When the primary election was imminent, I still hadn't received my absentee ballot in the mail. I telephoned the King County Elections office and ask "How come?" I was informed that my registration had "lapsed." I first registered to vote in 1952, when I turned 21. Other than notifying the elections office of changes of address, and requesting to be put on the list for absentee ballots some years back, I have never had to do anything beyond that. And my registration has never "lapsed" before.
The nice lady said she would get an absentee ballot out to me right away and send me a couple of other forms to fill out, which she did. In addition to the ballot, she sent me a new registration ID card (no new information on it, same address and precinct and district info as before) and another form to fill out requesting to be put on the permanent list to receive absentee ballots. Same form I had filled out some years back.
For the November 7th election, I received the absentee ballot a few days ago, so I'm okay for now.
So--was this little glitch just a clerical error? Or do I have a reason to get paranoid?
All of this taking place in the "Soviet of Washington."