An Open Letter to the New York City Board of Elections

Mr. Gregory C. Soumas
Board of Elections in the City of New York
Executive Office
32 Broadway
New York, NY 10004-1609

November 17, 2008

Dear Mr. Soumas:

I would like to publicly apologize for being such a dim-witted dilettante on Election Day. I was under the naïve assumption that I could vote where I voted in the last two elections. Your thoughtful letter pointed out that if I had voted in the recent primary election in September I would have discovered that I was no longer registered in the polling place I have voted in since 2004. Considering your position at the Board of Elections and your deep respect for the democratic process I must assume that my local 14th St. poll worker, Betty J. Williamson's assertion that my name was on the active voter rolls for the primary in September of this year was erroneous and that she must be as confused and wrongheaded as I am. If Ms. Williamson saw my name in the book in September that would mean that you are lying. Certainly you wouldn't lie about a thing like that. That is unbecoming of a man of your bureaucratic stature. And why would anyone in the Board of Elections be eliminating legitimate voters from the rolls in late September and October of 2008? That's just crazy and un-democratic.

I should also apologize for the misguided actions of Justice Paul G. Feinman in issuing a court order on Election Day allowing me to vote on 14th St. He apparently thought that a printed out record from your own Board of Elections computer verifying my polling place as 14th St was justification for issuing the court order. If he had only thought to contact you, you could have helped him understand the logic and wisdom of eliminating my name from the book on 14th St. where I have always voted and leaving my name registered at a place I have never voted.

I must also thank you for sending your letter not to me but to all the major newspapers in the New York area and across the internet. I understand it was your way of clearing up this matter and for that I am grateful. I am particularly appreciative of your sending a copy of my voter registration card with my home address and driver's license number to all the newspapers and, by extension, to millions across the internet. What celebrity dilettante wouldn't want his private information made public? What kind of snob gets angry that his family's safety might be compromised? It comes with the territory, right? I was thinking of returning that favor by publishing your home address in this letter but then I thought that maybe one of the thousands of New Yorkers that were taken off the voter rolls in the last two months might not understand what a patriotic upstanding man you are and might show up at your doorstep with the misguided assumption that you are a petty vindictive corrupt scumbag.

Tim Robbins
New Yorker since 1961
Voter since 1976

P.S. If anyone reading this letter had a similar experience on Election Day it can and should be reported at 866ourvote.org.

cc:
Commissioners of Elections
Marcus Cederqvist, Executive Director
George Gonzalez, Deputy Executive Director
Pamela Perkins, Administrative Manager
Beth Fossella, Coordinator, Voter Registration
Steven H. Richman, General Counsel
Troy Johnson, Chief Clerk
Timothy Gay, Deputy Chief Clerk

Comments

[Steve Ettlinger - Huffpost Blogger]

Great letter, great move! While there is little hope for asses like that guy, the spirit of your letter gives the rest of us hope and perhaps a little energy.

And I'm sorry for your troubles.

Steve Ettlinger

[NobodyofConsequence]

I was allowed to vote. No one checked my ID. I was not on the rolls as registered at that location. No one wrote down my name or address.

I was allowed to vote.

[freeUSofcorp]

Great letter, I hope you press charges for him releasing your personal info. Glad you stepped up and spoke out. I did not trust them so I called every step of the way to make sure my name was there. I also checked to make sure they recieved my ballot by mail and entered it as recieved. A woman there told me I could not check on this. I told her I knew I could and told her to check with her supervisor. She checked with another worker who also told her they could not check. finally she check higher up and they told her it was possible and she actually thanked me for teaching her something. She was nice but uninformed. You just have to demand your rights, nicely of course.

[JackFate08]

Hi Tim

I signed on this Huffington post to ask a question to you personally. Early in 2007, when the first political candidate arrived in NH to "test the waters" & meet with state party leaders, supporters & advisors, I was banking on the clean presence, consistant Senate voting record & knowledge of
government operation that John Edwards brought to the Democratic ticket, that could possibily win the
nomination. I attended public rallys, handed out Edwards campaign material to new supporters, as you and your wife Susan did standing by the candidate who we beleived in. Well, we're past the historical campaign of 2008, the shocking reality of Senator Edwards' affair and tabloid horse beatings,and I wondered if you had personally ever heard from John Edwards when the dust settled and what words were said. Just curious. I'd like to think that some shred of humanity and conscience surfaced to at least two supporters of this candidate from Chapel HIll.

