I CAN'T VOTE?

After spending the last month convincing the young, impressionable fourth grade minds that voting should be of utmost importance, I learned today that I CAN'T VOTE. At least not today, or in the next 30 days either ("In case there is a run-off," the voter registration information hotline lady offered as a snippy condolence prize.--ugly sneer soon followed). WHAT? I now am part of the can't-vote club: felons (yay. Martha and me [or is it Martha and I?]), those under age, non-citizens, and the mentally incompetent. But my entrance into the club is definitely something I am NOT proud of. I didn't know that voter registration cards EXPIRED. The confusion is not that simple, though. Nick's card expired, but somehow it magically renewed itself (and forgot to slip the cheat sheet for that to MY card). The same happy-snippy lady from the voting hotline cleared things up perfectly well by stating firmly that the cards DON'T RENEW THEMSELVES. OK. But it did. And mine DIDN'T. I'm having voter registration card envy. Ms. Snippy also informed me that I WAS registered in Lubbock County. Why, then, have I already voted in HARRIS county before, and why then, does my voter registration say HOUSTON? I moved from Lubbock over 3 years ago. And a heck of a lot of good THAT does me. Maybe this talk of moving BACK to Lubbock has somehow made my registration card renew itseld IN Lubbock. Oh, but according to snippy-operator, that isn't possible. Maybe the voter registration karma is trying to send me some subliminal message. I just can't quite grasp it. AAAAAH.
This IS a big deal. I've spent the last 3.9 years listening to both candidates yakking about saving the world, dissecting each other's syntax and semantics with scalpels, and I really put a chunk of emotional energy into being a vigilant voter. Except, apparently, renewing my card.
Maybe I am projecting my anger onto snippy pants. (But didn't she realize that I nearly rotted on hold while waiting to hear her give me the bad news?) I do realize that some of the blame stems from my own ignorance. I guess I just don't sit around perusing my voter registration card all that often. Like, never. It sits in a drawer, and I didn't even use it last time I voted (maybe THAT was the problem)--I used my driver's license. Maybe I should have been more watchful. I'm still jealous that Nick's card got some blast of magical power that mine didn't. And now it's 7:01. The Texas precincts are closed. I feel like less of a patriotic citizen. I do hope my candidate prevails. I even thought of sending him a card saying, "I'm sorry that I didn't vote, but I wanted to, but my blasted card was in exile because it didn't get laser-zapped like my husband's" but then I'd probably come across as being weird and get put on some watch list, and I'd never get to enter Walmart or something, much less vote EVER AGAIN.
I hope you voted. Everything happens for a reason, and I hope that no matter which candidate ultimately becomes our president, our country solidifies in its strength, and that we move strongly into the future.