Update on my voter registration snafu

[CoffeeCat]

I'm updating on my voter-registration snafu that I posted about earlier.

I called our County Auditor's office in Des Moines to try to figure out why--a few weeks ago (end of April), I was a registered Republican. I should have been a registered Democrat for a few reasons. I participated in the Feb 1 Iowa Caucuses. I also became a delegate and participated at the County Convention on March 12. All Bernie delegates had their credentials challenged at the County Convention. One by one, our credentials were double checked. Bernie was ahead at the first count and they were sifting through our credentials with a fine-tooth comb.

My credentials checked out and I participated in that March 12 County Convention.

I was gearing up for our April 30 District Convention and I received a call from a Bernie Sanders staffer, informing me that I am a registered Republican. Of course, I was very surprised by this--given all of my aforementioned political activity.

Today, I called our County Auditor's office. She thoroughly looked at my records and told me the following:

--In 2012, I switched my registration to Republican. This is true. I was a Republican for a week. But that was 4 years ago. My husband and I wanted to see how the Republican caucuses were run. We participated and caucused for John Hunstman. I switched my registration back to Democrat within a week of the Republican caucus, by physically going to the auditor's office.

--The auditor today, informed me that there is no record of me switching my registration back to Republican. But it doesn't end there.

--The night of the Feb 1 Iowa Caucus, I arrived early with my husband to volunteer. We went to register and our names were not on the official list. Very odd. I knew that I had switched my registration back to D--but just to be emphatically sure that this was the case, I filled out paperwork registering as a Democrat. My husband did the same. That night, nearly half of all registered Dems weren't listed on that official list. The line was at least 50 deep for an hour, with Democrats re-registering as Democrats. It was chaos.

--Today, the woman at the auditor's office said that there is no record of this paperwork of me registering as a Democrat at Feb 1 Iowa Caucus. To make matters even more bizarre, there is no paperwork of my husband doing the same. The woman at the auditor's office said that all paperwork should have been processed within a month of Feb 1.

--All of this is why I turned up a registered Republican, a few days before participating in the District Convention. According to their records, I've been a registered Republican since 2014. I am...mystified.

I still have no idea how I passed the March 12 Credential Check at the Polk County Convention. Hillary's people were looking for any reason to strip credentials from Bernie supporters (because Bernie was ahead in Polk County and Hillary had originally won Polk County). I can't imagine that I was a Republican. The Hillary supporters surely would have noticed that and stripped my credentials. However, I don't know what the Hillary supporters were looking at. I don't know what databases or information they were using.

I am more confused that ever.

I didn't mention my one-week stint as a Republican, because it was only for a week--and I had no idea that there was no record of me switching back. I also had no idea that there was no record of me re-registering as a Democrat on Feb 1. I find all of this even more incredulous and bizarre, than before I picked up the phone and talked to the auditor.

I asked the auditor if I made any mistakes and she said, "Honey, it sounds like the mistakes are between our office and the Iowa Democratic Party."

I am baffled.

[MineralMan]

1. Things can get screwed up in government records, as

everyone knows.

Now, I've never once in my life registered as a Republican. I check my registration before every election, and before the deadline for registering to vote. I've done that since 1972, wherever I've lived.

So far, my registration has always been valid and correct. I can't imagine ever changing it to Republican.

Now, in Minnesota, we don't register by party anyhow, but we did in California, where I lived most of my life.

The moral of the story is to check your registration before every election, far enough ahead to allow you to change it or re-register if there's a problem.

[CoffeeCat]

5. I get that...

and I understand that human error happens.

I'm posting about this because I wanted to lay out what I learned today. I didn't mention being a Republican for a week, because I didn't think it was important. Because I had switched back within a week. I've always been a Democrat and have NEVER voted for a Republican in any election against a Democrat. I've always voted Democrat.

And switching from D to R to I, or whatever is not that big of a deal here. People do it all the time in Iowa, to participate in the Iowa Caucuses.

[Sheepshank]

9. I understand that the party switching is what caused some issues for BSers in NV

I guess those that want to fuck with the system, to implement their type of chaos for the other party (not that you were doing this, but it seems there are many that do) do so at the peril of having their real party designation messed up.

[CoffeeCat]

10. But many NV Bernie supporters who had their credential stripped

are saying that they didn't switch parties. They were stripped of credentials and they never had the opportunity to rectify the situation or fight it. That is totally wrong.

And possibly--people who have switched in the past, are being targeted for precisely that reason. Because people will say, "See! They switched their registration! This is an error on their part."

Would be an easy way to blame the victim, wouldn't it?

[TexasBushwhacker]

63. And somehow the party switching and such

only seems to be happening to Bernie's supporters. What do you make of that?

[seabeyond]

73. AND they know that person IS a Sanders supporter so they can mess with that particular person. Nt

[LisaL]

83. Well, if you are talking about OP, she wasn't switched.

She registered as a Republican and so it remained for years.

[TexasBushwhacker]

104. But the OP said that she HAD switched back to DEM

She and her husband expressed their preference AGAIN as Dem and said there was a line of people 50 deep who weren't listed as Dems either. She got through the event in March, not being flagged as GOP. So she assumed, logically that her preference had been changed back to Dem.

But now, again, she is told she is still registered as Republican. So she has been misclassified TWICE.

And all the coin flips in Iowa were in Clinton's favor. Amazing! And all the delegates in Nevada who were disqualified were Sanders supporters. Every freaking one.

[CoffeeCat]

114. Thank you for helping to explain this

I keep posting the same information repeatedly, and the more candid I am, the more accusations are hurled at me.

So, I appreciate someone understanding what I have written.

I know this is complex. Frankly, I am reeling at what the auditor's office told me today. I do not know how to square it.

As you mentioned, I switched back from R to D (after being an R for only a week). Apparently, I never got switched.

Then, on Feb 1, the night of the caucus--I registered as a D because I was not listed on the voter rolls. Hundreds of people in my precinct weren't. I spent a lot of time checking people in, and there were many angry lifelong Democrats who were not listed on those official lists. Apparently, according to the auditor, my registration still wasn't switched to D, even though I registered for the caucus that day.

Then, at the March 12 Polk County Convention, I participated as a Bernie delegate. I signed in and was given my credentials packet. I had to go through a special credential check at this Convention because the Hillary people were questioning all Bernie-delegate credentials. Each Bernie delegate had to go through a special, one-on-one credential check. All 500+ Bernie delegates. I went through, they checked everything against their list. I absolutely assumed that if I was not a Democrat, that I would not have passed this check. I passed.

So, when I get the call at the end of April, that I'm a registered Republican--it is shocking! This was so shocking to me that I drove downtown and had my registration switched from R to D the next day.

This is challenging, because I can't explain how in the world this happened, or why.

[mythology]

115. The OP had neglected to mention that they had registered as a Republican previously

So at best, they are an unreliable narrator. It's kind of a major point to omit.

And can that insipid nonsense about the coin flips please die?

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/02/politics/hillary-clinton-coin-flip-iowa-bernie-sanders/

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/02/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-coin-flips-iowa-caucus/459429/

http://www.npr.org/2016/02/02/465268206/coin-toss-fact-check-no-coin-flips-did-not-win-iowa-for-hillary-clinton

So no, there's not some big grand conspiracy.

[LisaL]

151. From what she posted on DU in 2012, she didn't switch back a week after registering as a Republican.

[Kaylakaze]

189. You keep saying that

but you haven't posted a single link.

[joshcryer]

36. In Colorado and I'm sure other states it's all digital.

Super easy and they notify every year of the status as well as changes (haven't bothered to go back to independent but it'd be easy).

[Chan790]

153. MM, of course government records can get screwed-up.

I've spent enough time working as an activist and NPO executive on smart-growth/development projects to have seen that first-hand.

