Jacksonville voter almost turned away after being told she was dead

[mfcorey1]

http://www.news4jax.com/news/jacksonville-voter-almost-turned-away-after-being-told-she-was-dead/31995718

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -

While tens of thousands of people voted Tuesday without a hitch, one Jacksonville woman got the shock of her life when she hit the polls.

Shirley Johnson went to the Victory Celebration Church on New Berlin Road around 6:30 Tuesday. Excited that there were no lines, she thought that everything would run smoothly and she would be able to cast her vote, and make it home in time for dinner.

Unfortunately that’s not what happened and Johnson said she almost didn’t even get to vote.

Johnson showed poll workers her voter registration card, showing that she’d been registered to vote in Duval County since 1992, at which point a poll worker took her aside and told her that their system said she was dead.

Johnson has voted in every election since she got her card and though there have been some hiccups along the way, nothing like this she said.

"She came in and she said, “It’s just going to be a few minutes. They told me it'd take 15 or 20 more minutes. But they're going to try to put you in the system.” I asked, “Well how did I die? Who said?” She said, “Someone had to call.” I said, “Well, isn't this official records? Who could say something like that?” And she said, “Well, someone had to let them know that.”

[bluedigger]

1. To be fair, I probably would have done the same.

I mean, if she's dead, there's little point in encouraging her, now is there?

[brooklynite]

18. But the dead are such reliable voters...

[gratuitous]

2. I wonder how that happened?

Then I clicked on the story, and I wasn't quite so mystified.

A name like Shirley Johnson probably isn't all that rare, so maybe some eager beaver elections person got word of a Shirley Johnson dying, and decided to purge all the Shirley Johnsons in (ahem) certain precincts.

[Xipe Totec]

3. She ain't bona fide

[appalachiablue]

4. Relatives there always vote, Dem.

[lpbk2713]

5. If Ms Johnson is a registered Dem I doubt it was an accident.

It has happened before and I'm sure it will happen again.

[jberryhill]

6. You think it was homicide?

[Midnight Writer]

10. Please read Greg Palast's "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy"

for an in depth and specific look at Florida's voter purges. It will make you sick.

[jberryhill]

7. I'm surprised they didn't ask for a note from a doctor

Ms. Johnson is not a qualified medical professional, so I would have expected them not to have simply accepted her own diagnosis. Whether or not she is alive is merely her own opinion.

[jberryhill]

8. The state that gave us the Terri Schiavo saga won't let dead people vote?

I'm starting to wonder why it's so hard to tell if people are alive or dead in Florida.

Is their state animal Schroedinger's cat?

[vlakitti]

12. YAY!

[DeSwiss]

9. K&R

[pinboy3niner]

13. Frankenstein promises fair electrodes for all!

And I hear he has a monster donor list.

[SheilaT]

11. The problem is a lot of names are very common.

I sometimes go on the internet to try to find someone I know, and I'm often astonished at how many people there are out there with the same name.

I happen to be the only person in this country right now with my particular first and last name, but all of you should google your own name, if you've never done it. You'd be surprised at how much less than unique you are.

However, there needs to be a better system so that one Shirley Johnson dies, all of the other Shirley Johnsons don't get removed from the polling list.

[DFW]

14. I have a great line for such occasions

Florida must be one of those guns-for-all state by now, so look like you're packing.

Then tell the poll worker:

"Tell you what: if I'm dead, then I can kill you right here and now and nothing can be done to me because I'm already dead. If that does NOT sound like an equitable solution to you, then let me vote. Your choice."

Like my dad used to quote to us as kids:

One bright day in the middle of the night
Two dead boys got up to fight
Back to back they faced each other
Drew their knives and shot each other
A deaf policeman heard the noise
And came to kill the two dead boys.

[captainarizona]

15. make it a crime to prevent american citizen from voting

If the state has ballot measures, put it on a the ballot to make it a crime to prevent an american citizen from voting. We can say while we don't want non citizens from voting those laws should not prevent an american citizen from voting. Anyone supporting laws to prevent non citizens from voting and making it a crime should be asked why shouldn't it be a crime to prevent an american citizen from voting?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

17. Other countries are mystified by our need to "register" to vote.....

Just show them this and it all becomes clear:

[hughee99]

19. So are you in favor of voters having to prove their citizenship at the poll? n/t

[captainarizona]

20. voters shouldn't have to prove they are citizens

voters shouldn't have to prove they are citizens. It is the state that has to prove they are not citizens and make it a crime punishable by fine and prison if they stop an american citizen from prison. It is a violation of our civil right to vote!

[hughee99]

21. So basically it would be a crime to prevent anyone from voting,

since there's no way the people at the polls could determine whether the person is a citizen or not. I'm not trying to give you shit, I'm just trying to figure out how this proposal would work.

[captainarizona]

22. It has worked for 200 years

You go in tell them who you are they look for your name and sign in and vote. I did this for the first 40 years of my voting. The penalties for illegal in person voting are severe it is not worth it.

[hughee99]

23. The way the first post was worded

It would sound like any poll worker that presented any obstacles to voting (like if the person hadn't registered to vote, or wasn't registered in that precinct, district or even state) would be committing a crime if the didn't let that person vote anyway.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

16. Why do I picture the "organ donor" guys from Python showing up?