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Madison - Absentee voting in the June 5 recall election already far exceeds that of the primary earlier this month. As of Wednesday, at least 90,000 Wisconsin voters had cast an absentee ballot, up from 68,000 in the May 8 recall primary, according to the Government Accountability Board. The state elections agency gathers those numbers in its voter registration system from just over a third of the municipalities in the state, including all the state's large cities. The figures came out as a new poll showed Gov. Scott Walker with a 5 percentage point lead over Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett,...

Madison -- Voters won't be able to get absentee ballots until Friday that normally would be available Tuesday, the head of the state election agency said. The issue arose because of a conflict between state election law and the state Constitution, which lays out a tight time frame between a primary and recall election, said Kevin Kennedy, director of the state Government Accountability Board. Under state law, absentee ballots should be available Tuesday because the recall election is three weeks away, on June 5. But those ballots can't be sent until Friday, when the accountability board certifies the results of...

| Milwaukee residents will have the chance to cast absentee ballots in person during evening hours and on Memorial Day weekend, the city Election Commission announced Wednesday. In advance of the June 5 gubernatorial recall election, the city will start absentee voting Monday at the Zeidler Municipal Building, 841 N. Broadway. Hours will be 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through May 25, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. May 26, noon to 4 p.m. May 27, 9 a.m. to noon Memorial Day, 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. May 29-31 and 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. June 1. Sue Edman, the...

Safeguards against tampering with election results are in place throughout the election process, but for Pennsylvania's absentee voters, a potential security breach exists. Printed on the envelope used to return completed absentee ballots is an "R" or "D," noting the voter's Republican or Democratic party affiliation. A person intent on influencing election results could weed out unopened ballots of one party. All they would need is access to the mails. That could happen in a college mail room or another origination point, at the post office, during delivery or when county mail is being sorted. The envelope marking is plain...

More than 600,000 Republicans have already turned in their ballots for Tuesday’s Florida primary. By Troy Kinsey , Capitol Reporter Last Updated: Monday, January 30, 2012 More than 600,000 Republicans have already turned in their ballots for Tuesday’s Florida primary. That's around 100,000 more early and absentee votes compared to four years ago, meaning the vote Tuesday may not matter nearly as much. Absentee voting began nearly a month ago. Early voting kicked off more than a week ago. The Republican Party of Florida's Brian Hughes says between 30 and 40 percent of the primary vote is already in. "The...

Primary absentee voting opens TuesdayBy Dennis Rich Sedalia Democrat December 26, 2011 12:35 AM Absentee voting for the Feb. 7 presidential preference primary opens Tuesday, though the Republican winner will take away little more than bragging rights — and no delegates — in balloting expected to cost the state at least $4 million. Though the state will ultimately refund the costs of the February election, Pettis County coffers will still be tapped for just under $60,000 to hold the election, according to County Clerk Nick La Strada. La Strada said voter turnout in 2008 was at 28 percent, but with...

A record number of voters have cast early ballots for a midterm election. The total number of early votes has topped 16 million, according to one preliminary analysis, and is on track to be slightly shy of the historic number of early ballots cast in the 2008 presidential election. "It's going to easily beat any midterm we've had," said Michael McDonald, a George Mason University government professor who has tracked early voting for several election cycles and estimates that 29 percent of midterm votes have been cast in the days and weeks before Election Day. All 50 states have sent...

I am an American citizen living in Israel. I sent my and my wife's absentee ballots in to the St. Louis County Board of Elections this past Tuesday. I sent them using international express mail because I needed the ballots to be at the Board of Elections by this coming Tuesday. On the 25 or so previous occasions that I have used express mail to mail to the US, the mail would never take more than four business days to arrive at the destination. I could track it on the internet. It would leave Israel within 24 hours of sending...

Breaking: Troy, NY Dems caught falsifying absentee ballots. From what I heard, DNA (saliva?) was used to prove that absentee ballots sent-in by supposed voters was compared to the actual people and the DNA did not match. Several Dem politicians caught in deer-in-the-headlights moments expressing their surprise on being called on this fraud. Fox also reporting that this has been going on in other NY towns.

Join us today as our young volunteer learns that some prosecutors have finally noticed the problem of vote fraud in America... Pavel walked into 51st Ward HQ just as the Boss walked out… and Pavel did a double-take. The Boss, 51st Ward Committeeman Bill Marcy, was dressed in a tweed suit as always, no surprise there… but the two men who left with him were decidedly unfamiliar, charging through the doorway like neither Pavel nor anything else should be in their way. Wearing crisply pressed charcoal pinstripe suits, just shooting their cuffs enough for the cufflinks to catch your eye,...