Ever seen a tract of land, adjacent to an old-growth forest surrounding a wetland within the exclusion zone of a municipal reservoir zoned for heavy-industrial and site-approved for the construction of a cadmium-plating operation? I have. Once. A publicly-funded-and-constructed sidewalk inadvertently built in the middle of nowhere, running from nowhere to nowhere with nothing along its course because someone wrote the wrong street on a grant application? Twice. A road-widening project that was clearly approved without a site-inspection because when they showed up to start construction discovered that the reason the road was too narrow was because it ran through a cut-out in a rock-face? (The original course of the road, when they got to the "mountain", they decided that going 1/4mi. around was too far...so they dynamited a channel through the rock. The road is below-standard width because the cutout is only 39' wide.) Saw that once too. Government is the worst way of documenting circumstance and keeping records ever designed...except every other method ever attempted. (Apologies to Winston Churchill.)

CoffeeCat's voter registration isn't a lone circumstance though...I've heard similar stories from at-least 12 people in 4 different states whom I've crossed paths with and discussed the election. This is occurring too often in too many different places to be anything but a well-organized campaign of electoral fraud internal to the Democratic party apparatus. There is this quote from the James Bond novel Goldfinger (also the film, I believe...but I'm not certain.) that goes “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.”

What, pray-tell, does that make multiple documentable incidences of fraudulent registration-changes in multiple states, seemingly all and only occurring to supporters of one candidate? By my thinking, that makes it almost certainly a criminal conspiracy to alter the outcomes of an election. A coup e'tat. High certainty of that. Coincidence is ruled-out by the circumstances at-hand.

This needs to be investigated. Someone inside the leadership of the Democratic party probably will go to prison for it. I have absolute doubt (I'd put the likelihood about the same that the rapture occurs at exactly 4:17am on Wednesday, May 18, 2016) the Clinton campaign is involved...they didn't need to be, it would be soul-searingly stupid of them to be. If ties are found back into the Clinton campaign though...Hillary's candidacy and eligibility for the nomination needs to be proscribed. We cannot have the nomination of the Democratic party go to a person who conspired to steal that nomination or employed those who attempted to do it on her behalf.

[creeksneakers2]

187. The reason you only hear

about this happening to Sanders voters is that Sanders voters network on the web and are far more likely to report a problem. At least here, I've noticed that Sanders supporters are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories and get very excited about them.

[seabeyond]

2. So, you are a registered Repug, that made it thru the process even though you insist Clinton people

were simply "hunting" for ways to kick Sanders supporters out of the caucus?

hmmm.

[CoffeeCat]

3. I shouldn't have been a registered Republican

I have been a Democrat my entire life. In Iowa, you can participate in any caucus, and my husband and I wanted to see how the Republican side of things was run. I switched at the Republican caucus, and cared enough to physically go down to the auditor's office and switch back to D. I was a Republican for one week and switched back.

So none of this should have happened.

Also, as I stated--I re-registered as a Democrat the night of the Iowa Caucuses.

So, that's two times that I registered as a Dem--and two times that I was not switched back.

I am saying that I know what happened. I am shocked by all of this.

I cannot say what in the world happened, any more than you can.

[CoffeeCat]

7. The woman at the auditor's office

said she was just as baffled as I was. She said that we would most likely never know what happened.

[DURHAM D]

18. .

[Fawke Em]

45. You should be alerted.

You basically call CC a liar.

[seabeyond]

49. I am pretty sure I was.

[CoffeeCat]

66. I didn't alert on you

Yes, you are basically calling me a liar. Others are too. I am trying to understand this whole thing. I don't think it helps to squelch any voices, especially when I learned more info today--much of which was confusing to me.

I think it's best to talk out this stuff--as I am struggling to process what I learned today from the auditor.

This isn't a clear situation of a D being switched to R. That's what I learned today.

[seabeyond]

67. All my decades I have never heard of seen this until, Sanders, an Independent, started losing.

You are right. I do not believe the stories told on the net.

In states that have actually put in the time to address this issue, every. single. circumstance had a reasonable explanation of voter error.

So ya. .... I do not see the odds in the favor of a story told. But... hey, it has made it to national news. Now we can all point the finger at Clinton and state she stole elections because you said it is so.

[polly7]

92. CoffeeCat has personal and real life experience with it.

Were you there with them during all of their participation in it?

[Turin_C3PO]

87. That's ugly.

[still_one]

25. Obviously there was a screw up. I suspect some snafu happened when you briefly changed your

changed your registration to republican, and then 7 days later changed it back to Democratic, which you had been all your life.

That activity would seem to be more prone to an error, though it should not have been.

Not in your case, but there has been some voter registration issues in some states where registration is done through the DMV

[joshcryer]

35. Yeah, or shenanigans.

Poll worker sees CoffeCats status, looks at the paper, smirks, looks around, and slides it into the trash can. (Presumably they would be able to see the switch to Republican then back and that might annoy them.)

[Corporate666]

53. Uh huh...

"I have been a Democrat my entire life."


"In 2012, I switched my registration to Republican. This is true. "




If you are a lifelong democrat, then you registered republican just to mess with their caucus, which renders your claims of being aghast at people messing with caucuses rather shallow.

Or, if (as you have admitted) you were a registered republican, then that makes the statement about being a lifelong democrat untrue.


It's one or the other. I find we often reap what we sow.

[CreekDog]

134. no you haven't been a Democrat your entire life

you were a Republican, by choice for what appears to be a almost a full year, 2012.

your entire life would include the year 2012, would it not?

you were a Republican for a year. here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021456173

you should consider diagramming out your story so this kind of thing doesn't happen.

[JoePhilly]

85. Why wouuld Hillary's alleged "registration switchers" ...

... switch the registration of a Democrat who not very long ago registered as a Republican.

According to Bernie supporters, Hillary supporters would be the ones who had recently been Republicans.

I mean, wouldn't team Hillary want to KEEP former Republicans in the Democratic party and not push them out?

[djean111]

6. I am not baffled.

IMO, methodical cheating. Won't be voting for that.

[1StrongBlackMan]

31. I'm not baffled, either ...

but for different reasons and coming to a different conclusion.

[seabeyond]

77. How did they KNOW it was a Sanders supporter? We see no Clinton supporter claiming this.

[Chan790]

168. I'm glad you asked.

Now I get to talk about one of the things my education in political theory and work early-on in my career in politics taught me...one of the reasons I got out of campaigns and started working for NPOs and cause-activism organizations. Pre-vetting as a modus operandi for identifying voters and caucusers for challenge based on information you can glean on them before they ever show up. There's no reason it can't be used by someone crooked to take it one step further and screw with their voter registration.

Ever get a call in advance of an election asking you who you support, then going into a survey of personal attributes or shopping habits or pretty much anything other than politics? Most of us have. You think nothing of the fact that the survey being conducted by a well-known surveying firm is, frankly, by-content, a bit odd. But...it's not odd at all. Survey firms get paid to conduct surveys. Who would pay for such a survey? The campaigns themselves...usually the oppo arm so that any blowback doesn't fall on the campaign or candidate themselves.

Why, you might ask? Because we are all data-sets. A phone survey reveals that supporters of candidate X overwhelmingly buy a certain brand of detergent that is more expensive because it's environmentally-safe and phosphate-free; have voted in less than 50% of recent elections; donated more than $1000/year to charity the past 3 years; and watch The Good Wife. More terrifying, all of that information is easily-obtained.

• Digital TV providers (whether cable, satellite, or via phone-based broadband) are able to track your TV-viewing and VOD habits and virtually all of them sell that data to marketing firms, the TV networks and even advertisers who purchase target-marketing based on that data.
  
