Feb 03 2010
Absentee Return Possibility
I’ve talked with a few people about how many absentees will be returned in time to be counted in the February 16 canvass of votes. I looked at the 2008 primary for some basis. In the 2008 primary we had 86 absentee ballots that were counted after election day. That was out of 209 absentees that were outstanding.
But further breaking that down demonstrates how important it is to know what types of absentees are outstanding. Absentee ballots automatically sent to the military and overseas voters were returned at a 59% rate that election and just 23% of those outstanding on the day of the election ended up showing up in time to be counted.
Ballots that were affirmatively requested by voters were returned at an overall rate of 91% and 60% of those outstanding on election day were returned in time to be counted.
Dividing the absentees that way and applying those rates of return, we can anticipate about 47 absentee ballots being returned and counted on the 16th. I have no idea about the number of provisional ballots.
Given that absentee ballots can take upwards of 60 days for the round trip for military and overseas voters, I find this data encouraging! Speaking for the military and overseas voters I’ve talked with, and having been both myself, I can tell you that nothing is more depressing to someone who’s taken an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States (as all military personnel have), and to be effectively told that their vote really doesn’t matter because the ballot doesn’t arrive until one, five, or ten days before the election, and they know it will take at least two weeks to get back.
The Federal Voting Assistance Program encourages States to align their voting laws to allow military and overseas voters absentee ballots to arrive up to 15 days after the election, and to be sent out at least 45 days prior. We also recommend they be sent out by fax and email in order to eliminate the mail delivery delays in the first half of the process. Illinois has been a leader in supporting military and overseas voting rights, but unfortunately only Cook County emails or faxes the ballots to the voters. We deeply appreciate your support for military and overseas voters, encourage you to continue your 45 and 60 day prior transmission deadlines, and to consider sending them by email as well.
Bob Carey
Director
Federal Voting Assistance Program
I am writing a book which will advocate Internet voting in the US. It can be done with all the security of an online purchase or electronic banking. Two chapters discuss the security issues, and the sabotage of DoD’s SERVE system in 2004.
“Internet Voting: The Great Security Scare,” and “The Reasonable Person Standard and the Critique of Leading Figures in the Making of Public Policy: The Case of Internet Voting.”
All my chapter drafts are online for free reading or downloading at:
http://ssrn.com/author=1053589
Comments welcome!
William J. Kelleher, Ph.D.
InternetVoting@gmail.com