Absentee ballots are used in every state to ensure that residents who cannot make it to the polls on Election Day are still able to vote. States set their own guidelines for eligibility and how to obtain an absentee ballot.  Many people who would not have voted otherwise have been able to cast a ballot because of absentee voting. Since 2004, absentee ballots have made up about 30% of all votes cast in presidential elections.

How states can improve absentee ballots:

• Set uniform standards - Some states do not allow "no excuse" absentee voting. No American should be forced to tell their state why he or she needs an absentee ballot. Every citizen deserves the right to vote with no questions asked.

• Send absentee ballots out on time - As was the case in Broward County, Florida, 58,000 absentee ballots were sent out late for the 2004 election. Many voters simply did not have the time to mark their ballot and send it in to be counted. Some voters on vacation actually flew home so they could vote on time, but many were still unable to vote. 

 

November 8th 2006
No longer barred from voting
Salon.com

Author congratulates newly enfranchised former felons on probation or parole, who were given the right to vote after a Rhode Island ballot measure passed November 7th.

August 15th 2006
Soldiers deserve voting rights, too
Charlotte Observer

About one in every four of our military personnel serving overseas will be disenfranchised this year, according to the National Defense Committee.

November 18th 2005
GI voting may be answer
The Daily Avertiser

This letter argues that displaced Lousiana voters should have the ability to cast ranked-choice absentee ballots, as military and overseas residents in the state now do.

May 24th 2004
Banning the Vote
Wire Tap

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