  
• The IRS requires that NPOs submit a list of their tax-deductible donations (So the IRS can use it to verify donations claimed as deductions)...what most people don't know is that this information is freely publicly available to anybody that requests it. (I know of a scummy local restaurant owner that scans the data-set looking for potential employees that may have donated to NARAL or Planned Parenthood because he's rabidly pro-life, anti-feminist and doesn't want "bitches" working for him who will fight back or quit when he exploits them. Needless to say, I don't eat there and encourage other people to not eat there...or to show up, order only a Pepsi and eat all the free bread provided.)
  
  
• Voting-pattern records are available (not who you voted for, merely that you voted) to the party and both parties routinely share that information with any candidate that requests it.
  
  
• Who knows what detergent you buy? The supermarket does! That bonus card in your wallet...it's used to aggregate data (You thought Stop&Shop was being nice when they offer $2 ground chuck to bonus-card holders?) which you've willingly tied to your phone number (that they can use to track you) and your credit/debit-card number (because you've used it to pay for the transaction) and which they sell to marketing firms that aggregate all that data together with all the bonus card data they collect elsewhere that is linked to either your phone number or the unique non-checksum digits (first-four and last-four) of your payment card to build a robust profile of your spending habits, personality and your preferences. They sell this data...not your card-number but your profile and your phone number.

So, now we know all these things about seabeyond and we know that seabeyond supports Candidate X. We also know they're true of 31% of other respondents that support Candidate X and less than 4% of other respondents that support Candidate Y instead. What do you think we do next? We take the voter rolls, use the same parameters and identify other likely supporters of candidate X who were not part of the data set. That's our challenge list as the partisans of Candidate Y. We challenge everybody on it who comes to vote. Of course, we may catch some of our own...but substantially more will be supporters of Candidate X. We don't need to catch all of their supporters...usually even a 2-3% thumb on the scale can change the outcome.

[questionseverything]

175. evidently "they" use the same methods to determine the "weighting" of the vote count

http://blackboxvoting.org/fraction-magic-2/

[asuhornets]

8. So you were a Registered Republican

and all that negative smack you talk about Hillary Clinton. No credibility from here on out.

[hobbit709]

12. What crap. Obviously you have a reading comprehension problem.

[asuhornets]

16. My reading comprehension is just fine

I would never register as a Repug for no reason..

[hobbit709]

19. But you're willing to support a Corporate R-Lite.

[asuhornets]

22. Hillary has been a Democrat a very long time------n/t

[hobbit709]

24. which of these is the real thing?

[Fawke Em]

46. Good one!

(For the record, I can't see the shape of their eyes in these pics or I'd know. )

[MineralMan]

56. Black on yellow, kill a fellow.

Red ion black, venom lack.

[Uponthegears]

68. No, no

Red touch black, good for Jack; red touch yellow, kill a fellow.

[MineralMan]

69. Yes, that's another one.

I've seen one coral snake, in Arizona. I watched it for a while, and then left it to its own devices. Bites are really rare in AZ, and it wasn't near any homes or anything.

I've Han d led dozens of king and corn snakes, though. Beautiful critters, all of them.

[Uponthegears]

76. Yep

Coral snakes actually have real small mouths and little fangs and even though their venom is poisonous as heck, they have to go for a small target to penetrate the skin

[asuhornets]

99. the one at the bottom...

[lapfog_1]

97. did Hillary ever register as a Republican?

and, if she did, why would you support someone who has committed this sin?

[asuhornets]

100. She was a Republican as her Father. at a very very very young age

[lapfog_1]

102. " I would never register as a Repug for no reason.."

never mind the grammatical errors...

You won't excuse the OP (who claims to have registered Repuke to get some information but switched back to Democrat) but you will excuse the likely Democratic nominee for President because "at a very very very young age" (but over 18) she not only registered Republican but very likely VOTED and has been documented as working to elect Barry Goldwater (that era's Donald Trump or Ted Cruz).

[asuhornets]

103. But just to get information---that's a stretch...n/t

[Matt_R]

184. OK, how about do you support a former Republican running for president?

[CreekDog]

138. she didn't register as one, which is more than the OP can say

in fact, Hillary couldn't even legally register until 1969.

[Sancho]

158. She began volunteering as a teenager while too young to vote.

The 18 year old vote arrived in 1971. Hillary was briefly involved as a teen volunteer, but too young to vote. Goldwater ran in 1964. The first election where 18 year-olds could vote for President was 1972 where she worked for McGovern.

http://www.factcheck.org/2008/03/hillary-worked-for-goldwater/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-sixth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

Clinton writes that she began to have doubts about Goldwater’s politics even before she left high school, when a teacher forced her to play President Johnson during a mock presidential debate in order to "learn about issues from the other side" (page 24). Later, as a junior at Wellesley College, she writes, "I had gone from being a Goldwater Girl to supporting the anti-war campaign of Eugene McCarthy," driving to New Hampshire on weekends to stuff envelopes and walk precincts (pages 32-33). Even so, she also worked as a Washington, D.C., intern for Gerald Ford, who was then the Republican leader of the House, and she attended the 1968 Republican convention to work for New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller’s unsuccessful effort to get the GOP presidential nomination (pages 34-35).
At Yale Law School, however, she completed her transformation from Goldwater Republican to liberal Democrat. At Yale, she met Marian Wright Edelman and helped in her investigations of the Nixon administration. She also met Bill Clinton, and in 1972 joined him in Austin, Texas, where they both worked for George McGovern’s campaign. There, she writes, "I quickly made some of the best friends I’ve ever had" (page 58).

[uponit7771]

64. so priliveged

[CreekDog]

136. coffeecat was registered Republican for about a year in 2012

so let's talk about supporting Corporate R (not Corporate R-Lite, but full strength)

[CoffeeCat]

27. Oh come on now...

The Republican caucus was horrific that year. Santorum was in the lead. Romney wasn't too far behind. We wanted to see how it worked. Not because we liked the Republicans! Because we were curious.

I have a lifelong record of being a Democratic volunteer. I was an absentee-ballot courier for Kerry, a canvasser for Dean, a precinct captain for Obama. I was in a Newsweek article about my involvement in the Obama campaign. And I'm a proud Bernie supporter/precinct captain/delegate at the County/District/State level.

Let the vilification begin, I guess!

[B Calm]

44. Sorry to see the Hillary attack dogs attacking your credibility. How is it

Hillary delegates don't have the same thing happening to them?

[radical noodle]

78. What party runs (or ran) your county?

Could it be Republicans who didn't want to acknowledge the change somehow?

[asuhornets]

98. I could never register as a Republican for any reason..

I don't doubt that you r a Democrat..But why go so far as to register as a Republican.

[CoffeeCat]

13. I am coming forward with all of the information

in an attempt to be fully honest.

I switched my registration back to D, four years ago. I was a Republican for one week. I also re-registered as a Democrat on Feb 1 just to make sure, because I was not on the caucus voter roll--but hundreds of people in my precinct weren't!

Both times, there is no record of me switching back. Explain to me how that happens?

Explain to me how I participated, as a delegate at my County Convention and passed a credentials check?

This is very confusing. But I am being honest.

At the end of the day, I'm saying--I don't know what in the world happened.

[ContinentalOp]

55. Why did you have to re-register as a Democrat on Feb 1 if you already were one?

[CoffeeCat]

59. Because I was not listed on the registration list

I was volunteering to check people in at the caucus. I got there early and went to check in. I was not on the list of voters.

I went ahead and re-registered so I could participate. Of course I registered as a Dem.

I worked the registration table checking others in. At least half of the people who showed up, who said they were registered Dems, were not on the list either. They were all sent to the line and they had to re-register as I did. The line was nearly out the door for more than an hour. The D's who weren't in the list had to wait in the same line as Independents and Rs who were registering as Democrats to participate.