Absentee ballots seem to be pushed hard by the media and local governments. I'm suspicious and don't trust them. Who are our legal eagles here or governmental types who know how these are handled? What stops someone from tossing them? Counting only ones they like after opening them? Also, we see ALL THE TIME how these are counted last...by whom? And, where are they kept all that time and WHO OVERSEES THEM? I also want to toss in the fact that we've seen NOTHING on talk radio about military ballots not being available - MEANING THEIR VOTE WON'T BE COUNTED....

Absentee voting begins TuesdayTom Jackson Sep 27, 2010 06:07 AM On Tuesday workers at elections boards across the state will begin allowing in-person absentee voting and begin mailing out absentee ballots to voters who prefer voting by mail. About one-third of Erie County's voters used absentee ballots in 2008, said Jennifer Ferback, deputy director of the Erie County Election Board. Ferback said voters who want to cast their ballots early and in person can visit the election board office on the first floor of the County Services Center, 2900 Columbus Ave., during normal business hours, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m....

WASHINGTON, June 28, 2010 – The Defense Department today launched an Internet-based program to help servicemembers and other Americans living overseas vote more easily in November’s elections. The new, online voting assistant at www.fvap.gov will make the registration and absentee ballot application process “quick, easy, seamless and intuitive,” Bob Carey, federal voting assistance program director, said today during an interview with The Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service. Americans living abroad previously had to research a 290-page manual to figure out their state requirements for absentee voting, including where and how to send in their applications, Carey said. “One...

Three of the nine teenagers accused of driving 15-year-old Irish immigrant Phoebe Prince to commit suicide have been ordered to stay away from her family. Sean Mulveyhill, 17, Austin Renaud, 18, and Kayla Narey, 17, were all freed today on personal recognizances as long as they left Phoebe's heartborken family alone. Judge Judd Carheart made the ruling in a brief arraignment which the three teenagers did not attend.

The Pentagon is moving aggressively to ensure that military members deployed overseas can cast votes in the 2010 midterm elections. The Defense Department’s Federal Voting Assistance program this week started its training program for voting assistance officers at military bases worldwide. Based on a Pentagon directive, a voting assistance officer needs to be at every unit level. Military and overseas voters now have to submit a federal post card application every year instead of every two or four years. Every voting assistance officer has to hand deliver or email a federal post card application to every military member by January...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8, 2010 – Servicemembers and overseas voters shouldn’t assume they automatically will receive ballots for the 2010 elections just because they have in the past. Previously, voters would receive absentee ballots for up to two cycles following their request, Bob Carey, Federal Voting Assistance Program director, said yesterday during the 2010 election year kick-off. He said new laws require voters to submit federal postcard applications for absentee ballots on a yearly basis. In the coming months, Carey and his team will travel worldwide to train voting assistance officers at embassies, consulates and overseas military facilities to ensure voters...

Michael Barone analyzes what we know about the nearly 6,000 absentee ballots that were returned but not yet counted in the NY-20 special election. "Of those 5,995 votes, 48 percent were cast by registered Republicans, 36 percent were cast by registered Democrats and 16 percent by others. That's a 12 percent Republican advantage, a little less than the 15 percent advantage Republicans have in total party identification. It suggests to me a pretty good Democratic absentee voter drive, since registered Democrats in an Upstate New York district are likelier to be behavioral Democrats than registered Republicans are to be behavioral...

(ABC 6 NEWS) -- We're nearing the end of the historic Senate recount between Senator Norm Coleman and challenger Al Franken. Election officials are now turning their focus to the absentee ballots. Starting this morning, volunteers will begin to count how many absentee ballots were wrongly rejected due to an administrative error. Then it will be up the state canvassing board to decide whether or not to include those ballots into the recount. The board is scheduled to meet on Friday. For the moment, Coleman leads Franken by 687 votes.

Voting experts are expecting a huge wave of military absentee ballots this year. The 184,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have a lot at stake in the vote to choose their next commander-in-chief. The mechanics of military voting are better than they used to be. But "better" doesn't always cut it for troops in war zones. Teresa Purcell got a call from her husband nine days before Election Day. "You're not going to believe this," he said, "we're not going to be allowed to vote for president of the United States because we're not getting the ballots." Robert Purcell was...

My husband and I have been trying to get my husband's missing absentee ballot for weeks now. His home town is in the tank for Obama (city in Michigan) my husband usually votes Republican and his hometown is so small they know the absentee voters by name. Can you believe they finally sent my husbands ballot 10/31 and we received it today 11/3/08. I called the Clerk's office and she said it had to be there by 8pm 11/4. I gladly paid $16.50 to send my husband's ballot by 12pm tomorrow someone will have to sign for his mail and...

