A November 9 article in The Hill reports on Congress' efforts to reform our outdated absentee voting system, which commonly disenfranchises Americans serving in the military. The article "Fact-based election reform for military and overseas voters," by David Becker, Election Initiatives Project Director at the Pew Center on the States, explains how this bipartisan legislation will ensure millions of Americans who work and serve abroad receive their absentee ballots in time to cast their votes. Becker also notes that while the MOVE Act addresses ballot transmission problem, the archaic voter registration system remains an obstacle for overseas voters:
The MOVE Act will implement many of these evidence-based solutions, giving Americans abroad adequate time to vote by requiring states to send ballots to them earlier and faster, making registration and voting information available electronically and providing backup absentee ballots that can be used when conventional ones don't arrive in time.
While these changes offer a significant step forward in resolving ballot transmission problems, they won't be helpful to voters if outdated records in voter registration systems direct materials to the wrong address. State voter registration systems cannot keep pace with increasingly mobile populations by relying on antiquated practices, such as handwritten registration cards and manually entered voter lists.
Click here to read the full article.
