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

[NoMoFearNoMoHate]

Go get'em Tim!

[Cloball]

If they purged Tim Robbins name off their list, after all he did publicly to get out the vote, does he assume it was intentional? Payback?

Great sarcastic letter, but I still can't tell!! Election fatigue maybe.....

[Wigelah]

Good for him. He's had to put up with a lot of crap from people because he believes in his right to say what he thinks about politics and other issues. There is nothing wrong with standing up for what you believe in and there is nothing wrong with following through until the end. Good for him.

[Yermammy]

Flintlock pistols at 20 paces! Your honor demands NO less, young Master Robbins!

[NoMoFearNoMoHate]

This is now personal, nothing less than sabres will settle the matter.

[zanzig]

Personally, the wet fish slap is more satisfying.

[TheHandyman]

I can't wait for Mr. Soumas' response!

[prog]

I don't care how well known Tim Robbins is...he is a private citizen. Mr. Soumas is a public official. The fact tha Robbins made a public fuss about his voting difficulties is his prerogative as a citizen. Soumas has no business making private information public, and he needs to be reprimanded for that, at least.

[timinhi]

"Reprimanded?" Hmmm. I'd say more like "prosecuted."

[Vixter]

I'll second that!

[mlaiuppa]

At the very least, I'd say....fired.

Soumas is an attorney, btw. You think he'd know better.

[BosieO]

BRAVO ! YOU DID A GREAT JOB TIM...Glad some people with power put it to good use....THANK YOU! Gay American Voter (Not equal under the law, though)

[mmahamngttia]

I'm prety sure that Mr. Soumas is a Democrat.
There is a conspiracy of incompetence among the political hacks running our country's election board system. The conspiracy doesn't belong to just one party, the incompetence knows no bounds.
Why would we continue to trust the integrity of our voting system to hacks appointed to their plumb hack jobs by hack politicians. After years and years of disrupted, unverifiable elections, you'd think the American people would finally say "enough"!

[HeevenSteven]

Yeah, they'd say enough if they had a clue how screwed up it was.

[Bebe68]

Tim Robbins, my kind of man: sexy, smart, literate and witty.

[ResistanceisFutile]

Tim get over it.

I used to believe you were a smart man, but the letter shows a lack of orginality in dealing with Soumas and a level of pettiness, not becoming a true dilettante.

[speakyourmind]

I disagree with you one thousand percent.

[Mum]

Yay! ResistanceisFutile is in favor of voter disenfranchisement. I guess that explains the name. Thank goodness the revolutionaries in 18th century America didn't share your philosophy. Say hello to the Tories for us.

[dessertsfirst]

uhhhhh
you didn't get it did you?

[llisa]

All right, Tim!

I did find several voters who had been turned away at a polling place in a predominantly black area of our town, but our Dem. coordinator kept rushing out to meet them at the polling place with his list, and then their names were magically found on THEIR list. I don't know how many people this actually happened to since I reached only answering machines at most of the residences I called.

The people we found who had been turned away did not know (as you did) that there was anything they could do to rectify the situation, and were very glad when our guy helped them excercise their right to vote.

There has to be a better way to ensure that all registered voters get to vote!

[Serpaco]

Oh, Snap!

[twokidsonecat]

WHat does Snap mean, and why does everyone use it?

[mediamarv]

My, my, the power of the written word.

Good for you, Mr. Robbins and could you let me know if there are any rentals in your neighborhood?

[fisharefreinds]

By the way I am not laughing at Tim, I am just shocked he got messed around with.

[fisharefreinds]

It is so unbelieveable that this happened to him after he went on Air America (I was listening while waiting to pick my son up at school) an told everyone to vote and pay attention to troubles, blah, blah, blah,....LOL

[rhetoricdog]

He also said it on Real Time with Bill Maher.