Few Troops Vote By E-Mail

Most States Prefer Low-Tech Ballots

By LOLITA C. BALDOR

Associated Press

April 28, 2008

WASHINGTON =97

U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan can speak to their families by = Web camera=20 and fight insurgents using sophisticated electronic warfare. But when it = comes=20 to voting, most troops are stuck in the past.

Communities in 13 = states=20 will send overseas troops presidential election ballots by e-mail this = year, and=20 districts in at least seven of those states also will allow completed = ballots to=20 be returned over the Internet, according to data compiled by The = Associated=20 Press and the Overseas Vote Foundation.

That still leaves tens = of=20 thousands of service members in far-flung military bases struggling to = meet=20 voting deadlines and relying largely on regular mail to get ballots and = cast=20 votes =97 often at the last minute because of delays in ballot = preparations in=20 some states. Connecticut is among the 37 states that don't allow = balloting by=20 e-mail.

Adding an electronic boost to the voting process would = ease=20 problems for service members, but it raises security and privacy=20 concerns.

Pentagon officials have been urging more states to move = into=20 the electronic age before November, a move that could help reverse = recent trends=20 in which thousands of military members asked for ballots but either = didn't vote=20 or had their ballots rejected for flaws.

The push comes more than = seven=20 years after problems with overseas military voting set off an uproar in=20 President Bush's narrow 2000 victory. In Florida, where Bush squeaked = out a=20 537-vote victory that gave him the presidency, questions were raised = about=20 several thousand overseas military votes that came in after deadlines = and were=20 counted in some districts but not counted in others.

This year, = when war=20 is a key campaign issue, the election results in any state =97 = particularly one=20 with heavy military voting =97 could turn on the votes of thousands of = troops on=20 the front lines.

"The personnel that fight our wars, the people = who are=20 most affected by the decisions on the use of the military, are being=20 systematically denied the right to vote," said Bob Carey, a board member = of the=20 Overseas Vote Foundation, a voting rights group.

In most states = that=20 allow e-mail balloting, the voter must also follow up by mailing in the = ballot.=20 And states that permit e-mail balloting warn that it is not a secure way = to=20 transmit personal information.

States that will send a blank = ballot by=20 e-mail are Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, = Montana,=20 North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington and = Wisconsin. States=20 where voters can return completed ballots by e-mail are Colorado, = Indiana,=20 Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, South Carolina and = Washington.

Of the=20 roughly 1.3 million active duty military eligible to vote, about 500,000 = are=20 deployed overseas or permanently assigned there.

Though e-mail = continues=20 to be a hotly debated topic among state voting officials, faxing is now = broadly=20 accepted as a way of getting ballots to overseas voters. And in as many = as two=20 dozen states, voters who sign a form waiving their right to privacy can = send the=20 ballots back by fax.

Courant.com

Few Troops Vote By E-Mail

Most States Prefer Low-Tech Ballots