Posted on 04/06/2005 1:09:21 AM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
WASHINGTON - 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....."
(Excerpt) Read more at knoxstudio.com ...
ping.
Why were they not counted? Received late? Challenged? Why??
Nowhere in the article is ANY indication as to why 25% of the Absentee Ballots were not counted.
Don't hold your breath waiting for Edwards to screach that "every vote must count and be counted."
It would be interesting to know which states were the biggest offenders here. I'm from the People's Republic of New York and it would not surprise me in the least if my overseas absentee ballot was not counted even though I sent it in well before the deadline.
Remember this next time you see some Democrat talking about disenfranchisement.
To them, 'disenfranchisement' means not letting people that don't have any ID vote. They could care less about our soldiers/Marines, because they know military votes are more likely to be Republican votes.
One excuse I recall hearing is that sometimes the absentees are not counted because the number is sufficiently small that they could not possibly affect the outcome of any election.
If the Internet is secure enough to pay your bills, why can't it be secure enough to vote?
Really not ... Just think of Washington state governor race !? I'm sure Rossi would have won again with all these votes being counted .And who knows how many other races... Incredible .....
Washington state for sure
Military ballots should be sent and received and counted before civilian ballots
Any county, state failing to send them out with sufficient time and count military ballots should be put under DOJ election controls
"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....."
Voluntary responses to the inquiry or voluntary response to count the votes?
Bullcrap beyond recognition!!!.....
Yeah, as far as I know, no one has yet tried to cheat and pay my bills for me.
I can't. I'm holding mine waiting for a Republican to say something.
good idea for national votes...but as a practical matter, how could local votes for local officials and local issues get counted?
Don't worry. Any second now, they'll stand up on behalf of the voters who sent them to office and...
never mind
So will you then deny them the ability to participate in the electoral college, or will you rewrite history to accommodate this change?
Complete urban legend. Sometimes the MEDIA stop reporting results before the absentees are counted, but every office counts the votes (albeit sometimes sloppily) and reports them in the final certified numbers. This circulated in 2000 (and probably before), and several Sec State sites put out statements contradicting it.
FYI
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