According to the results of Overseas Vote Foundation’s (“OVF”) Post-Election Survey, “More than one in five overseas and military voters reported that they did not receive their official ballot in the 2008 General Election…” The numbers are even worse for military voters with more than one in 4 not receiving their ballots.
Significantly, more than 24,000 overseas and military voters responded to the survey, and the study shows that there is increased interest in voting from Americans abroad — both civilian and military. The complete survey report is available here. And Government Computer News reports on the story as well.
OVF’s press release on the study highlights several policy recommendations for election administrators at both the federal and state levels:
- Adoption of the anticipated UOCAVA Uniform Law and any supporting legislation intended to harmonize UOCAVA implementation across all states and territories
- Implementation of technology measures including online ballot request for registered voters and online blank ballot delivery to alleviate the transmission and timing difficulties inherent in the overseas and military voting process
- Innovation and investment in the Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot to broaden the practice of “Same Day Registration and Balloting” for overseas and military voters effectively collapsing the required voting timeline
- Inclusion of overseas and military voters into any federal “universal voter registration” initiative where they stand to benefit from such legislation
Ask your Representative and Senators to support these initiatives. You can quickly and easily find your representatives (both Senators and your Representative) at Congress.org. You can also find your Representative by visiting www.house.gov and typing in the zip code (in the top left corner of the page) of your last place of residence in the US, and your Senators by visiting www.senate.gov and selecting your last state of residence from the drop-down list at the top right of the page.