However, the auditor's office said they have no record of me registering at the Feb 1 Iowa caucuses.

Does that make sense?

[Kittycat]

111. They knew you were a delegate by April

Clearly reading has failed many here, or they're willfully ignoring what you wrote just to be jerks.

Sounds to me like you were in the DNCs system because you registered as a Dem, and they collected your data first. They double checked your records against their own database, but never turned your paperwork in to the auditor for processing. Therefore, you aren't showing up as registered. If you know the names of any others that registered that day, I'd contact them to have them double check their registration. If they're missing, sounds like some logs are missing.

[CoffeeCat]

113. My husband registered that day, along side of me. He registered as a Dem too

because his name was also not on the logs. When I talked to the auditor today, she told me that my husband was not registered as a Dem.

So, that is at least two of us who did not get registered as Dems.

And yes, I keep writing the same things repeatedly, to try to explain what happened. Many people are being jerks. I don't know how many times I can say the same thing, in great detail, over and over.

I posted what I learned today, the second I got off the phone with the auditor's office. I was in shock at what she told me. I have known for three weeks that I came up as a registered Republican. I was pretty upset about it too. I processed the info for a while then finally felt comfortable posting about it. Then, I'm gobsmacked today with the info from the auditor's office. I posted it immediately and I've been accused of all sorts of things.

I'm sharing what happened. I'm happy to answer questions, but it appears that people who don't agree with my politics are going to make me out to be some type of Disney villain. That's fine.

I still have many questions. Like, how did my registration not get switched from R to D, four years ago. How did I not come up in the system as a Dem (in April when I was a delegate) when I registered at our Feb 1 caucus as a Democrat? And how did I pass a credential check at the Polk County Convention on March 12, if I wasn't a registered Democrat?

This entire thing is a cluster*#$%. I can't explain any of it, and I know less today than I did yesterday.

[Kittycat]

116. My thought...

You only came up in the Dem logs, did they have an auditor's log during round 2? Or was it just the credentials committee listing, along with the system they double checked you against? I think that second check was party reg logs that could have been entered and purged or entered but never turned in to the auditor. If the auditor is claiming they never received the data from the caucus round 1?

As for the jerks, well - sadly DU just isn't DU anymore. I fear what it was is gone forever. The lifting of timeout only rewarded the worst of behaviors.

[CoffeeCat]

117. You bring up a good point

I participated in the Feb 1 Caucus.

Then, went to the County Convention on March 12. I had my credentials challenged and passed. So...how did I pass?

What information exactly were they examining? How were they checking that information? As you said...were they using party information? Were they using records from the auditor's office?

I don't know the answers to those questions.

I've got about 25 questions that I don't have the answers to! 20 new ones were generated today after calling the auditor's office!

[Kittycat]

118. I would verify with stage 2

Coordinator. But very random-like. More that you wanted a better understanding of process for preparedness and sharing. So others could be prepared. What info to bring. Where do the pull their info (credential logs, party logs, auditor logs, just at stage 2). You can even say that you're that writing down to take back and share at your precinct level mtgs/discussions. It's all good info to have, but may also help identify the fail. If they're not using auditor logs, then I would go to step 1 and verify their process. Maybe even start with step 2 coordinator to see where the reg forms/logs go from home caucus locations.

So much to track!

[CoffeeCat]

120. Yes, and this is my first year

as a delegate. I have been a party volunteer for years, but never a delegate. I am still learning. There is so much that I do not know.

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and suggestions. I really appreciate it. You've been very helpful and supportive.

[Kittycat]

121. Good luck

Hope some of the more considerate and concerned down thread helped drown out the noise. It's an important issue that should bother everyone.

[creeksneakers2]

188. I admire you for being honest

about this. It must have been hard to come forward with the new information.

What I don't understand though, is how, if this was such a big deal possible national conspiracy and you even want to check on what happened in Nevada, you waited over two weeks to call the auditor? Its very irresponsible to post claims like you made without getting to the bottom of them first. You've fed a bunch of conspiracy nuts and they will likely spread the idea you gave them even further.

Hillary has been harmed by misinformation spread by Sanders supporters. Trump benefits from the misinformation.

[CreekDog]

139. no you didn't switch it back, you were bragging about being an R in late 2012

dammit, keep your stories straight.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021456173

[obamanut2012]

14. +1

[JoePhilly]

88. Consider this ... Why would the DNC and team Hillary purge a former Republican?

It makes no sense.

If the DNC and HIllary were purging prospective Bernie supporters, and if HIllary and the DNC are really Republicans ... then they would want to KEEP folk like our friend here because no Bernie supporter would EVER switch to Republcian in the first place.

Oh wait. This one did.

Does the OP think switching to GOP and then back is a behavior indicative of Bernie supporters? Thus causing them to become targets?

Makes no sense.

[CreekDog]

140. there's only one explanation for her contradictory stories

i won't say it out loud though.

[stevenleser]

142. It gets better, see Creekdog's posts downthread and my response. Apparently

the person was still a registered Republican in October of 2012, more than half a year after the Iowa caucuses.

[asuhornets]

192. I read that... who joins a political party just to see how the process works...n/t

[Fla Dem]

190. After you changed your registration to (R) to caucus for Huntman in 2012, were you able to vote for

President Obama in the Presidential race? If so, it would appear at some point your re-registration to Dem was valid at that point.

[asuhornets]

191. I've always been a Democrat...n/t

[Retrograde]

193. If you mean the Nov. 2012 election

that was what my state terms a non-partisan election, meaning that it's open to all voters. That's why I asked if the original poster had voted in any elections that specifically required her to be a registered Democrat prior to this year.

[Fla Dem]

194. I realized that after I posted that the GE was open.

[TCJ70]

11. I know people are already giving you grief for being registered a Republican for one week...

...which I get. If you want to see the other side's process that's what you have to do. This kind of garbage is unacceptable. Voter registration is something we should have down pat in this country.

[LisaL]

62. I think people are giving grief because this was presented as some giant conspiracy theory.

Against Bernie supporters. Yet poster herself registered as a Republican years ago.

[Art_from_Ark]

79. So does registering as a Republican for one week

create a permanent stain on one's record?

[LisaL]

81. I don't care about permanent stains on record. She registered as a Republican.

Many years ago. She thought she switched to Democratic yet her registration remained Republican (apparently for many years).
There was no big giant conspiracy to defraud a Bernie supporter, was there?

[Art_from_Ark]

90. She attended the Iowa Democratic caucus on February 1

So obviously she was registered as a Democrat then.

[LisaL]

93. What she says is that she filled out paperwork.

But there is no record of this paperwork being processed. So her registration remained Republican.

[Art_from_Ark]

95. She also said she passed the Credential Check at the Polk County Convention in March

How could she have passed that if she were registered as a Republican?

[LisaL]

96. Sounds like somebody at the registration check didn't pay attention.

As this poster remained republican for many years after registering as one.

[winter is coming]

110. You clearly don't remember the Polk County Convention.

It dragged on for hours, while they went over people's credentials, one-by-one, with a fine-toothed comb. It's far more likely that her registration change got conveniently "lost" by the party after the county convention.

[Kittycat]

119. This was my thought

Regs didn't go from step 1 to auditor, they stayed with the party. Delegate credentials were double checked with regs on file with the party, then screw it. They never sent them to the auditor for final processing before step 3.

[LisaL]

156. And OP doesn't appear to remember that despite claiming she registered as a Republican, then

switched back a week later, she remained registered as a Republican per her own post in Oct of 2012.

[winter is coming]

160. Which doesn't change the fact that the OP re-registered as a Dem on February 1st

and passed the credentials check at the county convention in March.

