« The First Amendment lives | Main | Email »
October 28, 2004
We're going to have to make some decisions
Absentee voting at record levels in Jeffco, Shelby
Even in Alabama, absentee ballots are on the rise. The thing is that there's no electronic-voting paper trail controversy here. Most jurisdictions in Alabama use optical-scan ballots, still the best method and one that leaves a paper record of the vote.
Absentee ballots are supposed to only be for those who can't make it to the polls. (More common in Alabama, since we don't have early voting.) But increasingly they're being used because people don't trust the ballot process after the 2000 nightmare. It's not really abuse of the process, but it's not what it's designed for. By 2008, we have to get the situation fixed, or at this rate everyone's going to vote by mail.
Posted by Mac Thomason at October 28, 2004 09:21 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.bravesbeat.com/mt-tb.cgi/7241
Comments
Maybe the increase in absentee voters portends a greater overall voter turnout next week.
The article says some 43,000 new voters have registered in Jefferson County since January. If some voters are unsure that they're properly registered (especially in light of recent problems at the Secretary of State's office) maybe they're voting as absentees so that any potential problems can be corrected before election day. That wouldn't be related to the paper trail problem (it's concern about the validity of their registration vs. concern about the proper counting of their vote).
"But increasingly they're being used because people don't trust the ballot process after the 2000 nightmare."Is that your take on it, Mac, or are you getting that from the article? (just curious)
Posted by: Susan at October 28, 2004 10:08 PM
It's what I've heard over the last year or so. I know that the Florida GOP has been pushing people to vote absentee to "ensure that their votes will be counted". Wow, I wonder why.
Posted by: Mac Thomason at October 28, 2004 10:18 PM