Voting Problems for Troops

The AP, by way of USA Today, ran an article yesterday about the voting struggles of many military members.

Although communities in 13 states will send ballots by email and at least seven states allow the return of those ballots electronically, thousands of troops in remote bases still rely on regular mail to cast their vote -- often at the last minute due to ballot preparations.

Allowing at least part of the voting process for the military to be carried out electronically would help ease these problems but raise concern of privacy and security.

Pentagon officials are urging more states to take the electronic route before November in order to alleviate the problem of thousands of troops asking for ballots who either ended up not voting or having their ballots rejected because of flaws.

I don't see too much of a problem of at least delivering a blank ballot via email. Potential issues arise when sending a completed ballot back through the internet. The postal service and FedEx are offering discounted or free postage to military members, so it would appear the voting process could wrap up in half the time -- while still maintaining privacy and security -- if one were emailed a ballot then returned it via post. Faxing is also worth exploring.

-Dippold

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