I have never been asked to produce my card. I *can’t seem to recall * if I’ve been asked for any identification…
I don’t think it is… not in Tennessee, at least. My senior year of high school, my government teacher gave the class voter registration forms as homework and then mailed them in for us afterwards. A month or so later, I got my card in the mail saying I could now vote.
About two months before I turned eighteen.
Because I’m anal, I still have my Pennsylvania voter identification card. It is dated April 25, 1991. That’s twenty days before the primary election which was the first time I ever voted in Pennsylvania. (Second Tuesday in May, back then, last Tuesday in April now, equally useless in presidential election years either way.) The date of the card, and my date of receipt of the card were 100% irrelevant in terms of when I was actually entered into the system and made eligible to vote.
And that’s because the card has nothiing to do with anything. It’s a feel good signifier for the voter, nothing more. It says so right on the back of the card. (Anyone who may have a newer PA card, please feel free to let me know if this disclaimer has been changed or exised from the cards. Somehow I doubt it.) Anyway, right on the flip side of the card, it says:
Emphasis mine.
In other words, the card is meaningless. It has nothing to do with whether or not you may vote. You can burn it, and it won’t “unregister” you, or change anything. It’s a signifier of, well, nothing. Party affiliation, for whatever that’s worth. It’s not useful for identification, in fact, you could honestly take it and the letter that came with it and throw it in the trash right now, for all it’s good for. You don’t ever show that card in order to vote. You cannot be asked to show it in order to vote and if anyone asks you for it, they’ve violated PA elections law. At the polling place, you simply tell the nice little old folks (they’re almost always old folks) your name. You may be required to show them your driver’s license or school ID. (And if so, probably only the first time you vote, thereafter, they’ll remember you. If they’re little old ladies from your neighborhood, they’ll probably say “Oh, here’s Beatrice and Arthur’s boy, uh, uh, um, uh, Adam. Yes, Adam Smith. He’s a… Democrat. Yes, there he is. Here, Adam, sign your card.” Then you’ll go in the nice little booth with the 1970’s Partridge Family privacy curtain, and flick the levers/press the buttons/punch out the chads/fill in the circles accordingly.
Of course, if you want to double check your registration status, have at it, but prepared for busy signals and surly government employees. But you’re spitting fire for nothing, son.
From http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?951+ful+CHAP0705 :
The VA SBE says:
in lay terms.
I registered the day I turned 17, so’s that I wouldn’t forget to later.
Well, that’s VA. But PA appears to be similar, in any case, so never mind.
From your link:
my brother’s 18th birthday is november 2. Hes voting, and he registered months ago.
They have no way of knowing exactly when you receive the card anyway. What if it was delayed in the mail and you received it the day before the election? I’ll bet you are all set. But you can always double check with your county election commission.
Hmm. If your teacher lived in Michigan, she or he might be turned in by the GOP for bribing you to vote. Did you know your teacher just made you subject to be called up for jury duty?
Soapbox Monkey, I live and vote in Pennsylvania. When I’ve gone to vote, they have my name down on a list of registered voters arranged alphabetically by last name. If you’re on the list, all I’ve had to do is show ID. Even when I’ve gone to vote at a primary election at which there hasn’t been anyone to vote for, they’ve still had me on their rolls as a registered Independent. Since in primaries in Pennsylvania, you can only vote for candidates from the party you’re registered with, this is mostly a formality on my part.
I will tell you one other thing which stinks, though. As some of you know, I’m a naturalized U.S. citizen. I became a citizen the year I graduated from college, starting in July, I think, after I came back from 9 months studying in Japan. There was an election for governor that year, and I definitely wanted to vote in it. Unfortunately, the process of becoming a citizen took so long it wasn’t finished until mid-October, too late to register to vote in the upcoming election. 
I have made up for it since.
CJ
In both Georgia and Louisiana I’ve been asked to show ID, but that means a drivers’ license, and I think that’s more or less a formality. I’ve never been asked for the card they sent me, though I have it if they really want.
Thanks everyone. I was just a little panicked when I saw that printed on the card. But I’ve calmed a bit now and I’m pretty confident that I’m signed up and ready to go.
But I’ll still wait to get an email back from the election office just to be sure.
At first, I was trying to figure out why the GOP would care that someone is being bribed, begged, or pleaded with to beg but I suppose it makes sense that the party for rich, old white men wouldn’t want teachers just handing out registrations to seventeen year olds that’re presumably not as wealthy or as white.
And also, since I would’ve registered to vote when I turned eighteen anyway, that he made me subject to jury duty is irrelevant. I’d’ve done the same myself two months later.
Or it could just be…you know…that it’s against the law (presuming you were given a grade for it).
:rolleyes:
Of all people, I didn’t expect you to fall for the bait, Garf. Hanging out in #straightdope and being familiar with my views, you should have recognized the intentional hyperbole in my post.
Here’re some emoticons for anyone else that didn’t get the joke: 
Feel free to intersperse them as you see fit into my previous post.
Eh…let’s call it…over exposure to rabid liberal viewpoints over the last couple months. Yeah, that’s it…
Doesn’t matter. So long as the first election that comes along is after your eighteenth birthday, you’re good.
DD
Your country is fucked up if you can’t register to vote on voting day.
Of course, your country doesn’t have a nation-wide, impartial group in charge of conducting elections, which is fucked up, and you vote for judges, which is also fucked up.
What he said. I see no advantages in registering to vote a month ahead of time, especially since you have to show an ID to vote, anyhow.
It all depends where you are. Every state has different rules, so at any given time, nobody knows for sure what the hell is going on. Having everything standardized makes more sense. Since it makes sense, it won’t happen. :dubious:
In this country, at least at federal elections, not only do you not have to be on the voter’s list in order to vote, if you’re not, you can sashay down to the polling place with proof of residence and citizenship and register on the spot. And there are three days of advance polls which you can use on request. And you can vote by special ballot on request.