11 Worst Places to Try to Vote = places where it is all the more important that you DO vote!

In some places voters still fill in paper ballots or pull the levers of vintage machines; elsewhere, they touch screens or tap keys, with or without paper trails. Some states encourage voter registration; others go out of their way to limit it. Some allow prisoners to vote; others permanently bar ex-felons, no matter how long they’ve stayed clean. Who can vote, where people cast ballots, and how and whether their votes are counted all depends, to a large extent, on policies set in place by secretaries of state and county elections supervisors — officials who can be as partisan, as dubiously qualified, and as nakedly ambitious as people anywhere else in politics. Here is a list — partial, but emblematic — of American democracy’s more glaring weak spots.

1. The New Poll Tax – Atlanta, Georgia
2. Machine Meltdowns – Beaufort, North Carolina; Fort Worth, Texas; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (tie)
3. Line Forms Here – Franklin County, Ohio
4. Incompetence – Cuyahoga County, Ohio
5. Foul Play – New Hampshire
6. Gerrymandering – Travis County, Texas
7. No Felons (or possible felons) Allowed – Mississippi Delta
8. Voting While Black – Charleston, South Carolina
9. Students are Suspect – Waller County, Texas
10. Failing to Register, Registrations Lost – Florida
11. Politicos in Charge – Ohio

For all the gory details and the runners-up, read the article: “Just Try Voting Here: 11 of America’s worst places to cast a ballot (or try),” by Sasha Abramsky

Sasha Abramsky is the author of Conned: How Millions Went to Prison, Lost the Vote, and Helped Send George W. Bush to the White House (The New Press, 2006).