Absentee Ballot Drama

I just got off the phone with the Monmouth County Board of Elections and after many ups and downs, they just informed me that they lost my request for an absentee ballot that I sent in back in August.  This final verdict comes after telling my mom three weeks ago that they had it, but had not sent it yet, and telling both me and my mom again last week that they had it, but had not come around to sending it, yet.  Now I find out they never entered it into the system and her reason, “we have hundreds of thousands of these and we could have easily misplaced it”.  First of all, I find it hard to believe that Monmouth County has hundreds of thousands of people voting via absentee ballots.  Second, how is that a valid reason for not inputting my data into the computer, an action that makes it that much harder for me to exercise my right to vote.  I am infuriated and can’t help but wonder if it has something to do with the fact that I am a registered Democrat and Monmouth County is a Republican County.  Who would have thought that disenfranchisement can even take place in suburban New Jersey?  An angry letter will defintiely be forthcoming when this ordeal is over and I will have found a way to cast my vote.