Wasn't too long ago that some of us were remarking publicly and privately that Bill Bradbury needed to spend a lot more time focusing on his job instead of spending his tenure egotistically seeking the media spotlight by running around the country pushing our inane VBM system. I'm now wondering how long it will be before people here starting blaming the county workers who are just doing a job, rather than Bradbury and elected County supervisors who pull down a paycheck because they supposedly exercise that elusive quality of leadership that motivates people to do their job diligently?

I'm really angry about this! I have re-registered people to vote in this primary, and as a House District Leader, it is going to be really hard to defend our Democratic Secretary of State for this mix up.

What is worse is that we are getting a lot of conflicting information about how to inform our neighbors about what to do. First they were told their ballot will not count if they turn in the wrong one then we were told that even if they turn in the wrong one first we can trust that their correct ballot will still be counted and the old one thrown out. Why should we trust in that information?

More amazing is that people who turn to the front of their voter's pamphlet to look for the number to call for help are going to be dialing an obscene number. And we were saying Florida could borrow our people for a fair election - what a freakin joke!

Does anybody know if people can take their junk ballot to their local elections office and trade it for a valid (not provisionary) correct registration ballot?

I'm a bit suspicious about this. Bradbury, though undeclared, is in the tank for the Clintons in my view. He co-chaired Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign. Is he contriving a snafu to suppress the Independent vote that would otherwise be going for Obama? That question should be asked.

I find the faulting of Bradbury for the problem off base. Registrations are handled by the county clerks and ballots are prepared and issued by the county clerks, not the Secretary of States office. Unless you can show that the county clerk updated the state database and there was some flaw at the state level that didn't get the data in correctly, all Bradbury is guilty of is expecting the county clerks to be doing their jobs correctly and efficiently. Remember, the clerks don't work for the SOS, they are elected or appointed locally, so it isn't like he's their boss.

For the record, I too have reregistered people in this election and am not a Clinton partisan.

Dan Peterogosky, there is no way a legitimate same-day registration system can work with VBM. Same-day registration primarily means allowing people who have never registered or who have allowed their registration to lapse to register and vote. As long as we have our VBM system which by intent disproportionately disenfranchises those who tend to have more address instability for the convenience of a lazy class of Oregonians who view their world through a self-centered consumer perspective, all you're talking about is allowing NAVs who didn't care to have the integrity to join and change an organized party to continue to be lazy. Make no mistake, I'm strongly for a same-day registration system, but one which actually empowers voters by returning us to polling place elections so the excitement of election day will be translated into people taking advantage of same-day registration to actually get out there to same-day register and vote.

Bill R., as much as I would like to blame this on a conspiracy by an obviously morally bankrupt Clinton campaign, we all know in Oregon, and particularly amongst a certain segment of self-concerned, venal Democrats who have drug the party down like Kulongoski, Merkley, Bradbury and Keisling before him, there is little advantage in attributing to conspiracy what one can easily trace to incompetence, arrogance, suprisingly marginal intelligence, and lack of responsible concern.

I am reeling at the incredible irony of all of this: We have a bunch of incompetent Democratic leaders who time and again I find aren't the kind of quality people I even want to be associated with as a Democrat, but who too many BO commenters actually spend time defending against legitimate criticism holding them accountable solely on the callow principle they are Democrats (largely the same class of BO commenters who also defend the VBM system primarily because it was a political stunt by a Democrat who accomplished nothing as SOS and who now also wants to abolish Party primaries as the only way to egotistically keep himself in the game), and who clearly lean towards Obama in a state that the polls suggest should be a big plus in the Obama column on the strength of the NAV vote, potentially screwing up the election while the whole world is watching BECAUSE it is a VBM election run by these very incompetents most of you defend primarily because you are just too childish to deal with legitimate criticism.

I'm still hoping Obama can eke it out in the face of this, but if he doesn't at least we'll know exactly who to blame. And it won't be Ralph Nader or the Greens, or the Libertarians, or the crossover Republicans, or the NAVs.

Good to know that Petagorsky just registered as a Dem. Explains a lot about his criticisms, and his lack of strategy in helping elect folks where it matters over the past ten years in favor of his identity politics stuff.

It's stupid to allow people to change party affiliation up to April 29 if you're planning to mail primary ballots on May 2.

Kari's comment gives me an idea. Perhaps there should be a way for a voters to verify their registrations online. I don't think it would be a good idea to make all the registration data available online. However, the state (or maybe a private organization which routinely obtains voter registration info) could set up a web site where a voter could enter their name, address, and party affiliation, and the web site would confirm that this is how the voter is registered.

tys, you're confusing "can't work" with "won't work the way I want." Not the same thing. Although given the small number of county clerks' offices it is not hard to imagine huge last minute lines and people getting cut off or not being able to wait.

No Chris, I'm not confusing anything despite your irrelevant, academic quibbles. I described the commonly understood scenario of same-day registration, and the facts about the disenfranchising flaws of VBM. Whether you meant it or not, you really need to look hard at the first graf of your comment that in toto clearly displays dismissive, elitist approval of effectively discouraging same-day registration by people who work, and so may not have time to travel to and stand around waiting in the single clerks' office in their county because we don't have a responsible election process with neighborhood polling places.

And by the way, just to illustrate how shoddy our system is, my SO got a ballot in the mail today and I didn't. What a screwed up system that only certain kinds of people could love.

And by the way, just to illustrate how shoddy our system is, my SO got a ballot in the mail today and I didn't. What a screwed up system that only certain kinds of people could love.

I forgot to mention, I have NEVER changed my affiliation from D, and I have voted in every election. If it doesn't show up by Tuesday, this will not be the first time I will have to call the clerks' office to tell them they screwed up and in the end I will have had to go through much more trouble than if I had been able to go to my local polling place and cast my vote.