Ohio’s legislature voted to shorten the absentee voting timeframe and to restrict access to absentee ballot applications. “Voter rights advocates said reducing early voting days would disenfranchise voters and lead to longer lines at the polls. They also questioned the urgency and motive behind passing the bills.” Senate Bill 238 will eliminate six early voting days during which time people can register to vote and cast an in-person absentee ballot.
Representative Susan Davis (D-CA), a featured keynote speaker at OVF and US Vote’s 2014 Eighth Annual Voting and Elections Summit, recently filed a bill in Congress aimed at lessening restrictions on absentee voting. The bill would mandate no-excuse absentee voting in all federal elections. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 27 states and the District of Columbia allow this provision, while 20 states only accept absentee ballots if detailed excuses are submitted.
On December 19, 2013, Overseas Vote Foundation (OVF), announced a major project, funded by the Democracy Fund, to be conducted over the course of eighteen months.
The project is called End-to-End Verifiable Internet Voting: Specification and Feasibility Assessment Study (E2E VIV Project) and will examine a form of remote voting that enables a so-called “end-to-end verifiability” (E2E) property. A unique team of experts in computer science, usability, and auditing together with a selection of local election officials from key counties around the U.S. will assemble for this study.
Co-chairs Bob Bauer and Ben Ginsberg, of the Presidential Commission on Election Administration, will speak at this week’s Eighth Annual Voting and Elections Summit 2014. The Commission’s report, released last week, sets forth a succinct and pertinent set of findings and recommendations for improving the voting process and all that’s behind it.
Information and research from Overseas Vote Foundation on overseas and military voting is featured in the report on page 61, highlighting the continued non-uniformity of services for overseas and military voters across state websites.
Voter Account
