NEW YORK, 30 September 2004 — Four years after a few thousand votes (and the Supreme Court) decided who be the president of the United States, one would think the kinks had been ironed out in time for the upcoming president elections.
Not so, according to yesterday’s New York Times, which notes that “millions of civilians and soldiers living abroad still face a bewildering and unwieldy system of absentee balloting that could prevent their votes from being counted.”
Experts say that a number of snafus have caused election offices in at least 8 of the 15 swing states to fail to mail absentee ballots by Sept. 19, a cutoff date officials say is necessary to ensure that they can be returned on time, a survey by The New York Times shows.
In 2000, late-arriving ballots in Florida became a divisive issue when some were counted and others were disqualified.
Late or lost ballots are a significant issue when one considers the estimated 4.4 million eligible US voters overseas who are qualified to vote in the upcoming November elections.
“People on both sides vying for the overseas vote say the balloting system remains so flawed that some predict legal battles if these votes prove crucial to the outcome of the presidential race,” said the Times.
Republicans and Democrats are pushing hard for these votes after indications that President Bush’s support among the estimated 500,000 members of the military and their families overseas may have weakened.
Last month, a Zogby poll of Americans who had passports found that they supported John Kerry over President Bush, 58 percent to 35 percent.
The concern about states not getting their overseas ballots out in time surfaced most recently in a report this month by the newly formed United States Election Assistance Commission, which found that 18 states did not have systems in place to mail ballots at least 45 days before the election.
Of the eight swing states that missed the 45-day mailing mark, only three will accept ballots that arrive after Election Day. Overseas voters have until Nov. 10 to send their ballots to Florida, which experienced problems four years ago that prompted widespread calls for improvements to overseas balloting, said the Times.
Organizations that monitor overseas voting regulations say several issues need to be addressed. Overseas civilian voters need standardized voting rules in all 50 states. They say overseas voters are often misinformed about voting procedures, which leads to “voter errors and their disenfranchisement.”
As no statistics on overseas voting exist, it is impossible to measure the participation and importance of overseas voters and to identify local obstacles to overseas voting.
The experts want American voters abroad to be allowed to vote in US consulates, just as citizens of several other countries residing abroad can vote in their consulates.
