This article is more than 1 year old

Shawshank thesp erased from NY voter rolls

Mr. Susan Sarandon fears nationwide election meltdown

USA '08 Susan Sarandon's common law hubby was miffed this morning when election officials at his local polling station couldn't find his name.

"The issue is that they removed my name from the voting rolls,” Tim Robbins told The New York Times. “My name was there for the primaries.”

The Academy Award-winning American film actor says he's been voting at same New York City polling station since 1997 - the year he plumbed the Hollywood depths alongside Martin Lawrence in Nothing to Lose. "The poll workers here know me," he said. “I’ve been voting here 15 years.”

Robbins was offered a provisional ballot, but the film thesp - known for his left-leaning political activism - turned it down. It was a case of a talking head taking his own advice. "Refuse provisional ballots," he told the world during a recent TV chat show appearance. "They’re throwing those out. They can throw those out.

"If that’s your last resort, take it, but fight in the polling place to vote. It’s your right as an American. You have every right to vote if you’re registered. And if you’re not on the rolls and something went wrong, document it."

Mr. Sarandon was also offered an affidavit ballot - and he filled it out. But he didn't submit it. Instead, he went downtown for a chat with the city's Board of Elections. The board eventually OK'd him, and he trucked back uptown for another go.

Robbins told the celebrity-obsessed TMZ that he wasn't the only one erased. "While I was waiting, 30 people - according poll workers - 30 people in five hours, the first five hours of voting, had been taken off the rolls. You do the math on that. Six per hour. Per district. Across America."

The New York City Board of Elections has said that as many as 30,000 people were removed from voting rolls after they failed to verify their addresses. But according to the board, Robbins was not among them. A spokeswoman told The Times he was likely removed because he had two registrations on file, with two different addresses. ®

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like