INTA has profiled me in its most recent Bulletin.

1. Find out today where your polling place is by calling your county clerk or checking www.mypollingplace.com
2. Alternatively, call 1-866-MYVOTE1 to find your polling place.
3. Check the hours the polls are open with your city or county clerk.
4. Print the League of Women Voters’ card in English or Spanish and put it in your wallet or purse.
5. Bring a government-issued picture ID like a driver’s license or passport when you vote. Some states require it but if there are problems, you will certainly need it. If you have a cell phone, take it to call for help if need be.
6. As you enter the polls, note if there is an Election Protection person outside the polling place.
7. If you are not on listed as a registered voter, try to register on the spot. Some states allow that. Otherwise, talk to the Election Protection person if there is one or call 1-866-OUR-VOTE for instructions. If neither of these helps, ask for a provisional ballot, but you will need a picture ID to get one.

via Electoral-vote.com

From The League of Women Voters:

1)  Your Ballot, Your Vote   Don’t panic if you registered to vote but your name is not on the list. Get help from a poll worker to make sure your vote is counted. You may be directed to another polling place or given a provisional ballot.

Provisional/interim/conditional ballots are intended as a safeguard for voters whose eligibility is in question on Election Day. These include those whose voter registration is in doubt, those who may have been erroneously purged, or first-time voters who registered by mail and have I.D. problems.  

The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) requires that provisional ballots be counted if the voter is eligible to vote by state law.  However, some election officials have chosen to apply standards for counting provisional ballots that are unrelated to voter eligibility, such as casting the provisional ballot in the proper polling place and filling out the enclosing envelope correctly.  Provisional ballots are the safety net so that no voter coming to the polls will be turned away.

However, provisional ballots should not be considered a backup for poor polling place operations or a catch-all for all problematic situations.  Election officials should make every effort before the election to reduce the need for numerous provisional ballots, by improving the registration system and by other means to allow the voter to cast an ordinary/regular ballot.  Too many provisional ballots will increase the post-election administrative burden on election officials and delay election results.  

2)  I.D. – Don’t Go Without It   You may need to show I.D. To be safe, bring your driver’s license, or a paycheck, utility bill or government document that includes your name and street address.

HAVA requires that first-time voters who register by mail present I.D. prior to voting on Election Day unless the state has already verified their identity.  Unfortunately, many states have gone further,  and are requiring all voters or all first-time voters to present I.D.  In addition, while HAVA says that the application of the new requirement must be “uniform and non-discriminatory,” many states have neither established mechanisms for ensuring uniform and non-discriminatory application, nor informed the public as to what forms of I.D. are acceptable in their state.  Because this is a new requirement, it could lead to problems such as unequal and discriminatory treatment, and ultimately lead to wrongful disenfranchisement on Election Day.

3)  Writing on the Wall   Look at the signs at the polling place for directions on how to use the voting machines, a list of your voting rights, and instructions for filing a complaint if your rights have been violated.

Voters will face many changes in the polling place this year. Many will experience new procedures, some will see new equipment, others will see the same equipment as before but now wonder if they failed to cast their vote properly, and many will be first-time voters.   To address these realities, HAVA also requires that basic voting information be posted in the polling place.  Election officials should work with design and usability professionals to ensure the readability of the information they’re providing in the polling place.  Information/instructions should be written clearly and simply and provide illustrations.  Voting machine instructions should include how a voter can review his or her ballot, and how to check for overvotes and undervotes.  And, information regarding what constitutes a spoiled ballot and instructions for securing a new ballot should be provided.  

4)  When in Doubt – Ask   Poll workers are there to help you. They’ll show you how to work the machines and give you a provisional ballot if you need one. If you’re at the wrong polling place, they should tell you how to get to the right one.

Poll workers are volunteers from the local area, who are committed to helping voters. Ultimately,  the successful administration of elections lies in the hands of poll workers.  However, in too many cases, there are too few of them and/or they have not received the necessary tools from election officials.  Such tools include appropriate training, easily searched reference information to answer questions, and the official list of all voters, with their polling place identified, for the election registrar’s entire jurisdiction. 

5)  In and Out   You probably won’t have to wait too long. But even if the line is long, don’t leave without voting. The outcome of this election will be important!

Many voters state that they don’t have time to vote and that’s why they haven’t participated in the past.  Creating a sense of a positive voting experience and giving voters the tools they need to achieve this – such as the League’s 3 Ways to Make Voting a Breeze – will go a long way in increasing voter turnout.  The League is urging TV and radio stations to help with this by giving regular updates on Election Day on wait times at polling places in their area.

AND 

Know What to Do if You Experience Election Day Problems 

Call toll free — 1-866-Our-Vote — to report problems and to receive advice on what to do.  This hotline is being operated by the Election Protection Coalition, which is composed of many organizations including the League of Women Voters.

