Absentee Voting Problems – A College Student’s Perspective

The following is an article entitled, “Vote Or Die, Just Try It”, and is located, here online at the Harvard Independent. The following summation of one person’s absentee voting experience is telling:

The majority of young, voting adults are college students and often vote by absentee ballot. I, personally, developed a grudge against absentee voting that evolved to mammoth proportions these last few weeks as November 2nd drew closer and my absentee ballot slowly crept its way across America to finally reach me the Saturday before the elections.

However, this article is not a personal vendetta, for the ridiculous problems with absentee voting were felt nationwide. There were absentee ballots that did not fit in their envelopes, some that required special postage, and, my personal favorite, the registration form that persistently gets lost in the mail time and time again.

Because of the late date that I received the absentee ballot, I paid $14 to send my ballot overnight – a sort of throwback to the poll taxes of old. Already, I am becoming disillusioned about voting because, after all, how much does my one, measly vote really count anyway? Is going through all this trouble of constantly calling the voter registration office, resending my registration forms, and over-paying to get my ballot in on time, really worth it? Especially when the ballot says “Due Nov. 9,” seven days after the election, six days after the winner has given his acceptance speech.

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Internet Voting No Better Than Absentee

http://www.notablesoftware.com/Press/JDunbar.html

From this earlier article on Internet Voting we find, Internet Voting Project Cost Pentagon $73,809 Per Vote.

Island County Greens Take On Vote By Mail Ballot Secrecy

The Green Party up in Island County, has recently filed suit over the use of Votehere’s Ballot tracking software. Votehere is a slick company, run by a bunch of slick corporate types, with interesting ties to the CIA. Votehere has a fancy cryptography solution that they claim will protect the secrecy of the vote, and the integrity of the system. It’s oddly similar to the response most voting companies, like Diebold, give when confronted, “Just trust us.”

I will dig up some more information and links as I have time.