Tim Robbins Disenfranchised Himself
You may recall that Tim Robbins "flipped out" at poll workers on election day, accusing them of abridging his "freedom to vote" by offering him a provisional ballot and then politely asking him to please leave the voting area since his name was not on their list. The actor had been voting at the polling place for 15 years, you see, and was used to being totally VIPed. The incident was clearly part of a conspiracy by New York City bureaucrats against rich white Hollywood liberals, so staff at the Times and at City Hall were immediately assigned to parallel investigations. The conclusion: Tim Robbins is confused and possibly senile. Reports the Times:
According to state and city election records, Mr. Robbins registered to vote, under the name Tim Robbins, in November 1997, listing an address on West 15th Street, and registered a second time, under the name Timothy F. Robbins, in February 2004, listing an address on West 19th Street. The 1997 registration is now listed as inactive, while the 2004 registration is listed as active...
[An elections board member] wrote that, based on the active registration, Mr. Robbins should have gone to vote at the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library, at 40 West 20th Street, not at the McBurney YMCA, at 125 West 14th Street.
Catch that? Robbins registered twice, most recently at an address (his office, it turns out) assigned a different polling location from his old one. Election officials said they would have caught Robbins in this inadvertent mischief sooner, but he used a new voter registration form instead of an address change, and he hasn't tried voting in at least the last two elections.
Robbins said he doesn't remember registering twice — right, see, that would be the problem — and a poll worker told the Times she remembers Robbins voting at the supposedly invalid location in September.
We're betting the movie star will simmer down once he receives the copy of his signed 2004 registration form, enclosed in a letter from elections officials. As a Board of Elections official told the Times: "We were confused, but he shouldn't have been confused... it’s all very logical: He filled out a new voter-registration form with an entirely new address, and went to the old address."
Robbins "resents" this statement, and is printing things out and accusing people of going after his family just generally acting like a lunatic. Which means he'll probably take his march to City Hall, just as soon as he can locate it. And also his wallet, and a pen, where the hell did he leave that damned pen...