First, the early numbers from Florida look good. Now Nevada. From The Campaign Spot. The guy doing the exit poll of those who have already voted, with 7,147 responses, puts Obama ahead, 50 percent to 48 percent. If Republicans were a lot more of the early voters, McCain would be nervous. If Democrats were a lot more of the early voters, Obama should be nervous. And if they were split even, a 50-48 Obama lead is in the neighborhood of what we would expect. In Clark County, "through Sunday, 55 percent of early voters were Democrats, 29 percent Republicans." "In...

This will cheer you. Democrats are beaming that their party is outperforming the Republicans in early voting, releasing numbers Wednesday that show registrants of their party ahead 54 percent to 30 percent among the 1.4 million voters who have gone to the polls early. . . . But party breakdowns for turnout aren't the same as final tallies, and at least one poll offered a different view for the campaign of Republican John McCain. A Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll gave McCain a 49-45 lead over Democrat Barack Obama among Floridians who have already voted. And Republicans continued to show a...

The Democrats' latest tally for ballots cast through Wednesday shows that Democrats have cast 205,205 more absentee or early votes than Republicans have. What's even more eye-popping is that so far, nearly 3-million people have voted (2,982,896). Of the 1,302,982 absentee ballots cast, Democrats cast 35.64 percent, Republicans cast 49.41 percent, and others cast 14.95 percent. Of the 1,679,914 early votes, Democrats cast 53.22 percent; Republicans, 30.32 percent; and other, 16.46 percent.

In-person absentee voting continues until the close of business this Saturday, November 1, 2008. Although yesterday was the last day to request an absentee ballot to vote by mail, you still have time to make your voice heard early and avoid long lines on Election Day. You are eligible to vote absentee if any of the following situations apply to you: Does your work day, including your commute time, keep you away from home for 11 hours or more? Are you the primary caregiver for a family member confined at home? Are you disabled or suffering from an illness? Are...

They never show up. Ever. Every year, Democrats say they will carry the election with record-breaking youth turnout. And every year they are disappointed. So unless Barry is giving away beer and ipods at the polls, he may be in for a rude awakening. From the Wall Street Journal. There still are warning signs, however, that new voters -- traditionally difficult to get to the polls on Election Day -- could be unreliable. Just 66% of those voters said they would definitely vote this year, compared with 90% of registered voters overall. Additionally, only six in 10 said they were...

Crist extends voting hours This is a very big deal: Florida Governor Charlie Crist, to the shock and dismay of Florida Republicans, just moved to extend early voting hours, a move likely to widen the Democrats' lead under a program on which the Obama campaign has intensely focused. "He just blew Florida for John McCain," one plugged in Florida Republican just told me.

Almost 1.5 million Ohioans request absentee ballotsPosted by Reginald Fields/Plain Dealer Columbus Bureau October 27, 2008 14:56PM COLUMBUS -- Amid predictions that next week's election could draw among the highest voter turnouts in Ohio history, an unprecedented number of Ohioans have elected to vote absentee. Nearly 1.5 million voters through Oct. 24 requested an absentee ballot either in person or by mail, according to the Ohio Secretary of State's Office. Voters can still request an absentee ballot from their county board of elections through Saturday and must postmark their ballots by Monday, Nov. 3 or the ballots can be dropped...

From a Columbus Dispatch story on election developments in Ohio: Starting today, county elections boards can begin verifying voter eligibility for absentee ballots cast and discard envelopes to process ballots for scanning. Those envelopes are the only way to link a ballot with a particular voter. With that deadline looming, 13 Obama staff members sent letters yesterday to the Franklin County Board of Elections voluntarily withdrawing their voter registrations and any absentee ballots cast. County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien wrote to the campaigns this week reminding them that state law doesn't allow temporary residents to vote; voters must live at their...

I was troubled today by yet another story demonstrating the alarming lack of regard for the fact that our military men and women are being disenfranchised from our democratic voting process. In Fairfax County, VA, it has been reported that military ballots are being literally thrown in the garbage because of a “technicality” in the absentee ballot form. Furthermore, the Justice Department has now filed a lawsuit against the State of Vermont and Vermont Secretary of State Deborah L. Markowitz, for failure to comply with the Uniformed Overseas Citizen Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), legislation intended to ensure that uniformed military...

