“I don’t even know if I’m going to be able to vote,” Samantha said to me from across the table.

Samantha, a young professional in Washington, is a recent transplant from the West. She still has residency in Arizona, where her family is, and applied for an absentee ballot a few months back.

“I applied for an absentee ballot and it still has not come. I could not find a working number on the Arizona.Gov Web site to call. And the oddest thing? My Mother and brother, who are registered Independents, got their absentee ballots a few weeks back. My Dad and I, who are registered as Democrats, did not.”

While Samantha’s experience could be a mix up or a result of the strain record numbers of new voter registrations has on the state election boards – it brings to light a major problem in the nation’s election infrastructure: eligible voters, including traditionally disenfranchised communities such as African Americans and Hispanics, can be subject to methods of voter intimidation, voter purging and deceptive practices on or before Election Day.

Seriously? But what does that even mean?

In short, here is how it works. Politics is dirty, always has been and I assume always will be.  Say Party A is in risk of losing a county, district or even more a state. When this happens, there have been cases of plans put into effect a plan to keep the other party from voting.  In 2004, the White House was accused of plotting to illegally suppress votes. Documents suggested that the Republican Party put into effect a plan to keep Dems from voting, by targeting people based on race and ethnicity in critical battleground states. Several Congressional Hearings of then-Attorney General Ashcroft produced no proof that it actually happened.

So what should you do if you face a problem at the polls? Say the poll worker does not accept your I.D. – or you find out your polling place was changed the night before.  Well, you have a few options.

Call 1-866-OUR-Vote to talk with a lawyer or member of the organization, National Campaign for Fair Elections. It is a hotline for young voters with fully trained volunteers to answer questions, no matter how simple of complex.

“Young voters can call with any questions they have, from voter registration issues, to locating their polling place, to reporting instances of voter suppression or deception,” Eric Marshall, Campaign Manager at National Campaign for Fair Elections said.

And second: you can Video the Vote. Check out this call-to-action for citizen journalists everywhere to document with their cameras any possible scenarios of voter deception.

And above all else, remember, we all have the right to vote. So with one week left to Election 2008, do everything you can to make the different you know you are capable of.