By Andrew Kirshenbaum
Published September 12th 2004 in Kansas City Star
Permitting Missouri service members to vote for president via e-mail while overseas (9/7, A-1, “Right to vote vs. right to secrecy”), raises the question: Why can't this apply to all Americans overseas?
The answer is simple. States, not the federal government, set voting policies and procedures, such as ballot design (remember the infamous Florida butterfly ballot), polling hours, registration requirements and now untested absentee voting methods. This is the result of our Constitution's failure to provide a federally protected right to vote.
Fortunately, there is a bill in Congress to amend the Constitution and
establish an individual right to vote. It would lead to greater uniformity in
voting procedures so that all votes are treated alike regardless of where you
are.
Andrew Kirshenbaum
Center for Voting and Democracy,
Takoma Park, Md.
Election Day '09 was a roller-coaster for election reformers. Instant runoff voting had a great night in Minnesota, where St. Paul voters chose to implement IRV for its city elections, and Minneapolis voters used IRV for the first time—with local media touting it as a big success. As the Star-Tribune noted in endorsing IRV for St. Paul, Tuesday’s elections give the Twin Cities a chance to show the whole state of Minnesota the benefits of adopting IRV. There were disappointments in Lowell and Pierce County too, but high-profile multi-candidate races in New Jersey and New York keep policymakers focused on ways to reform elections; the Baltimore Sun and Miami Herald were among many newspapers publishing commentary from FairVote board member and former presidential candidate John Anderson on how IRV can mitigate the problems of plurality elections.