Help for overseas voters

With the American Presidential elections less than two months away, the latest polls show the race at a statistical tie. If the last few elections have taught us anything, it’s that every vote is crucial. If you are an American citizen currently living out of the US, the Overseas Vote Foundation wants to make sure your vote is counted.

This non-partisan, non-profit organization is designed to help overseas Americans register to vote, learn about the candidates, and participate in the election process. If you are living overseas and need to register, OVF can help you, but don’t wait — registration deadlines are closing in. The website provides information on the candidates as well as resources for youth, first-time voters, and military voters.

If you are in the country now but won’t be around on election day, you will need to request an absentee ballot. You can vote absentee by mail, or in some areas, you can vote absentee-in-person by casting your vote prior to election day. If you have questions about absentee voting, call your local registrar’s office.

More ‘Big Brother’ from your neighborhood TSA

News is just out that there’s plans from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to record and track more passenger information, including full names, birthdates, and gender for background checks. Almost everyone is against this, including the major airlines, travel agencies, and of course, the general public.

A 2004 law was passed that required transferring the control of passenger info from the airlines to TSA, so passage of this plan (or some variation) seems inevitable.

Now, why should you care? It does seem like every week we hear of another zany plan by the TSA to do more snooping. Well, first keep in mind the more records the TSA has its hands on, the more mistakes they’ll make. There’s already hundreds of horror stories of innocent civilians who are blocked from traveling, because they were mistakenly added to the national terrorism watchlist for instance. Then, there’s the security risk – of our private information being stolen. Again, many cases to cite on this.

What can we do? Go voice our opinions at the polls next November!