Read this entire story below from The Oregonian, about Department of Homeland Security agents objecting to the sale of toys in a toy store in Oregon, on intellectual property grounds.  The article is a little vague about distingushing between Customs and non-Customs DHS agents and I’m a little puzzled as to what really happened.  U.S. Customs, which is now part of the Department of Homeland Security, does have an intellectual property division and does have the power to seize allegedly infringing items at the time of importation.  Federal marshalls are sometimes enlisted to aid in the seizure of counterfeit items which have already been imported.  This doesn’t appear to be either situation.  Also, it seems that the goods weren’t seized, merely taken off the shelf.  The story is odd: if you have additional information, please send it in.

Update: One seasoned litigator notes that if ‘Customs’ was substituted for ‘DHS’ in the article, then the story would merely be unusual.  Customs agents are sometimes involved in post-importation matters relating to counterfeits. 

Feds create puzzle not found on toy shelf

Nothing about running a small store called Pufferbelly Toys prepared Stephanie Cox for a cryptic phone call from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

“It’s all very surreal, quite honestly,” Cox said Wednesday. “I thought it was a prank when I first heard. I couldn’t understand why Homeland Security would be investigating a tiny toy store in St. Helens.”

The call came in late July or early August. A man identifying himself as a federal Homeland Security agent said he needed to talk to Cox at her store.

Cox asked what it was all about.

“He said he was not at liberty to discuss that,” she said.

They agreed to meet in early August, but the agent later canceled. Cox thought the matter had blown over when the agent called back Sept. 9 to say he was coming out there.

“I was shaking in my shoes,” said Cox, who has owned Pufferbelly Toys for more than four years. “My first thought was the government can shut your business down on a whim, in my opinion. If I’m closed even for a day that would cause undue stress.”

The next day, two men arrived at the store and showed Cox their badges. The lead agent asked Cox whether she carried a toy called the Magic Cube. She said yes. The Magic Cube, he said, was an illegal copy of the Rubik’s Cube, one of the most popular toys of all time. He told her to remove the Magic Cube from her shelves, and he watched to make sure she complied.

The whole thing took about 10 minutes.

After the agents left, Cox called the manufacturer of the Magic Cube, the Toysmith Group, which is based in Auburn, Wash. A representative told her that the Homeland Security agents had it wrong. The Rubik’s Cube patent had expired, and the Magic Cube did not infringe on rival toy’s trademark.

John Ryan, corporate counsel for the Toysmith Group, said Homeland Security, which includes Customs, routinely blocks shipments of products from overseas that violate intellectual property rights, such as patents, copyrights and trademarks.

“That’s fine. That’s not an outrageous federal act by any means,” Ryan said. “But we certainly were surprised that a federal agent approached a toy store owner and frightened them.”

Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said agents went to Pufferbelly based on a trademark infringement complaint filed in the agency’s intellectual property rights center in Washington, D.C.

Kice also said Homeland Security officials routinely investigate such complaints and follow up if they determine they are valid.

“One of the things that our agency’s responsible for doing is protecting the integrity of the economy and our nation’s financial systems and obviously trademark infringement does have significant economic implications,” she said.

After gaining assurances from Toysmith officials, Cox put the Magic Cube back on the shelf soon after the agents left.

Six weeks after her brush with Homeland Security, Cox is still scratching her head.

“Aren’t there any terrorists out there?” she said.

Undisputed copyright infringement committed by Timex, but it gets a multi-million dollar damages award against it vacated.

Polar Bear Productions v. Timex, 03-35188 (9th Cir. Oct 25, 2004).

ICANN has announced that it has begun ‘commercial and technical’  negotiations regarding addition of a .POST tld sponsored by the Universal Postal Union, and a .TRAVEL tld sponsored by The Travel Partnership Corporation.

Perhaps you have received several offers to purchase replica ROLEX (or ROLE’X, ROLE”X or ROLE.X) watches recently.  So did this listserv.  According to this blog, Rolex’ attorneys saw the spam on the archived list, and sent a demand letter to the list operator.  This blog doesn’t think that that was smart.

Soccer fan turns over freddyadu.com to soccer sensation, Freddy Adu in UDRP.

Arsenal and German goalie Jens Lehmann (left) has been ordered to wear ADIDAS brand gloves, if he wishes to keep his place on the German national team.  He has been wearing NIKE gloves for Arsenal.  Via Eurosport.com.  Thanks to John W. for the pointer.

NY Times article here about conflict between the UK soccer leagues and newspapers over depictions on logos in game photos, and mentions of sponsorships.  One paper, The Sun, has taken to stripping mentions of sponsorships.  For example The Coca Cola Championship is referred to simply as The Championship.