Bradley in DC
09-25-2007, 06:33 AM
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/
Ballot Question: Why Did So Few Americans Overseas Vote?
June Kronholz reports on voter turnout.
Answer: It Didn’t Help That Ballots Didn’t Arrive.
A paltry 41% of eligible U.S.-based voters cast ballots during the 2006 elections. But that turnout looks pretty good compared with the turnout among overseas-based U.S. voters, says the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Among those folks — who include members of the armed services — turnout was about 5.5% the commission says in a new report.
In a congressionally required update the commission said that of about six million eligible overseas voters, only 992,000 requested absentee ballots. And of those, only 330,000 actually cast ballots.
Some 70% of the ballots that states and localities sent to overseas voters were returned as undeliverable. If the military notified local election offices when someone is transferred, that “would go a long way toward solving the problem,” the commission opined.
For the record, Virginia’s George Mason University, in an analysis of 2006 voter turnout, says the highest was in Minnesota where 61% of eligible voters cast ballots. Lowest turnout, at 32%, was in Hurricane Katrina-battered Louisiana, followed by 33% in North Carolina.
Ballot Question: Why Did So Few Americans Overseas Vote?
June Kronholz reports on voter turnout.
Answer: It Didn’t Help That Ballots Didn’t Arrive.
A paltry 41% of eligible U.S.-based voters cast ballots during the 2006 elections. But that turnout looks pretty good compared with the turnout among overseas-based U.S. voters, says the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Among those folks — who include members of the armed services — turnout was about 5.5% the commission says in a new report.
In a congressionally required update the commission said that of about six million eligible overseas voters, only 992,000 requested absentee ballots. And of those, only 330,000 actually cast ballots.
Some 70% of the ballots that states and localities sent to overseas voters were returned as undeliverable. If the military notified local election offices when someone is transferred, that “would go a long way toward solving the problem,” the commission opined.
For the record, Virginia’s George Mason University, in an analysis of 2006 voter turnout, says the highest was in Minnesota where 61% of eligible voters cast ballots. Lowest turnout, at 32%, was in Hurricane Katrina-battered Louisiana, followed by 33% in North Carolina.