[CreekDog]

141. she was registered purposely for about a year, she even bragged about it

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021456173

[LisaL]

157. At least a year.

Did she ever even post anything about switching back? She seemed to be happy that she was registered as a Republican, getting a call to volunteer for Romney, and planning to vote for Obama. And certainly didn't mention any plans to switch back to Democrat.

[CoffeeCat]

123. Well, I saw red flags

because of the following:

I participated in the Feb 1 Iowa Caucus and was registered as a Democrat.

I then participated in the March 12 County Convention as a delegate for Bernie. I even passed an "extra" credentials check, because the Hillary supporters challenged all Bernie delegate credentials. I passed.

So I assumed that I was a registered Democrat, because of these actions.

When, I got the call a few weeks ago, in late April, that I was a registered Republican, it was disconcerting. I was also told that there were a few other Bernie delegates that were in the same predicament. I was also told that one was a County Precinct Chair who was absolutely not a Republican, but his registration showed up as being a Republican.

Anyone would find this odd. Or suspect that possibly there could be nefarious behavior going on. I sat on this information for a few weeks. I was trying to make sense of it myself. When I saw what happened to many in NV who had their credentials checked and stripped, I saw similarities.

Today, I called the auditor's office. I was told that not only was there NO RECORD of me registering to caucus as a Democrat on Feb 1; there was also no record of me ever switching my registration back from R to D. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I posted the info here, because I thought it was important to share everything.

I never, ever suspected that my registration wasn't changed back from R to D--four years ago. I didn't think it mattered that I was a Republican for one week, four years ago. Especially when I had re-registered as a Dem on Feb 1 at our Iowa Caucus and participated as a credentialed Bernie delegate at our County Convention on March 12.

[questionseverything]

176. is there a way you can find out who was responsible for taking the "new" democratic registrations to

the election authority?

is there any video of the line?

so sad we have to fight at every level to be included in the voting process

[JoePhilly]

89. WHy would switching to and from the GOP lead the DNC (or some other evil group) ...

... to switch the OP back to Republican.

The consiracy theory is that Hillary and the DNC are really Republicans. As such, they'd be trying to KEEP the OP as a Democrat because of their prior affiliation with the GOP.

meanwhile, they'd be purging people who were NEVER Republicans to get as many Bernie folks as possible.

[auntpurl]

154. As the OP's story has completely fallen apart upon inspection

I contend trying to make logical sense of it is a waste of time.

[winter is coming]

162. "Completely"??? That's some industrial-grade wishful thinking.

If the standard is "contemporary statements are most accurate", it looks like CoffeeCat forgot to re-register in 2012, but did re-register in February and was recognized as a Bernie delegate in March, which still leaves us with the question of how CoffeeCat's status was conveniently "lost" between March and April of this year.

[DURHAM D]

15. In my caucus state you could register or re-reigster

as Dem at the caucus. However, to complete the process you must followup by going to the the voter registrar up at the courthouse to actually complete the process.

The Democratic party made it very clear several times that they could not turn in the pieces of paper that were signed at the caucus because you were really just registering to vote at the caucus and NOT registering to vote in general.

The upshot of this process is that in caucus states non-Democrats were voting. At my caucus more than 2/3s of the voters were not and still are not actual registered Democrat.

[CoffeeCat]

20. This was not the case in my Iowa Caucus

I re-registered as a Dem at our Iowa Caucus, and the woman at the auditor's office said that this paperwork alone should have officially made me a Democrat.

I was not require to go through any additional steps, at all.

Keep in mind--I re-registered as a Dem at our Feb 1--as an extra precaution. I thought I was a Democrat! I was a precinct captain for Bernie and was addressing the crowd that night. If I thought there was any chance, that I wasn't a registered Dem, I would have made a trip to the auditor's office--immediately.

[Duval]

17. We should all double check our registrations.

CoffeeCat, I'm so sorry you had this happen to you. But, it may serve as a warning to us. I hope you can get this fiasco straightened out soonest. I have no idea how you can accomplish this, however. Best of luck and if any of us can help in any way, please let us know. Damn!

[CoffeeCat]

23. Thank you so much

I think I've done all of the right things. I am a registered Democrat going forward. That is the most important thing to me.

I appreciate the support.

I know, to some, it's horrifying that I was a Republican for one week--and some are using that to paint me as the devil. And that's fine. Most of those people never had anything kind to say to me on DU anyway.

[Tarc]

21. This has the finely-polished veneer of a well-crafted story

I mean, for months now the "you're just a paid Brockbot!" has been tossed at Hillary supporters. I'd say, esp when conveniently-timed stories like this arise, the shoe may be on the other foot.

[CoffeeCat]

28. I can assure you that I don't

work for David Brock.

[Jude the Obscure]

29. I can tell you dont give a shit

Way to recruit Bernie supporters. Disenfranchisment is a serious problem.

[itsrobert]

26. The lesson here is to verify you are registered for the proper party before the registration date.

Things get screwed up and someone in the process might drop the ball.

I have been a registered Democrat all my life, but checked it again a few weeks ago.

Always get verification, that's part of your responsibility as a citizen.

[jeff47]

30. Yes, it's entirely the voter's fault when the people who are supposed to be tracking this

screw up.

[joshcryer]

34. They said they registered back...

...I know I get a simple email every year about my status and when it changed, I'd be on top of it. Maybe other states need to adopt Colorado's system.

Of course, I never trusted paper to register, myself. Any thing could have happened to their registration. Very weird.

[BainsBane]

32. You don't register to vote at caucuses

As least in MN, and I can't think why Iowa should be different. In fact, when I was in Iowa, I was that Iowa law required no identification of any kind to participate in the caucuses, while ID or verification of address is required to register to vote. The typical advance deadline for registration prior to an election also doesn't hold for caucuses. Caucuses are run by parties, not the Secretary of State's office, and you don't vote at a caucus; you voice a presidential preference, which is not the same as a vote. If you registered as a Republican before the caucuses, participating in a Democratic caucus doesn't change your voter registration.

[CoffeeCat]

42. I can assure you You can register to vote (or change party affiliation) the night of the Iowa Caucus

It's absolutely fact that you can register as a Democrat, right before the Iowa Caucus, to participate in the Iowa Caucus.

I worked as a volunteer, at the Iowa Caucus, and I spent a lot of time helping people register.

In order to participate in the Iowa Democratic Caucuses, you must register or be registered as a Democrat.

I re-registered as a Democrat in 2014--after being a Republican for one week. I again registered as a Democrat the night of the Iowa Caucuses, Feb 1, 2016--as a precaution. My County Auditor's office has no record of me registering as a Democrat either of those two times.

[ISUGRADIA]

58. Iowa is different

When I lived in Iowa, I helped run caucuses. If you weren't on the list as a registered Democrat you had to fill out a voter registration form. It's different in Minnesota.

Iowa also has the 15% viability at each caucus and breaking into preference groups. There is no total vote by candidate reported, only the number of delegates selected.

In Minnesota it's strictly a voting process like a primary. And those numbers are binding. So whatever the count is on election night determines the delegate breakdown.

The caucus process can vary widely from state to state in short.

[joshcryer]

33. Maybe the check then was just a name check.

But at the final they were more robust.

[Ferd Berfel]

37. sounds like you gave someone the opening they were looking for

Sorry you've had to deal with all of this carp

[nadinbrzezinski]

39. This is familiar, just not usually in the United States

and I will leave at that.

[Txbluedog]

40. Moral of the story for me....

If you are passionate about your candidate enough to participate in a caucus, check and double check before hand that you have your i's dotted and your t's crossed

[Punkingal]

41. I think that was an interesting thing to do.

And Huntsman was a good choice. He was so sensible the Republicans ran him off very quickly. It is obvious by your passionate posts here that you are a Democrat, a real one. Don't let it bother you what anyone says. All of us Bernie supporters are told we aren't democrats on a daily basis anyway.

