and I forgot to say what I heard about the diagram - in high school when I was helping out with the League of Women Voters (so probably in 97 or so) one of the older volunteers was talking about how much she missed when everybody had to draw the little street map, because they’d draw such cute and creative things. It seems you don’t really have to do it anymore - they didn’t have me do it when I registered in person (and this was in the last three years - as a college student I voted in Georgia), and I assume it’s just if your address is otherwise unclear for some reason. For example, when I was a child we did not have a street address; we were Route 2 Box 98B. There are still plenty of rural homes with mail routes like that, I imagine. The map is probably (almost certainly) not required for most people; it’s a just-in-case and if she were to register in person they would not have her fill it out.