And we can’t build our dreams
On suspicious minds…
I love the way Elvis sang that song. Sigh. But this is about voting.
I moved to France from California in June of this year. In early September, I sent in my voter registration and ballot request. I got a letter dated September 12 from the Registrar of Voters confirming my registration and saying my ballot would be sent after September 25th.
I contacted the Registrar of Voters by e-mail on October 19, asking why I hadn’t received my ballot. They said they had sent it to me by air mail. They then faxed me a second ballot. By being forced into faxing my vote because of time constraints, I had to agree to give up the privacy of my vote. And I’m not too comfy at the thought of my vote sitting all night on a fax machine somewhere in San Diego. Would you be?
Today’s election day. I never did get the ballot that was supposedly mailed to me.
As suspicious as I am about this administration, I had to ask myself if other overseas Democrats were inexplicably not getting their ballots…
So I dug around and wrote to Black Box Voting (“a nonprofit, nonpartisan 501c(3) elections watchdog group supported entirely by citizen donations”). They responded right away and posted the text of my message on their forum. I got a very interesting response in the forum from V. Kurt Bellman, who, I gather from his username on the site, is a former elections director.
The overseas absentee voting problems Kurt describes just make me wonder how this country can even function sometimes. I mean, come on; the software the registrars use can’t handle overseas addresses? This is the 21st century, isn’t it?
Here is his answer:
Never combine a voter registration form and an absentee ballot request in a single mailing.
They must typically be processed separately by separate departments, and if the absentee ballot request gets processed BEFORE the registration, it will cause a HUGE delay. Please register FIRST, then about a week to ten days later, submit the absentee ballot request. Things will go much smoother.
The unfortunate fact is that every year, thousands of overseas voters do not get their absentee ballots on a timely basis. There are very many very smart people working on this, but the problem is persistent. Mail takes much longer than it should internationally, and all this is further complicated by the registrar’s software and staff being able to correctly produce the overseas address correctly. This is not as straightforward as it might first appear. Registrar staffs frequently include people who have no idea what a correct European address even looks like.
Given that last sentence, I have my doubts about the “very smart” bit…
I also wrote to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) (“an independent bipartisan agency charged with disbursing payments to states for replacement of voting systems and election administration improvements, adopting voluntary voting system guidelines, and serving as a national clearinghouse and resource of information regarding election administration.”).
That was useless. They sent me a wordy form e-mail saying I should contact the U.S. Department of Defense’s Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP). (“Under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) FVAP provides U.S. citizens worldwide a broad range of nonpartisan information and assistance to facilitate their participation in the democratic process – regardless of where they work or live.”).
Right, like I’m gonna trust the DoD with my voting problem at this point… I don’t even want them to know where I live…
Even if you’re an ostrich, you can’t have missed reports of the dirty tricks being used to intimidate and discourage voters. Today’s elections will be over in a matter of hours, but the frightening problems of questionable, or even criminal practices, vulnerability, human and technological inadequacy, and lack of transparency in our voting system won’t go away on their own.
Time to make noise.
Of course, if you wake up tomorrow and only one or two DINOs (Democrat in Name Only) have won, you’ll know it’s too late.
But if it’s not too late, here are some options. And don’t forget to contact your Senators and Representatives!!!
I just hope that none of the people reading this are among that criminally apathetic 60% of Americans who don’t vote…
Fascinating and insightful recount of your first overseas voting experience. You came right up against some of the challenges.
What I find most surprising, however, is that the response you received from CA indicates that the election official doesn’t realize that the official form for overseas voters is a SIMULTANEOUS overseas/military voter registration AND absentee ballot request form. Or that your county is using some system other than the Federal system, and that should not be the case.
There is no other form that is approved across the board for overseas voters from all states and territories, although he seems to allude that there is — and you are not required to file more than one to receive your ballot/s in an election year.
Current legislation says that this form is valid as a registration form for 4 years/2 Federal election cycles. However, your election office may very well still require that you refile it each election year, even if you are “registered” in order to “request your ballot” for the next election. Never take it for granted and file the form in each year you wish to vote! Takes a few minutes. Perhaps our site will provide you with some useful voter services. Please contact our Voter Help Desk if you have any questions. Thanks for your perseverance! – Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, Overseas Vote Foundation
Thank you, Susan, for clarifying the overseas voting procedure. I posted your comment on the Black Box forum too. Overseas voting practices clearly need to be standardized and registrars and election officials need to be educated!