[CobaltBlue]

48. Punkingal—Take that as a compliment. It’s coming from people who should be in the Republican Party.

[hootinholler]

43. Have you contacted Bernie's legal staff?

That is some seriously fucked up shit.

[HooptieWagon]

47. "Iowa Democratic Party"

[Question It]

50. Make This Legal!

Coffee Cat, with all the shenanigans going on this election, there are lawsuits being filed. They need evidence and testimony, especially to prove this is a pattern, not an accident. I hate to ask you go through more but it sounds like you are an involved citizen, so please don't stop now! I'm no legal expert but I know this much; you need to make this official by filling out an affidavit. Maybe you can ask the people at www.ElectionNightmares.com how, as they have one posted from an AZ poll worker here:http://electionnightmares.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Dianne-Post-affidavit-from-complaint.pdf. Make your story legit so it can be used in court, not just on the Internet. Once done, you could contact Election Justice USA @Elect_Justice or the Sanders campaign directly and offer it to them! I would also be happy to have a copy! You can contact me @ [e-mail]
THANK YOU FOR COMING FORWARD WITH THIS STORY! UNITED WE STAND!

[CoffeeCat]

54. I am befuddled after speaking

with the Polk County auditor's office today.

I originally thought this could be a case of my registration being switched from D to R.

Today I learned from the auditor's office that it is not as simple as that.

I switched from R to D four years ago (I was an R for one week). I also re-registered as a D on Feb 1--the night of our Iowa Caucuses--because my name was not on the voter list as it always had been when I caucused in previous years.

I was told by the auditor's office that there is no record of me switching from R to D four years ago; no record of me registering as a D the night of the Caucus on Feb 1.

I don't know how this happened or why.

This is all new news to me. Still digesting it all. I doubt I'll ever have answers.

[CreekDog]

143. no, you were a Republican and posted about being so, for many months in 2012

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021456173

[NorthCarolina]

51. You were a victim, but unfortunately

there's probably not any recourse.

[7wo7rees]

52. Finally. A long standing DU'er with a first hand story to share.

This is happening across the country. Thanks so much for sharing. We all should be protesting this obvious theft and subversion.

What is to stop the Republicans in November? Not a damned thing. We will all be with another too close to call and then wonder how in the hell did Trump beat Hillary!

[LisaL]

60. And her story is, that she registered as a republican years ago.

Which she now admits. For whatever reason, it apparently wasn't changed back. So how does the giant conspiracy against Bernie supporters play into this situation?

[seabeyond]

70. As far as "they" knew she was as much a Clinton supporter as a Sanders. Now way of knowing.

[nadinbrzezinski]

74. I will not wonder

I pretend to vote in pretend elections

[7wo7rees]

82. Pretty much. Sadly. nt

[ContinentalOp]

57. Hmm

So in your previous thread you said you had NO IDEA why you would be registered as a Republican and that you never switched your registration. Now you admit that you were in fact registered as a Republican at some point. This is why many of us are skeptical of these claims of magically switching registrations. When they're investigated more closely they turn out to be more complicated and less sinister than people claim.

It's also interesting that Sanders supporters swear up and down that "operation chaos" is not a real thing and that people never cross over to mess with another party's primary and then you admit to doing just that!

It's also interesting that you're telling more of the story now that you were featured on TYT. Were you worried that the increased attention would lead somebody to discover that you were registered as a Republican at one point?

[randome]

61. Good points, all.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[uponit7771]

65. +1

[seabeyond]

71. Yup. Nt

[CoffeeCat]

91. The second I hung up from talking with the auditor's office

I posted all of the new information that I gleaned from that conversation.

I just found out later that this was featured on TYT.

I posted a link to the new information (my second post), into my initial post.

And yes, I was registered as a Republican for an entire week. That was four years ago. I switched my registration back to D, a week later. Since then, I did the following:

I showed up and participated in our Iowa Caucuses on Feb 1. I even re-registered as a Democrat because I was one of hundreds of registered Dems in my caucus who were not listed on the official voting list.

I participated in the Polk County Convention as a delegate for Bernie. My credentials were checked and I assumed they would have checked my party status.

So when I got the call in late April, that I was a registered Republican, I was shocked. I went to the auditor's office the next day and switched back to D.

When I called the auditors office today, I was told that there was no record of me switching back from R to D four years ago. Also, there is no record of me registering as a Dem at our Feb caucuses. That's two failures.

And somehow, I passed the credentials check at the county Convention.

I'm trying to be as honest as possible. That's why I posted what I learned today.

[LisaL]

159. Wasn't a week, from what you were posting in Oct 2012.

Obama-Romney election. You still remained a registered Republican and didn't post about any plans to switch back to being a Democrat.

[ucrdem]

106. This.

[R B Garr]

108. +1000. Excellent post. It's also curious that, while she's not sure what is going on, she

is sure that it is the Democrats that are screwing her over, and in particular Hillary and Hillary's campaign which she talks about in the most irrational and emotional terms. She never surmises or speculates that it might be Republicans, even though she was registered as a Republican.

Hmmm is right, all the way around. Your observation about the TYT is also very interesting!

[reformist2]

72. Sounds like they threw your registration paperwork in the garbage, along with thousands of others.

[polly7]

75. Yes, it does. nt.

[winter is coming]

107. I wonder how many Clinton delegates had this problem. n/t

[Retrograde]

80. Did you vote in any partisan elections between 2012 and this year?

I have no idea how Iowa handles non-presidential elections: do you have party primaries or caucuses for senator and representatives? Would there have been any time between you changed your registration to D in 2012 and this year that you would have had to show you belonged to a certain party? Does the Iowa Democratic party keep its own list of voters? You mentioned registering at a caucus: how is that process supposed to work to get the information to the auditor (which I presume is the person who is responsible for keeping track of voters). That would help narrow down the dates when the switch to R could have happened.

Do you have a common name for your region? Both my husband and I have "doubles" in the area: mine goes to the same medical clinic as me, has her car serviced by the same people, even used to buy her shoes at the same store. Mistakes can happen when people just look at a name and not any supporting confirmation like drivers license or address: that could be a source for the 2014 error.

Bottom line, though: is it fixed now? And do you have any way of finding out if any of your fellow caucus goers are having similar problems?

[CreekDog]

131. In October 2012, she posted that she was still a Republican

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021456173

[Number23]

132. Aha! The thot plickens!!!

[LisaL]

152. Not just posted, started a whole thread about it.

[Starry Messenger]

166. Things that make you go hmmmm

[CreekDog]

172. and also WTF

[Recursion]

84. So, the proximate cause is that you were registered as R because you registered as R

Makes sense

[JoePhilly]

112. See my post #86

Why would the "centrist Hillary" want to flip a former Republican turned dem back to Republican?

Wouldn't she want to keep those who flip back and forth?

Why would Hilary's registration flippers flip the op?

[JoePhilly]

86. Wouldn't team Hillary want to KEEP you, a former Republican, as a Democrat?

I mean isn't that what Bernie supporters think ... the DNC and team Hillary are seeking out BERNIE supporters and trying to purge them ... that is the conspiracy. Hillary is a Republican after all ... so she's WANT people like YOU ... people who have been in the GOP before becoming a De,=m.

But here you are claiming that you had switched to Republican ... and then back ... and then the DNC and Hillary realized that such behavior was indicative of a BERNIE supporter, and switched you back to Republican??????

Your logic train has gone of the rails.

[Hoyt]

94. Sounds to me they made a mistake allowing you to vote on February 1. But we won't whine.

Hope they read this interesting development on TYT.

[progressoid]

101. Matt fucking Schultz

Wasn't he SOS then?

[ucrdem]

105. If you switched your registration, you shouldn't be baffled. Didn't someone politely suggest that?

Anyway thanks for the follow-up.

