1 in 4 absentee ballots uncounted in 2004?

raytri · #1 (**permalink**) 04-06-2005, 07:02 AM

http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story...4-05-05&cat=AN

Quote:

The votes of at least 1 in 4 U.S. soldiers and overseas voters in last fall's election never were counted.

That's the conclusion of a recent report by the National Defense Committee, a private, pro-military organization that surveyed local election offices across the country about the number of absentee votes cast and counted in the Nov. 3 election.

In all, more than 30,000 of the 131,000 absentee ballots sent by troops and expatriates to 760 local elections offices around the country were not counted, the report found. Those offices represent about 10 percent of the 7,800 offices nationwide.

This disenfranchisement rate was a bit better than that of the 2000 presidential election, where widespread voting and mail glitches left about 29 percent of the ballots uncounted.

Even so, the organization said its study likely suffered from an undercount of its own that could make the number of troops left voteless last year even larger.

"The disenfranchisement rate we show is bad enough, but we think that our report probably understates the problem because we are relying on voluntary responses from election officials," the report said.

Like touch-screen voting machines that don't provide a paper record, and like precincts that don't have enough voting machines to handle the number of voters, this is a problem that needs to be fixed before 2008.

Can all of us, regardless of political affiliation, agree on the above paragraph?

Sinanju · #2 (**permalink**) 04-06-2005, 07:18 AM

Yes, both sides should... if one in four absentee ballots from soldiers were not counted then that is a lot of votes for Bush that was missed... If one in four absentee ballots from American expats were not counted that is a lot of voted for Kerry that was missed...

I don't like touch screen voting without the backup of a "receipt".... You can't get a "happy ending" to a massage without a receipt... Hell, I have bought weed before and gotten a receipt(seriously)

I don't like the games being played with voting... because the politicians always "win"... and the citizens always "lose".

JP5 · #3 (**permalink**) 04-06-2005, 10:01 AM

Yes, we should do ALL we possibly can to make sure the military votes get counted. But we also have to admit that voting from a war zone is quite difficult, to say the least. Perhaps they can figure out a way to let these guys vote via computer from their bases....and give them a couple weeks to do it. Something better than snail mail.

raytri · #4 (**permalink**) 04-06-2005, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JP5";p=&quot

Yes, we should do ALL we possibly can to make sure the military votes get counted.

I'm sure you meant "all votes", not just military votes....

Quote:

But we also have to admit that voting from a war zone is quite difficult, to say the least. Perhaps they can figure out a way to let these guys vote via computer from their bases....and give them a couple weeks to do it. Something better than snail mail.

Agreed. But even snail mail could work if the Pentagon put some logistical muscle into it. It's not like the election snuck up on them. Perhaps some proactive requesting of absentee ballots, followed by an effort to get soldiers to vote and turn in their ballots a couple of weeks before the election so there's plenty of time for the ballot to be received and counted. Military can collect the ballots, sort them, and forward them to the proper election boards.

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