Thousands of Americans Abroad Got No Ballots

By Brian Knowlton
More than 1 in 5 overseas civilian and military voters did not receive their official ballots for the 2008 U.S. election, a year in which nearly half of local election jurisdictions reported significant rises in ballot requests from abroad, according to a new survey.
The situation was worse for military voters: More than one-quarter failed to receive ballots, though that was an improvement from the 36 percent in the 2006 election, according to a survey of more than 24,000 voters in 186 countries by the nonpartisan Overseas Vote Foundation.
“We have serious data which once again confirm how much of a problem military and overseas voting really is,” said Bryan O’Leary, a former marine corps fighter pilot who works with the National Defense Committee, which helps military voters.
A major problem, according to a separate survey by the Pew Center on the States, is that 16 states, plus the District of Columbia, send out absentee ballots after the date necessary for military voters to meet required deadlines, and three others allow a scant five-day cushion.State performance varied dramatically. Voters from Arizona and Kansas received requested ballots in as little as eight days, the Pew Center found, while overseas military voters from Alabama, which has been struggling to update its approach, sometimes had to wait 88 days.
In contrast, military and overseas voters from Minnesota told the foundation that they were particularly satisfied. That state allowed online transmission of everything but voted ballots, and appointed an outreach officer for military and overseas voters. Result: Their participation shot up by 400 percent from 2004.
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