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Administration of Absentee Ballot Programs

Administration of Absentee Ballot Programs. Barry C. Burden (University of Wisconsin) Brian J. Gaines (University of Illinois). Key Terminology. Precinct, Election-Day Voting Secret ballot cast at official polling place on official Election Day Convenience Voting

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Administration of Absentee Ballot Programs

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  1. Administration of Absentee Ballot Programs Barry C. Burden (University of Wisconsin) Brian J. Gaines (University of Illinois)

  2. Key Terminology • Precinct, Election-Day Voting • Secret ballot cast at official polling place on official Election Day • Convenience Voting • Absentee: ballots can be obtained and returned by mail, in advance of Election Day, completed in uncontrolled setting of voter’s choice • Vote-by-Mail: all ballots cast absentee • Early Voting: secret ballot cast at official polling places prior to official Election Day

  3. Absentee Logistics • Ballot requests • Excuse or no-Excuse? • How? By mail, internet, in-person, phone,…? • Ballot submission • How? By mail, in-person, by third-party • Voter-validation: signature and witness requirements, multiple envelopes • Ballot processing • Accept or reject according to due date, voter-validation requirements • When processed/counted • When opened and votes counted

  4. Inherent Tradeoffs (no “best” practice) • Full across-state coordination on dates, format, etc. is unrealistic (contrary to robust federalism). • Later deadlines could lower rejection rates, but burden officials, delay tabulation. • Less difficult voter-validation can lower rejection rates, but facilitates fraud. • Convenience voting complicates late ballot changes, but is popular and growing.

  5. Best-Practice Recommendations • Early voting is more secure than absentee voting and thus should be preferred. • Requests for absentee ballots should be accepted by a variety of means including mail, phone, fax, electronic mail, and Internet web sites. • States should provide pre-paid postage with absentee ballots. • The potential for online submission of absentee ballots should be studied, but approached with caution. • States should facilitate and encourage after-the-fact checking by absentee voters to determine whether their ballots were accepted and counted. • States should not tally absentee ballots in advance of Election Day.

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