It seems like every year that I vote something goes wrong. I do my homework, study the issues, the candidates, choose my options, write them down, and show up ready to roll. Yet every year I walk up to that check-in table and know something is going to go wrong.

This year was no different. After waiting in a 45 minute line, I approached the table and gave them my name. "You did a mail-in ballot" they said. "Nope. Never have, never will." I replied. "That's what it says here.....you'll have to vote provisionally."

And so it all starts over...again....

Here's the thing: I don't change a thing. I don't move, I don't change parties...everything is the same from year to year. Last election I apparently had an absentee ballot. During primaries I had apparently changed my politcal party. In the 2000 election I apprently didn't even register, although I had the paperwork to prove it.Tell me, why can't the thing just be left alone?! Everytime I call my registrar they say "no, you were right. We don't know why it said that." But it still never changes.

After every election, I re-register, "fixing" what they told me was wrong. But it doesn't matter how many calls I make to the registrar, or how many times I register the SAME info. It never changes.

Now, I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but it does make you wonder what the heck is going on. Can human error occur THAT often? And if so, what is the REAL margin of error on counting ballots?

I'm not going to stop voting, nor will I stop "correcting" my registration, however, there's still that little voice inside me that says "this is doing absolutely nothing." O well...I got a cool sticker.