[Ragtime Cowgirl]

The secure electronic registration and voting experiment program is part of the Federal Voting Assistance Program. Program organizers hope the experiment will encourage as many as 100,000 absentee voters, including reservists stationed worldwide, to register and vote in state primaries and the general election in 2004.

~~~~~~~~~
Heads up, esp. Arkansas, Florida, Hawaii, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah and Washington Freepers serving.

[Stopislamnow]

Just a word of experience.

The military did very little to encourage voting when I was in, in fact it was exceptionally difficult to get any help at all.

Hope this is a step in the right direction, robbing the people who serve us in such a way of thier vote is very nearly the worst thing I have ever seen.

[blackie]

Online voting offers alternative [every military vote counts!] ~ Bump!

[Goldwater Girl]

It is far from universal for our overseas military, but surely a step in the right direction. Florida had 3 counties in 2000- a pilot program to work out the bugs, and it worked extremely well- but was horrifically expensive per vote cast. There will be 6 counties in 2004- including Dade.

DoD installs the secure data transmission line in the county supervisor's office, and writes the security guidelines for them to follow. They provide all the hardware, too. The folks in civilized places overseas, like Germany, Italy and UK (and their dependents) can use it without problem- but it's iffy for the combat troops in Iraq or Afghanistan. Maybe they've worked out the bugs- it had to do with on site computer security overseas, as I recall. The Air Force and Navy personnel have the best shot among the combat folks.
I have spoken to so many outraged active duty people whose Florida votes were discarded because of Gore's challenges- we HAVE to be sure that never happens again. This is sure to help.

[PhilDragoo]

"It is extremely important for us to ensure that every servicemember is afforded the opportunity to vote," said Lt. Col. Deborah Divich, voting assistance officer for the Air Force Reserve Command.

Tom Daschle is deeply saddened.