How not to productively spend an afternoon in Hudson County, on election day

Today is the New Jersey gubernatorial primary election. Go out and vote! (long story short, if you're looking for my endorsement for the Republican primary, I would have voted from former Jersey City Mayor Brett Schundler).

I made quite the attempt to vote today... here's how it went:

At about 1:30 I spotted by my polling place in Jersey City. Went in, told them my name and signed the book. I then looked at the affidavit a second time... Democrat. Interesting - when I moved to Jersey City last summer I had registered as independent undecided, specifically so I could vote in the important primaries. The poll workers tried to explain to me that I could only vote in the Democratic primary and were quite polite. However, they just didn't understand my argument - since registering to vote, I had never declared an affiliation. Heck, since moving to Jersey City, there hasn't even been a primary! I registered as independent undecided, and since there have been no opportunities for me to declare an affiliation since I registered (primaries that I've voted in, and I haven't sent in an affiliation form), I should still be independent.

My next step was to call the County Board of elections... their number was taped to the table. No help there - "if we have you as a Democrat, you're a democrat." Great.

Then I got ambitious. Even though the voter affidavit was detached and signed, I gave it back to the poll workers. I didn't vote, which they noted on the card after they re-attached it with scotch tape. I then walked over the PATH station and headed towards the William J. Brennan, Jr. Courthouse.

It's about 45 minutes later when I arrive and go through security. Apparently Judge O'Connor was taking the election issues in the morning. By the time I showed up, his clerk and assistant (whom I had actually met before during an interview) let me know that two other judges were handling things in the afternoon - both of whom were of course next door in the horrible County Administration Building.

So next door I go. (Here's a tip for you, the Sheriff's Deputies in the Administration building aren't nearly as nice as the ones in the old courthouse - nor of course is the building as nice or its HVAC capabilities.) More security. Nobody has a clue where to send me, so I head to the 3rd floor to speak with the same election officers thad had already not helped me over the phone. Everyone said the same thing: you cannot change your affiliation on election day. D'uh, thanks. I know what the law says. They didn't want to hear about how I had registered as independent undecided. In their minds, whatever the computer screen says is correct per se... some kind of magic self-authenticating truth.

Finally I find somebody who pulls up my voting record. It turns out, I declared myself to be a Democrat in the June 2004 primary (I think specifically to vote for Steve Fullop for Congress against Menendez, if memory serves). That would be fine. The law says you cannot change your affiliation on election day if you have already declared, and I'm OK with that. However, it was after the June primary that I moved and re-registered to vote as independent undecided. Of course, while the act of registering to vote at that time would have set my party affiliation to independent undecided, they treated my registration (an action that can change/set party affiliation) as a change of address (which apparently cannot). Remember that one kids... with a change of address, they don't care if you want to declare party affiliation... you ask for it, they won't do it...

At this point I think I have a pretty good case to go before a judge and get a court order to allow me to vote in the Primary. I sent in a registration form in October of 2004 registering to vote with independent no party affiliation. How would I know that they don't apply the party affiliation requests of intra-county registrations? There haven't been any primaries since... and the sample ballots don't list your party affiliation (if it's there... I sure don't see it). How the heck am I to know that I'm a democrat, until I go to the polls to vote in the Republican primary? In a state where administratively feasible exists as an election standard, I think I've at least got a shot. The election laws are supposed to be liberally construed as to give effect to voter choice. I'm a voter. I chose in October to not have a party affiliation. How was I supposed to know Hudson County didn't give effect to my choice until it was too late?

After all this I head up to the 8th floor to the chambers of the judge who is organizing the afternoon election mayhem. The place is packed. It's close to 4:00, and I need to go to Upper Montclair to sign a lease for next year.

Damn.

Update: It now seems that both my attempt to vote, and Schundler's attempt to run, in today's primary had the same result.

Update 2: Thanks to The Prop for reminding me to use the right terminology... undecided, as opposed to independent.

As a side note... I don't have a very successful track record for voting. In 2000 my absentee ballot was thrown out because I left out one of the required recursively-nesting envelopes. I missed the recent school board elections because the polls for school board elections in Jersey City don't open until 2... and now this. Patients in psychiatric hospitals can vote... why not me?