Page told Mother Jones that in South Carolina, polling locations near colleges have been hot spots for Republicans to challenge the validity of votes, especially those of students. There is also a history of voter harassment and intimidation by Republicans around Benedict College, which is a historically black college.

Kim Hunter, a spokeswoman for the school, said that she hadn't received reports from students about problems at the polls. Hunter explained that students who registered on campus but didn't have their voter registration cards had to travel to the main elections office.

The students may never report this as strange, especially if this is their first opportunity to vote, as they don't know a different way. As a former student that maintained her residency at home while in school, I know how it feels to have your vote challenged, but having to drive to the main office and possibly missing class or suffering other unexpected repercussions reeks of voter disenfranchisement to me.




There are other instances of intimidation in South Carolina that the Democrats are looking at well. At the North Hope Center in Sumter, South Carolina, tea party activists were allegedly "shouting at the hard working people who have taken time from work or school and are telling them not to vote," according to Jill Tubman of jackandjillpolitics.com.

The Columbia Tea Party admits that tea party groups were acting as poll watchers, presumably to make sure that people were not being harassed, and admitted that one group had focused its efforts in the Sumter area. They denied, though, that voter intimidation was the goal, saying that the focus was on legitimate voting.

So far, the South Carolina Democrats have found no direct evidence of Republican involvement or identified any specific Tea Party groups, and the state GOP did not reply immediately to a request for comment. But take notice: the minority vote is valuable and some will go to extremes to ensure that the minority vote is crippled and weakened.

As for my midterm election voting experience, I wish I could say it went smoothly. I ended up shuffling between different tables and different lines because I had received an absentee ballot that I did not request (different issue for another time). My eligibility to vote on-site had to be verified via the county office to ensure that I was not attempting to vote twice. After hanging around my polling location for 30 minutes when I thought that it would be a relatively quick and painless process, I was finally verified and sent to yet another line to pick up a ballot.

It doesn't end there - my name is very similar to my mother's name and she had already voted. The polling location tried to tell me that I had already signed and received a ballot. After some "gentle correction and clarification", I stood in line to cast my vote. On my way out, I watched the voter verification line grow and the people in it become more and more disgruntled with the election process.

My heart goes out to those folks who really don't have time to suffer the run around at their polling location.

Yes, your vote is that important and there are people working overtime to make sure that your voice is not heard. Voter disenfranchisement is real and it is not only happening in South Carolina, folks. While elections are over for now, take seriously any attempt from anyone to dissuade you from voting normally.