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Check status today to ensure primary vote

By Cristina Silva, Times Staff Writer
In print: Monday, July 28, 2008

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ST. PETERSBURG — It's a busy year for local politics, with a smorgasbord of congressional, county, School Board and state Legislature candidates trying to out sound-bite one another and score your vote.

But before you can legitimately rock one of those nifty "I voted" stickers, you have to register.

Today is the deadline to register to vote in the statewide Aug. 26 primary. Fill out an application at your local library or download one from the Web and mail it in.

If you've registered before, that doesn't mean you're in the clear.

State law requires local election offices to kick voters off their rolls every two years for a number of reasons, including if they haven't voted in the past two general elections or if they moved and never updated their voter registration card. The law is intended to reduce voter fraud, so that crooks can't your use your dead Aunt Nancy's name to vote.

At least 76,365 voters were deemed ineligible in Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Hernando counties in 2007, the most recent voter purge.

The state does not inform voters who are dropped from the rolls, so election officials suggest you confirm your voting status.

Otherwise, no sticker for you.