[nobozos]

this was hilarious - sarcasm at it's wittiest

[AtomicallyCorrect]

From now on everyone must be sure to call your county registrar/recorders office well in advance of the registration deadline to make sure you haven't been purged.
I voted with a provisional ballot in 2004 after applying to vote absentee and not receiving my ballot.
I got my ballot in the mail three days after the election was over.
Last local election I had to sign using my former married last name though I have been re-married for two years.
This year I had to send in two change of address applications and call the registrar/recorder four times before they straightened out our household voter status.

Don't rest until that little postcard with your voter info and pin# are in your hand.

[CVN65]

And these are the people that Dems want running healthcare? Are you kidding me? This is as bad as letting the DMV determine who gets cardiac caths vs bypass grafting.

[AnneOlivia]

You need to go away. Stop buying the OLD, old line that "the government can't do anything right." Yes, they can, if they are allowed to do so. This "accidental misunderstanding" was not either.

Bye, bye!

[Johnniedog]

Tim,
I sure am glad we have these Republican Patriots stealing our Votes and pointing a finger at the Acorn people. Without them, we would be lost. I am also glad we have a great Patriot like George Bush in the White House. He showed us all how to commit acts of Treason against the Country and get away with it by outing top-secret CIA agents and spying on the American people while lying about it. All of the people that still support the Republican Party, after everthing they have done to this country, are the greatest Patriots in the world. They are also some of the smartest minds we have ever seen. Thank you for being a sniveling little whiner over trivial things like being purged from the Voter rolls. I sure will be glad when the Democrats leave office in 8 years so we can be led into more disaster and division and be robbed of our treasury once again, like the good old days.

[CVN65]

It was Richard Armitage that leaked the name. This was known the first or second day the grand jury was empanelled because Dick himself went to Firzgerald and confessed. So, not only is your assertion not true, you never bothered to wonder why Fitzgerald continued his fishing expedition. It was to get Libby, Rove or, better yet, to get and then turn them to get Ceheny or Bush. So it came down to he-said, she-said, both defendants and witnesses forgetting things or remembering in the wrong order and Scooter gets punished. Meanwhile, Sandy Burglar steals and destroys sensitive documents and all that happens is that he loses his security clearance for a few years. Justice? What do you think?

[pounch]

Outstanding Job!!! They messed with the wrong man thankgoodness. As I'm sorry for the headache you must have endured but thankful that you know how to dish it right back far better! In such a manner to make us all proud your a True American!

[slidedog]

Thanks for standing up and being such an ardent user of sarcasm, an art that is rarely used to it's full potential in communications these days. This bozo probably thought you were actually complimenting him.

I hope you and your lawyers are preparing a suit for the damage he caused releasing your personal information. It was not his to do, and at a minimum he should lose his job... right now.

[rockyb26]

Thanks for standing up for democracy Mr. Robbins!

[MikeSinAZ]

You received, Mr. Robbins, the typical treatment from elections officials across the nation, blame the voter. Then, when the voter takes the time, effort, and energy to follow-up on the "smear" almost invariably they find what you did, the official is an incompetent and lazy bureaucrat who hasn't even rudimentary knowledge of their job other than the minimum it requires to pick up a paycheck.

In Arizona, we are fighting with just such incompetency, belligerence, and corruption. The Maricopa County Director of Elections, Karen Osborne, was proven recently in Arizona Superior Court to have violated Arizona law in the conduct of elections and a manual audit. The County Recorder is a partisan bureaucrat and political hack so incompetent she can't speak without someone to guide her. Our Secretary of State, Jan Brewer, along with Osborne and Purcell has worked to block and gut all election reform that would provide increased transparency and confidence in elections. With the appointment of Gov. Napolitano to Secretary of Homeland Security, Brewer becomes governor. We're doomed!

[Dwayne Raymond - Huffpost Blogger]

Tim, good job. I can only hope the media that felt it necessary to pick up on this before picks up on it again. Cheers.

[kassandrasduplex]

Bless you Mr. Robbins and God protect you. Are we living in a time of totaitarian intimidation? Scary.

[Traveller]

Better you than me. Who would have heard my squeak? Good job indeed! T

[MASHON]

That's what I think. I'm so grateful he has a platform from which to be heard. You and I would just be fodder for neocon chuckles across the table at the local feeding trough.

[Chanel05]

Good for You!!! I just hope that everyone else that may have had this experience follows up.