[onecaliberal]

109. Brush them off CoffeeCat. They're voting for the republican, not you.

[CreekDog]

135. nah, I'm not voting Republican

and I don't have to come up with any explanations to explain a Republican registration in my past since there isn't any.

[CreekDog]

122. I'm baffled too

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=92913

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=92373

[CoffeeCat]

124. Don't be too baffled

My husband and I both ended up supporting John Huntsman in the Republican caucuses.

We were both very curious about how the Republican process played out, and we were both concerned that Santorum would win.

We did not caucus for Paul. Both of us caucused for Huntsman.

[CreekDog]

125. when did you change your mind?

how long before the caucuses?

[CoffeeCat]

126. I don't even remember...

My husband and I decided to "do" the Republican caucus, because we were curious about how their caucus ran. We had heard their procedures were very different from the Democratic caucuses.

So, we began talking about who we would support. I went back and forth. I am not surprised that I wrote what I did about Ron Paul, because I have been public enemy #1 against the neocons. I have been rallying against PNAC and the neocons for years. This is one of the reasons that I have so many problems with Hillary.

I went back and forth and my husband and I talked about it a great deal.

We both ended up writing Huntsman on our voting ballots (slips of paper actually).

I do like Ron Paul's thoughts about the neocons, and his anti-war stances. I think that's incredible important.

[CreekDog]

130. i don't think you've posted a single post mentioning Huntsman in that entire year

(on edit, you finally "admit" supporting him in October, although you were only posting about Ron Paul, and positively, at the time of the caucuses that January)

[stevenleser]

137. I wonder if any of the Bernie supporters who participated in the 1000+ comment attack OP against me

will swoop in and start questioning the inconsistencies in the story here.

Of course I know the answer is no since they already hid your OP on the subject. It's OK for them to datamine and try to use past posts to discredit people, but it's not OK for Hillary supporters.

Just to make this clear, in Bernie supporter Bizarro world, it's bad to have once not liked and suspicious of Hillary 8 years ago but now like her. But its perfectly OK to have registered Republican four years ago, voted in a Republican primary and not been completely honest or "not remember correctly" about for how long, (and we're talking about more than half a year from the Iowa caucus to October of 2012) or why.

[CreekDog]

127. I guess I don't really get that. I've always been a Democrat

while it might be nice to monkey around with the Republican Party, i've just never been able to bring myself to registering as anything but a Democrat.

the first time i registered was as a Democrat, then a few years later, i registered in another state as a Democrat, then back here as a Democrat, then to various addresses, always as a Democrat.

it's just simpler that way and i don't have to worry about what i am, or at least, which party i'm joining temporarily.

[CoffeeCat]

128. Well, let me tell you something

I will NEVER be registering as a Republican again. Not after what has happened.

Not that I planned on it anyway. We experienced their caucus and we were done.

I'm glad that we saw how their process was run, but it has not been worth what happened to my registration and all of the confusion surrounding it--years later.

[CreekDog]

129. who did you switch to after Huntsman didn't get enough votes to be viable?

who did you ultimately side with?

[CreekDog]

144. As they say, the third time's a charm

which means after stints 1 and 2 of being a Republican, hopefully you'll learn the lesson on number 3.

[moriah]

133. I don't mean to sound like a jackass when I say this, hon.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021456173#post8

I don't think you have intentionally misled anyone. We've all slept since then, and besides, your vote is your own business and it's not my place to interrogate you on it. But because your post made TYT, this does affect the credibility of DU as a whole.

If reading that thread, where many people talked about jiggling around registrations to vote in the opposition's primary (I know you went to observe, and we had no nominee battle that year so no judgment, but it's a practice I generally disapprove of because I don't like them doing it to us), helps jog your memory of that time, it might help you identify when you actually made the change.

[ContinentalOp]

146. That's a mighty long week!

[ucrdem]

147. "Yes, I am a registered Republican. Prior to a year ago, I had been a registered Dem"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021456173#post8

That's doesn't sound like what the OP says above. I'd also like to understand exactly what's going on here.

[LisaL]

150. Sounds like she registered as a Republican, and despite her current recollection, remained

registered as a Republican instead of changing registration to Democrat.

[CoffeeCat]

163. Yes, this is all hilarious to some

and I did my best to recollect the information. I literally hung up the phone with the auditor and posted the information here--that I was never switched back from an R to a D.

I knew that would definitely call into question what I did or didn't do--but I felt it was important to include the information--and not leave out what the auditor had told me about my status never reverting back to D.

I tried to recall when I switched and I knew it was immediately after an election. I assumed wrongly that it was right after the Republican primary caucus that I participated in. I didn't know that I had it wrong until I saw the DU posts that others have dug up. I barely remember those posts, but of course--I do remember the Romney campaign calling our house. I had to have been a registered R then.

I feel terrible that I got this wrong, but I did not intentionally lie. I must have switched back after the GE. That was the election that I was remembering.

It is clear though that major snafus happened. I never got switched from an R back to a D--even though I physically went to the auditor's office. I participated in the recent Feb 1 Iowa Democratic caucuses and registered there as a Dem. That paperwork was never received by the auditor's office. My husband filled out the same paperwork, and his wasn't received either. I also participated as a Bernie delegate at our County Convention on March 12 and had to have been a Democrat then.

I am still sorting all of this out in real time. I am doing my best.

[auntpurl]

148. OH DEAR ISN'T THIS EMBARRASSING.

So the OP's claim that she was a Republican for a week is untrue.

The OP's prior claim that she has no idea how she could be registered as Repub is untrue.

The OP's claim that she went down and switched her registration back immediately is untrue.

Not sure why we should believe any of the rest of what she says?

[CoffeeCat]

165. Yes, it is embarrassing to try to figure this out in real time

and to try to recollect details from four years ago. And get some of it wrong.

Again, I am doing my best.

When I first discovered that I was a registered Republican, it was late April when I got the phone call from a Sanders staffer in Iowa. I did not immediately take to DU and post that information. I sat on it for a while, trying to figure out what happened. It was very upsetting.

Here I was--in late April--a Republican. But on March 12, I had participated as a Bernie delegate at our County Convention. I checked in ok and was handed my credentials. I endured a one-on-one credential check because the Hillary supporters contested the earlier numbers and all Bernie delegates met with a Hillary person who checked our credentials. I passed.

Also, on Feb 1, I participated in the Iowa Caucuses--and even re-registered as a Democrat--because I was not listed on the voter rolls. Many, many people were not. I checked in a lot of angry registered Democrats that day who were missing from the rolls. So, I had re-registered as a Dem then.

So--as you can imagine--none of this made sense to me.

Then, yesterday I called the auditor's office and discovered that four years ago when I switched from R to D--that this did not go through either. I was--and still remain--completely gobsmacked about this.

I am doing my best. Many are calling me a liar. I messed up on remembering exactly when I switched, but I know that I was physically at that auditor's office. I knew for sure it was after an election.

I am doing my best.

[auntpurl]

170. Here's the thing.

We have actual data (your previous posts) and we have your personal story. Why should I believe you now, over what you posted previously when you had no reason to dissemble?

The point is that you held yourself up as representative of Bernie supporters being disenfranchised nationwide, an assertion that is being used to paint the Clinton campaign as dishonest. It is being used to make Hillary, the candidate with the most votes and delegates, look like she hasn't earned her victory.

If you hadn't had the whole "I'm shedding a tear for other Bernie supporters who are going through what I went through" component to your first OP, then I doubt it would have been picked up by TYT and used as an example of how Bernie supporters are being disenfranchised.

I actually think your story is a good representative example of unfounded accusations from the Bernie campaign. You messed up, but you blame it all on nefarious Hillary minions. So many Bernie supporters are new to the political process and don't understand how it works. Being shocked that people who weren't registered as Democrats could not vote in a Democratic caucus in Nevada is a great example. There was already a post on Reddit from a Sanders delegate in NV who admitted unregistering as a Democrat before the State convention and then being irate he wasn't allowed to vote.

