Report: Half of absentee ballots got to overseas voters too late

[unhappycamper]

Report: Half of absentee ballots got to overseas voters too late
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, February 6, 2009

WASHINGTON — More than half of overseas voters who tried to get an absentee ballot last year didn’t receive one in time for November’s election, according to a new survey from the Overseas Vote Foundation.

The results for military voters surveyed were even worse: Less than 44 percent of troops stationed overseas who tried to vote received a ballot in time to fill it out and return it to their local election office. More than one in four never received a ballot at all.

Officials from the foundation said the survey results point to a need to overhaul the absentee ballot process and find ways to ensure those overseas voters aren’t shut out of the election process.

"The vast majority (of local election officials) feel that everything is fine the way it is, nothing needs to change," said Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, president of the foundation. "Then when we look at the voter data, we see that overseas voters fall through the cracks."

The new report comes just weeks after a report from the Pew Center on the States found that absentee voters in 19 states and the District of Columbia had little or no chance of having their ballots counted because of unrealistic time lines for delivery and verification of the documents.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60516