Tim Robbins in Election Day Drama

05-11-2008 08:50

Tim Robbins' election day started with drama in New York on Tuesday (04Nov08), when the actor was blocked from voting by pedantic officials.

The fervent Barack Obama supporter attempted to register his vote for the Democrat candidate for president at a polling station near his home in the city, the same station he had attended for the past 15 years - but his name wasn't on the list.

The issue is that they removed my name from the voting rolls. My name was there for the primaries. The poll workers here know me. I've been voting here 15 years.

When instructed to fill out a provisional ballot, Robbins refused, repeating a claim he had made on U.S. political pundit Bill Maher's TV show just a week before (24Oct08) - when he warned that the paper votes aren't properly counted.

He told Maher, "They're throwing 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."

The fuming 50 year old told the New York Times on Tuesday, "The issue is that they removed my name from the voting rolls. My name was there for the primaries. The poll workers here know me. I've been voting here 15 years."

When a poll worker threatened to call police, the actor retorted, "Is this some kind of intimidation? I'm taking this as intimidation."

Eventually Robbins raced to New York's Board of Elections, where he discovered he was registered to vote after all. He then returned to cast his vote.