As someone said above, this has never been an issue in prior elections until all of a sudden a bunch of Bernie supporters are angry because they're losing and they look for a way to justify that loss.

I'm afraid I have to doubt the veracity of your story because there are too many examples of it being contradicted.

[CreekDog]

171. +1000

[CoffeeCat]

173. I understand

However, there are facts. I did get a call from the campaign, telling me that I was a registered R, in late April. However, nearly a month earlier on March 12, I was a Bernie delegate who passed a full credential check at our County Convention.

Furthermore, on Feb 1--I re-registered as a Democrat at our Iowa Caucuses, where I was a precinct captain for Bernie.

All that I've learned in the past few days has sparked more questions that I had three days before.

I am having trouble piecing this together. I don't think I'll ever be able to.

How does the auditor's office have no record of me switching from R to D--and also no record of me re-registering as a Dem on Feb 1 at the caucuses? And how did I pass that credential check on March 12, if I was a registered R?

That's the reality I'm grappling with. Again...as I've stated so many times. I'm doing my best. I understand that many doubt my entire story---that I'm making all of this up. I assure, you I'm not.

I was not looking for a way (as you said) to justify Bernie's losses. I was trying to understand why these snafus happened to me. That's why I called the auditor's office. I shared the information gleaned from the auditor's office--because it was part of the story. I get that I have contradicted myself with the timeframe of when I switched from R to D. I don't think that negates the facts that I have clearly laid out. Do I know what in the world happened here...NO. I am more perplexed than ever.

[yardwork]

181. Sounds like the Sanders campaign didn't notice or care that you were a Republican.

Exit polls indicate that many Republicans are crossing party lines to vote for Sanders in states with open primaries. This appears to be one reason why Sanders won in Michigan, for example.

Maybe the Sanders campaign didn't notice that you were a registered Republican. Maybe they didn't care.

It sounds like you forgot to change your registration back to Democrat after you registered as a Republican some years ago. A simple oversight.

[yardwork]

180. Very good points.

[CoffeeCat]

161. When I called the auditor's office yesterday

and discovered that I was never switched back from an R to a D, I was completely gobsmacked. I tried to recall when I switched my registration. This was four years ago. I knew that I had switched it right after an election. I asked my husband and he said he didn't remember when I switched. But we both knew I did. I knew it had been after an election and I assumed that the election I was remembering was the Republican caucus. I deduced that I switched a week later.

Obviously, that is not true. I see that. Again, this was four years ago, and I most likely switched shortly after the Romney/Obama GE, which was several months later. I am sorry that I got this wrong. I am doing my best to piece together all of this. As I said, when I called the auditor's office, I couldn't believe what she was telling me--that there was no record of me switching. It added another layer to this. I know that I did physically go to the auditor's office and switch.

It is fact though, that I did re-register as a Democrat, for the Iowa Caucus on Feb 1. I was not on the voter rolls. Hundreds of registered Democrats weren't on the rolls. I assumed that I was one of many who were simply left off the lists. So I did re-register as a Democrat on Feb 1. The auditor said she has no paperwork and no record of me switching on Feb 1.

It is also fact that I participated as a Bernie delegate at our County Convention on March 12. I picked up my credentials, checked in, in the morning and I assumed I was a registered Dem then. Then, in the afternoon all Bernie delegate credentials were re-checked with a fine tooth comb, because the Hillary people insisted on a one-on-one credential check. I passed this credential check.

Then, I find out in late April, after a call from a Bernie Sanders staffer in Iowa--that I was a registered Republican. This is fact. This is what happened.

Yes, I most likely misremembered when I switched back from R to D. I am doing my best. I made an incorrect deduction--based on my initial gut feeling that I knew I switched back after an election. This was four years ago. I'm reading my past DU posts and I didn't even remember that Michelle Bachman was in this, but I commented on her being one of the reasons that I participated.

My husband and I initially wanted to participate to see what it was like. We researched the candidates. I liked Paul's anti-neocon rhetoric and I thought I might support him. We both ended up voting for Huntsman.

This is what I know. I have tried to recall everything as best I can. I may have misremembered when I switched back---but that does not change the fact that I participated in the Feb 1 caucus and re-registered as a Dem (and there is no record of that), and that I participated as a Bernie delegate on March 12 as a Democrat and passed a credential check.

Some people are having a lot of fun with this. I am more than happy to answer questions. This is not some made up story. Do I know exactly what happened? I don't. I am still trying to figure this out.

[moriah]

178. As I said, we've all slept since then.

I do wish you the best of luck in getting your voter registration fixed, and I really hope I didn't seem mean with what I said.

[CreekDog]

145. I think there's a cenk in your armor

[obamanut2012]

149. lololol

kicking

[JoePhilly]

164. Any conspiracy in a storm.

[Sancho]

155. So why didn't you check your registration??? After all that confusion and switching?

https://sos.iowa.gov/elections/voterreg/regtovote/search.aspx

Am I Registered To Vote in Iowa?
First name:
Last name:
Zip code:

If you have concerns or questions about your polling place or voter registration please contact your county auditor.
If you have moved to Iowa from another state or to a different county in Iowa, pre-register to vote in your new county 10 days before general elections and 11 days before all other elections. If you miss the pre-registration deadline, Election Day Registration is available.

Why didn't Benie's organization remind his folks to check before attending a Caucus or Convention?

I've registered in three states and been involved in campaigns since Carter. I've been reminded numerous times to check my registration any time that I moved, changed status, or even switched to the GOP in order to vote in some particular primary or local election (which I've done a couple times in 45 years).

[CreekDog]

167. Your story is a total mess (being charitable here) and is supposed to be an example of a conspiracy

but the most prominent assertion of a conspiracy against Sanders voters has turned out to be from someone who has registered Republican to monkey around with their caucus (dishonestly) and not bothered to change the registration back for years.

why are you the poster child for this kind of conspiracy theory? they couldn't find anyone with a story with less holes than yours?

oy.

[beaglelover]

169. I know, complete BS story.

[Sunlei]

174. It's a shame this was used as the example of 'party changing' on the Turks show.

IMO, someone did re-register some Ds change them to Rs and/or several republicans went to D primaries to 'pretend' to be Sanders supporters.

[Surya Gayatri]

177. ...

[apnu]

179. Wow, what a story.

I think the issue centers on your temporary registration as a Republican. As you said that's the day everything changed and nothing has been right since. You also keep going back to County Auditor's office, an official local government office and both the county and state are failing to keep its records straight.

Also, at that first convention, Hillary's people screwed up and let you in when they shouldn't have given the county's official stance that you are still a Republican.

This must be so frustrating for you. I'm sorry!

This next thing is directed to the general audience: The story of CoffeeCat doesn't suggest a craven conspiracy on Hillary's part knock Bernie out of the race. There is no way Hillary or her national campaign could be so controlling as to reach into this tiny county in Iowa and mess around. A local Hillary person maybe, but how could they know CoffeeCat is a Bernie supporter on a democratic party registration form? It is also possible a local Republican unwilling to switch affiliations from Republican in the county's auditor's office.

Same for problems in Arizona and New York. Both are examples of screw ups and possible political malpractice, but there is no way the to are remotely connected.

What this does show is how poor and weak our election process is from the local level all the way up to the top. The system is broken and it can be abused. We desperately need election reform in this country.

[auntpurl]

182. Agree with the "general audience" section completely.

Good post.

[yardwork]

183. She was a Sanders delegate. How is this Hillary's fault?

[apnu]

185. I never said it was. (nt)

[yardwork]

186. Yes, you did. In your post above.