HARRISBURG, Pa.,, Oct 22, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Even though Election Day is less than two weeks away, Pennsylvania residents living overseas or serving in the military have been voting for several weeks as 11,071 absentee ballots have already been returned. In 2004's General Election, 30,042 Pennsylvania residents voted via military or overseas absentee ballot, but Secretary of the Commonwealth Pedro A. Cortes said he hopes to exceed that number this year as a result of new initiatives that have expanded access and increased options for these voters. To date, counties have received more than 36,000 absentee ballot applications...

Missing Miltary Absentee BallotsPosted By: Mike Igoe 10 hrs ago Election Day is just a few weeks away now. And people who can't make it to the polls, such as those serving in the military, have the option of using an absentee ballot. Darelene Hedges of Depew called 2 On Your Side on behalf of her son who discovered there was a problem with his. Her son Joshua is serving with the National Guard in Afghanistan. He was told the absentee ballots for his overseas base had been lost. Darlene tells us her son, and the people serving with him,...

Are absentee voters receiving extra ballots?October 21, 2008 Virginia's State Board of Elections is looking into concerns some Virginians voting absentee are receiving more than one ballot. The Republican Party of Virginia is calling on registrars to stop tabulating absentee ballots until the state can look into the issue. According to the party, duplicate mailings have been confirmed in five localities.

In Ohio, Charges Fly in Fight Over Absentee BallotsBy Mary Pat Flaherty Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, October 21, 2008; Page A05 Ohio Democrats and Republicans traded accusations yesterday as they continue to battle over absentee ballots and other voting issues. The charges came after a county prosecutor in Cincinnati subpoenaed the Hamilton County Elections Board for the records of 266 new voters who cast absentee ballots during a week-long period in September and early October, when Ohio residents could register and vote on the same day. County prosecutor Joseph T. Deters said he subpoenaed the records because a preliminary...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — American soldiers, aid workers and military contractors in Afghanistan are filling out absentee ballots this week and sending them back to the U.S. to be counted by election officials. U.S. soldiers and citizens in Afghanistan — which has no reliable mail service — face difficulties making sure their votes get counted. But the U.S. military has made a big push this year to help soldiers request ballots, advertising the process with TV commercials, posters and ballot drives outside dining halls and recreations centers. The top commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser, said...

I strongly recommend that the Ohio Republican Party get on the case before it’s too late. Today’s the last day to challenge voters who registered early in Ohio before the run up to Election Day. Here’s the stench: An entire houseful of young, non-Ohioan Democrat activists have used the Brownlee Avenue address to register themselves to vote in the Buckeye State and secure absentee ballots under extremely shady circumstances — all while mobilizing a large effort to register thousands of others for absentee and early voting. The activists are leaders of a group called “Vote From Home ‘08.” The group...

Election Day is just three short weeks away, yet sadly, the votes of many of our military men and women in uniform, who are serving overseas, will not be counted in this year's election. In 1952, President Harry Truman wrote to Congress saying, “At a time when these young people are defending our countryŠthe least we at home can do is to make sure that they are able to enjoy the rights they are being asked to fight to preserve.” Yet even today - over half a century later - the voting system for the members of our military men...

My parents always voted, and they emphasized that voting was important. My dad was a staunch “decline-to-state.” In California, you could choose many parties or be independent, nonpartisan or “decline-to-state.” Dad was a political cartoonist with definite liberal tendencies. Around the house he complained about Gov. Reagan and the Republicans. But though he expressed stark political opinions at home, he declined to state his party at the polls. As soon as I could vote, I declined to state, too. I learned from my parents to have strong opinions and to be independent. So the first presidential candidate I voted for...

Presidential Campaigns Join Overseas and Military Voter Outreach Effort Overseas Vote Foundation (OVF) is fielding record levels of online activity from overseas and military voters and views this as a key indicator of potentially unprecedented high levels of voter participation of overseas and military voters in Election 2008. Over 2 million visitors have come to the OVF website, or an OVF hosted website in 2008. The month of September averaged 25,000 visits per day to the combined total of 17 OVF hosted websites. Of the tens of thousands of voters that OVF has helped to register, 26% are first-time voters,...

OH Secretary of State fooling around with GOP absentee ballotsRick Moran September 24, 2008 This is pretty brazen even for a Democrat. It appears that Ohio's Secretary of State doesn't like Republicans very much. In fact, Jennifer Brunner has been referred to as the "most partisan" official in the state. That must explain why she is disqualifying thousands of Republican votes through some arrogant chicanery that would make Mayor Daley in Chicago proud as James Bronson of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports: * The John McCain campaign sent out more than 1 million applications for absentee ballots to Republicans. Each had...

