In which my wife and I are disenfranchised by the US Postal Service.

I recently moved from King County to Snohomish County, and had to re-register to vote. So, I went out to the Snohomish County Auditor's web site, and saw this in the FAQs.

Where can I register?

You may obtain mail-in registration forms at all Public Schools, Libraries, City/Town Clerks' Offices, County Auditor's Office, Post Offices, and many other public places. You may register when you renew your Driver's License. You may also obtain a voter registration form here and mail it in.

(As it happens, I did renew my drivers license in July (after my move) but they didn't ask me if I wanted to register to vote, and I didn't think about it until several days later.)

This pretty much sounds like I have to register by mail. So, on August 19th, my lovely wife and I headed for the Post Office, filled in our registration form, and dropped them in the slot. Washington State law provides that registration by mail is counted as of the date of the postmark on the registration form.

Well, my voter registration card came in this week, and it says:
YOUR OFFICIAL VOTER REGISTRATION DATE: 08/29/2006

A call to the Snohomish County Auditor's office confirmed that my registration form was postmarked August 29, 2006, and that nothing can be done about it.

So, thanks USPS. And thanks Snohomish County, for going to all-mail balloting. It's so good to be confident that my vote will be counted.