Another typical snafu...

...on my part.

Today I went down to the local Democratic Registrar's office to get my petition form certified so I can start collecting signatures for Ned Lamont.

While I was there, the Registrar (who was extremely nice and very helpful) printed out lists of Democratic voters to enable me to go door to door. Then I asked a question about my current party affiliation.

You see, nearly 30 years ago when I first registered to vote, my father advised me to register as a Republican. I didn't think one way or another about it, because I knew I'd almost always vote Democrat.

The one notable exception I can think of is the 2000 election, where I voted FOR Gore/Lieberman for President/V.P., but AGAINST Lieberman for U.S. Senate because I was pissed that by his running for both V.P. and Senate reelection at the same time, if he became V.P. and had to resign his seat, Rowland would have been able to appoint a Republican in his place. If he resigned BEFORE the election, a Democrat would be able to fill his seat.

Going into the election there was a 50-50 split in the Senate and Lieberman would have been the tiebreaker as Vice President, so all other things remaining the same, if Gore/Lieberman won, it would have given the Republicans a majority in the Senate. An example of Lieberman's desperate selfishness, where he would have sacrificed a Democratic seat to hedge his bet on the election.

We all know how well THAT worked out.

So I voted for whatever Republican sap was running against him. As a protest. Because I was pissed off at him.

But that was the only time I could think of that I voted for a Republican candidate.

And I once voted for Lowell Weicker when he ran as an Independent for Governor.

We all know how well THAT worked out.

So anyway...because of years of laziness and procrastination, I never got around to changing my party affiliation. Until about 6 weeks ago, when I learned that in order to vote for Ned Lamont in the primary, I needed to be a registered Democrat. I went down to Town Hall and filled out the card.

Unfortunately, the fine print says that when you CHANGE parties, there is a three month delay before you get full party privileges. Including, apparently, the privilege of collecting signatures for your new party.

The Registrar said she'd check with the Sec. of State, and she'll contact me as soon as she finds out for sure, but it looks grim. If it turns out I'm not eligible for the petition drive, not only will any signatures I collect get thrown out, but also those people won't ever sign a valid petition because they'll think they've already signed one. Shit.

So, yeah, that's my little snafu. I guess I'll have to contribute to the campaign in other ways, which I'll continue do with gusto.

But I'm also pointing a finger at myself, saying "You stoopid ass."

Mea frickin' culpa

UPDATE: Yeah, it's official. The Registrar called back and the Secretary of State confirmed that I can't collect signatures. Natch.