Military ballots still AWOL as states fail to mail

Jurisdictions in Vermont, Michigan, Mississippi and Wisconsin have failed to mail absentee ballots to military members by the Sept. 22, 2012, deadline established by the [Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment] Act.

Rep. Buck McKeon, Republican from California, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee; Rep. Daniel E. Lungren, Republican from California, chairman of the House Administration Committee; and Rep. Lamar Smith, Republican from Texas, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to the Defense and Justice departments reading: ...

18 posted on Mon Oct 15 2012 20:58:39 GMT-0500 (Central Daylight Time) by cripplecreek: “We’ve just got to do something different with military ballots. I get the impression that they’ve always been a problem.”

You are right... this has been a problem for a very long time.

Prior to the development of (relatively) modern mail technology, getting ballots to military personnel and getting them returned in time was all but impossible. I remember reading some World War I stories with women (who in some states could not yet vote) telling presidential candidates that if they could vote, they would vote for so-and-so candidate, the way their husband would have wanted, since it was just assumed that overseas military personnel would have no way to vote.

With modern email and fax technology, in all but a very small number of extreme situations (think special forces or behind-the-lines stuff), there is no technological reason that a ballot cannot be sent to a deployed servicemember, voted, and returned at some point during the period — typically about a month and a half — between the time the ballots are printed and election day.

The problem now is not how to get the ballot from the voting official to the deployed servicemember, but rather how to deal with state laws which were put in place to prevent election fraud but don't allow for modern technology.

Most of us understand that the controls in place on our military personnel are strict enough that commanding officers and NCOs are not going to be ordering their troops to vote for a certain candidate and sending through five hundred ballots for a single preferred candidate. Ain't gonna happen... no way, no how.

But once we open up those loopholes so modern technology can be used to the fullest possible extent, we can legitimately ask questions about how the “law of unintended consequences” will lead to abuses of the loophole.

We’ve just got to do something different with military ballots. I get the impression that they’ve always been a problem.

True.

It's too bad we don't have the technology yet to communicate world-wide quickly, or transfer documents via some kind of 'wire' service.

I guess if we had enough preparation 'time' (4 years isn't enough?) we could put some kind of Mobile Voting Machines on ships, and if the wind was right, the ships could deliver them to Military Bases.

Maybe when we get those new-fangled Steam Powered ships commercially available, we can even pick up the ballots and have them back a week or two after the election is over.

The problems exist on a state-by-state basis. Some states are more problematic than others — and we need to remember that the state rules were often pushed by **REPUBLICANS** to prevent ballot fraud.

As conservatives, we believe in federalism. There are limits to how much we want the national government controlling state or local election authorities.

The secure technology problems are not minor, but they are solvable today in ways that were not possible even a few years ago.

The key complication is not the security of the ballots for military personnel, but rather with what happens next.

Once every state is on board with allowing voting via email and fax in both federal and state races by military personnel, we're going to have the same requests for Department of Defense and State Department civilians, and then for federal contractors. (Some of that is already happening.)

Then we're going to deal with civilians living overseas who aren't federal employees. What are we realistically going to say to an Army wife living in Germany, England, Italy or South Korea who has to vote via a mailed-in absentee ballot when her husband can vote via email? What about spouses of diplomatic personnel?

Then we'll have to deal with regular American citizens living abroad — and that will prompt the possibility for serious election fraud.

The security problems are solvable today with military personnel — officers and NCOs simply are not going to be ordering their troops to vote for a certain candidate. The same is probably true for DOD and State Department civilians.

I'm not so sure about contractors.

I'm much less sure about spouses and regular civilians.

What is the alternative? Telling Americans living abroad who are not military personnel, federal employees, federal contractors, or dependents of one of those categories that if they want to vote an electronic absentee ballot they have to go to a local embassy, consulate, or military base, or have special arrangements made to allow absentee ballots to be collected and sent by an authorized federal contractor who meets strict federal regulatory standards?

That might actually work, but if it doesn't, it will be **WE AS CONSERVATIVES** screaming bloody murder about foreign influence on our elections via election fraud.

This is a problem that needs to be solved on the state level, not the federal level, if at all possible. With improved technology it probably will get solved sooner rather than later.

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