Team Infidel
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North County (CA) Times
January 24, 2008 Thousands of locally based Marines now overseas expected to cast ballots
By Mark Walker, Staff Writer
NORTH COUNTY -- They might be at war or on bases in other countries, but they still want to vote.
As of Wednesday, 350 San Diego-based troops now on overseas assignments, including missions in Iraq, had cast their absentee ballots for California's Feb. 5 presidential primary, according to San Diego Registrar of Voters Deborah Seiler.
Her office has mailed out 2,638 absentee ballots to members of the military and their spouses and State Department employees worldwide, and 566 to other Americans living abroad, Seiler said Wednesday.
"The numbers are down from what we saw in the 2004 general election, but we expect it to ramp up as we get closer to November," she said.
In the 2004 presidential election, 5,032 of the registered 7,478 overseas servicemen and women voted by absentee ballot in San Diego County, according to figures from the California Secretary of State's office.
The primary that year drew only 718 overseas ballots from the county's 1,369 service members who were registered to vote in San Diego County.
In Riverside County, 669 of 1,238 military members overseas registered to vote there cast ballots in the 2004 general election.
Statewide that year, 62,469 people living overseas or in the military were registered for the November election and 44,686, or 71.5 percent voted.
The percentage was similar for all members of the military that year, according to U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jonathon Withington at the Pentagon.
Prior to the 2004 election, government officials pressed the military to do more to increase overseas voting among service members.
In 2000, for example, only 57 percent of troops on overseas assignments cast absentee ballots. By 2004, the number increased to 73 percent, according to Withington.
"There is still plenty of time to get registered for the general election and we think the numbers will increase," he said during a telephone interview this week. "Our troops are out there helping safeguard our freedoms and the right to vote is part of that and there's a lot at stake."
Military commanders are forbidden from advocating their troops vote for a particular candidate or party. But each service has designated voting officers to help coordinate voting from remote outposts in Iraq, for example.
The process is similar to that for any absentee voter. Registration can be accomplished online or by filling out a form and mailing or faxing it to the registrar's office. Once deemed eligible, a member of the military can cast their ballot by mail or send it in by fax, Seiler said.
"We do everything we can to protect the privacy of ones faxed in," she said. "But we do caution people who use that method that their vote could be seen by someone."
In San Diego County, absentee ballots are sent to overseas service members 45 days before the election to assure ample time for it to arrive and be returned by mail. Ballots also can be downloaded from the registrar's Web site.
In the 2004 election, a small group of American troops in Iraq gained notoriety when they formed the "Desert Donkeys" to advocate their support for Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.
No similar groups have yet emerged for the 2008 presidential sweepstakes.
Nonmilitary Americans living overseas and registered as Democrats have the option of voting over the Internet this year.
The group Democrats Abroad is conducting a presidential primary election over a seven-day period from Feb. 5-12 with voters casting ballots by fax, mail, over the Internet or at more than 100 polling places worldwide.
The election is being conducted by the San Diego firm Everyone Counts, which has conducted online voting for a decade, primarily in Britain and most recently for more than 2,000 deployed members of the Australian military voting in that country's national elections in November.
Lori Steele, Everyone Counts' chief executive officer, said during a telephone interview from Europe on Wednesday that she would like to see more effort and funding to establish online voting for Americans in remote corners of the world at election time.
"It's ultimately the best possible solution for people who live in hard-to-reach places," she said.
No online voting is now permitted in U.S. state or federal elections, primarily because of security concerns.
January 24, 2008 Thousands of locally based Marines now overseas expected to cast ballots
By Mark Walker, Staff Writer
NORTH COUNTY -- They might be at war or on bases in other countries, but they still want to vote.
As of Wednesday, 350 San Diego-based troops now on overseas assignments, including missions in Iraq, had cast their absentee ballots for California's Feb. 5 presidential primary, according to San Diego Registrar of Voters Deborah Seiler.
Her office has mailed out 2,638 absentee ballots to members of the military and their spouses and State Department employees worldwide, and 566 to other Americans living abroad, Seiler said Wednesday.
"The numbers are down from what we saw in the 2004 general election, but we expect it to ramp up as we get closer to November," she said.
In the 2004 presidential election, 5,032 of the registered 7,478 overseas servicemen and women voted by absentee ballot in San Diego County, according to figures from the California Secretary of State's office.
The primary that year drew only 718 overseas ballots from the county's 1,369 service members who were registered to vote in San Diego County.
In Riverside County, 669 of 1,238 military members overseas registered to vote there cast ballots in the 2004 general election.
Statewide that year, 62,469 people living overseas or in the military were registered for the November election and 44,686, or 71.5 percent voted.
The percentage was similar for all members of the military that year, according to U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jonathon Withington at the Pentagon.
Prior to the 2004 election, government officials pressed the military to do more to increase overseas voting among service members.
In 2000, for example, only 57 percent of troops on overseas assignments cast absentee ballots. By 2004, the number increased to 73 percent, according to Withington.
"There is still plenty of time to get registered for the general election and we think the numbers will increase," he said during a telephone interview this week. "Our troops are out there helping safeguard our freedoms and the right to vote is part of that and there's a lot at stake."
Military commanders are forbidden from advocating their troops vote for a particular candidate or party. But each service has designated voting officers to help coordinate voting from remote outposts in Iraq, for example.
The process is similar to that for any absentee voter. Registration can be accomplished online or by filling out a form and mailing or faxing it to the registrar's office. Once deemed eligible, a member of the military can cast their ballot by mail or send it in by fax, Seiler said.
"We do everything we can to protect the privacy of ones faxed in," she said. "But we do caution people who use that method that their vote could be seen by someone."
In San Diego County, absentee ballots are sent to overseas service members 45 days before the election to assure ample time for it to arrive and be returned by mail. Ballots also can be downloaded from the registrar's Web site.
In the 2004 election, a small group of American troops in Iraq gained notoriety when they formed the "Desert Donkeys" to advocate their support for Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.
No similar groups have yet emerged for the 2008 presidential sweepstakes.
Nonmilitary Americans living overseas and registered as Democrats have the option of voting over the Internet this year.
The group Democrats Abroad is conducting a presidential primary election over a seven-day period from Feb. 5-12 with voters casting ballots by fax, mail, over the Internet or at more than 100 polling places worldwide.
The election is being conducted by the San Diego firm Everyone Counts, which has conducted online voting for a decade, primarily in Britain and most recently for more than 2,000 deployed members of the Australian military voting in that country's national elections in November.
Lori Steele, Everyone Counts' chief executive officer, said during a telephone interview from Europe on Wednesday that she would like to see more effort and funding to establish online voting for Americans in remote corners of the world at election time.
"It's ultimately the best possible solution for people who live in hard-to-reach places," she said.
No online voting is now permitted in U.S. state or federal elections, primarily because of security concerns.