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 18, 2008 --- For the Federal Voting Assistance Program, getting deployed troops and their families engaged in the current election season is a primary goal. Ahead of the November general election, FVAP, which fosters voting participation by uniformed and U.S. citizens abroad, is assisting eligible absentee voters who wish to cast ballots in their states’ primary election. “It’s important that voters participate in the upcoming primary elections,” said Polli Brunelli, the program's chief. “We have over 20 primaries occurring in February, so now is the time, if you’ve received your ballot, to vote and get it back...

DEMOCRAT Jon Tester declared victory over Republican Senator Conrad Burns in Montana today in a close contest, but the incumbent declined to concede in a race crucial to control of the US Senate. In the latest unofficial results from the Montana secretary of state's office, Mr Tester won 181,917 votes or 49.2 per cent, compared to 178,567 or 48.3 per cent for Burns, who was first elected in 1988. US media called the election for Mr Tester, a burly man who wears a flat-top haircut, even as last votes were added to the tally. "Jon Tester ran a good race...

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Yesterday a Cuyahoga County judge ordered that all 88 Ohio counties can start scanning absentee ballots before Election Day. The decision overrules a state order that had banned early scanning of the ballots. An attorney for the secretary of state's office has requested that the decision apply to every county in the state, and the judge agreed.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 3, 2006 -- A letter sent by the National Association of Secretaries of State urges all military and overseas absentee voters to cast their ballots in the upcoming Nov. 7 elections and assures them that their vote will be counted. The letter, sent yesterday by NASS president Deborah Markowitz, reminds U.S. citizens covered by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act that the deadline for returning their absentee ballot is approaching. “Uniformed service members and overseas citizens are a vital part of the American community, and their participation in the democratic process is essential to strengthening...

SAN FRANCISCO A majority of California voters may cast absentee ballots in the Nov. 7 election, a milestone that's forcing politicians to rethink campaign strategies and prompting registrars to streamline ballot-counting procedures. The growth of absentee voting in the most populous state echoes a nationwide trend that's most pronounced in the West. Oregon has used mail-in ballots almost exclusively for a decade. More than half of all votes are absentee in Washington, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas. Marin County, just north of San Francisco, has sent ballots to 54 percent of its nearly 147,000 registered voters. And registrar Elaine Ginnold...

Thanks to the Internet, American soldiers on duty in Afghanistan and Iraq can watch their babies being born here in the United States, as the blessed events occur. Yet, according to the Government Accountability Office, state and federal governments still haven’t figured out how to ensure that those in uniform are able to vote. That’s incredible — and upsetting. One of the rarely told stories about the 2000 presidential election in Florida involves votes by members of the military, who tended to support George Bush. According to published reports, Democratic Party operatives were sent to elections boards after the balloting,...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18, 2006 -- Servicemembers and U.S. citizens living overseas still have time to register, request a ballot, and vote in November’s mid-term elections, the Defense Department official in charge of the absentee voting program said here today. While the registration deadlines for some states have passed, absentee voters can still register and request a ballot from about 30 states, said Polli Brunelli, director of the Federal Voting Assistance Program. She also urged overseas citizens who have received a ballot to complete it and send it in to ensure their votes are counted. “If you’ve gotten your ballot,...

This web site provides information to US citizens covered by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) If you are not a UOCAVA citizen, and wish to vote absentee as a regular state voter, please click here for links to State Election Sites. If you wish to vote in person, please contact your local county election official (listed in the Government Pages of the telephone book). Only 113 days until Election Day!

MILLINGTON, Tenn. (NNS) -- The Navy is encouraging Sailors and their families to take part in the 2006 election season with help from the Navy Voting Assistance Program. The program and its Navy Voting Assistance officers can assist with the process of absentee voting in time for the start of this year’s election season, which begins March 7. “The Navy Voting Assistance Program is here to assist every Sailor who is eligible to vote,” said Lt. Dave Truman, Navy Voting Assistance Program manager, Commander, Navy Installations Command, Millington Detachment. “Sailors can still vote in their state primary through the process...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23, 2006 – A delay in the mailing of absentee ballots means ballots sent in by some servicemembers and their families overseas for the March 7 primary election in Texas will be counted until March 20, Federal Voting Assistance Program officials here said. Uniformed servicemembers, their family members and overseas citizens who have not yet received their requested state absentee ballot may use the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot, Standard Form 186 to vote for candidates for federal, state, and local offices. All ballots must be placed in delivery by 7 p.m. Central Standard Time on March 7 and...