By all indications, the forthcoming presidential election on November 6, 2012 will be the most crucial election, to date, in the history of the United States.
If you are a civilian or military American citizen who will be out of the country and therefore absent from your legal place of residence on that date, you need to act now to protect your voting privilege if you haven’t already done so.
Assuming you want to exercise your right to vote in this year’s presidential election, it is vitally important that you follow specific steps to insure that you not only obtain an absentee ballot, but that you receive it, complete it, and return it within the time frame allowed by the voting requirements of the state where you make your permanent residence.
Time is running short in which to do this.
Voting rules are established by the election officials of each state and they vary widely from state to state. They can be confusing and should be carefully studied.
Websites that may be helpful to you are listed at the end of this article.
Here are typical examples of the variety of rules for just three states:
Voter registration form:
Alabama: Postmarked at least 11 days before the election.
Kentucky: Postmarked at least 29 days before the election.
Ohio: Postmarked at least 30 days before the election:
Absentee ballot application:
Alabama: Received at least 5 days before the election.
Kentucky: Received no later than the close of business 7 days before the election.
Ohio: Received by noon on the 3rd day (usually the Saturday) before the election.
Voted Absentee Ballot:
Alabama: Postmarked by the day before the election and received by noon on election day (mailed); received by 5pm on the day before the election (hand delivered).
Kentucky: Received by 6:00 PM on election day.
Ohio: Postmarked no later than the day before the election and received by the board of elections no later than 10 days after the election.
The history of American voting is rife with stories of “uncounted” or “lost” ballots, many of which could conceivably affect the results of an election. During the presidential election of 2008, six million American citizens, civilian and military, who were eligible to vote, were out of the country. Of these, some 98,000 were military voters whose ballots were sent back to the United States, only to have them “overlooked” or “lost”. In any event, they were not counted.
Unfortunately, there are many instances where dishonest officials have lied to voters or in some way illicitly gained votes for their own candidate. Such activity, of course, constitutes a crime. Not only is it repugnant; consider that whenever a ballot goes uncounted, an American citizen is denied a legal voice in a government that is meant to serve everyone.
Here are two web sites that may help you “Make Certain Your Vote Will Count”.
longdistancevoter.org/
canivote.org/
Tom Doenges is a freelance writer living in northwest Ohio. He can be contacted via e-mail at: awaywithwords@metalink.net
