ELECTION CHAOS IN DALLAS COUNTY
2-5-08
In Tuesday's election, hundreds of people were turned away from their regular voting places and told they had to go to another poling place to vote. Every one in authority is trying to blame someone else for this confusion and chaos; however, our opinion is that the fault lies with the Dallas County Board of Registrars. To our knowledge, noone was notified that they would have to go to a different polling place. This confusion was so ridiculous that, for example, people who walked across the street from their home to vote at the National Guard Armory on Dallas Ave were told they would have to do to Memorial Stadium to vote. This ridiculous situation occured all over Selma and Dallas County and included both black and white voters being moved from their regular voting place.
The senior official in the Dallas County Registrars Office is SYNETHIA PERKINS PETTAWAY, sister of Selma Mayor James Perkins, who was appointed to her office by Commissioner of Agriculture Ron Sparks. She has served longer than the other 2 registrars and our opinion is that she should have known this confusion would result when the BOARD OF REGISTRARS changed the voting places of some many black and white voters in Dallas County.
The Board has a clear and precise precinct map which shows the precinct where each voter is to vote. There is no excuse for what happened in Tuesday's election. And we definitely believe voters should have been notified that they were being moved. And why wasn't a voting list published in the paper so people would have had time to get their voting place straightened out before the election? We need a change in the Registrars Office.
We urge everyone to file a complaint with Secretary of State Beth Chapman. We also urge everyone to call the Board of Registrars Office and demand they put you in the correct polling place. TELL SYNETHIA TO LOOK AT HER OWN MAP AND PUT YOU IN THE RIGHT PLACE!
Email us with YOUR horror story while trying to vote at your regular polling place on Tuesday!
