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Ballots:
Absentee
Voting in Virginia
It’s
called “pre-election” or “early” voting, and
the number of voters casting absentee ballots
continues to increase in the U.S. each election
cycle. A national debate rages over whether this is
a good or bad development for our democracy.
At
a book forum sponsored by the American Enterprise
Institute for Public Policy Research
on November 1, 2006, several panelists argued that
the trend toward increased absentee voting leaves
the process more open to fraud, makes Election Day
less significant, and emphasizes convenience over
the democratic process. Others pointed out that an
increase in early voting is not just a convenience
to voters, but to election officials as well. In the
state of Washington, where 34 of 36 counties “vote
by mail,” it has reduced the need for polling
places and poll workers.
Absentee
voting dates from the 17th century when farmers and
folks on the frontier couldn’t leave their land
for the long trek to a polling place. During the
Civil War, the Union allowed soldiers and sailors to
cast absentee ballots. From its early use by
military personnel, absentee voting extended to
citizens whose jobs kept them away from home. By
World War I, more than 20 states allowed people to
vote who could prove a work-related reason that kept
them from the polls. Today, all U.S. states allow
absentee voting, and in several, it’s the major
way votes are cast.
In
Virginia’s most recent election, more than 131,000
voters in the commonwealth requested absentee
ballots, and about 110,000 returned them. That’s
an increase of more than 65,000 compared with
absentee ballots cast in the state’s last off-year
election in 2002 (Virginia State Board of Election
-- Voting Statistics).
The
number of absentee ballots more than doubled between
the two off-year elections. (In the 2004
presidential election, which traditionally has a
much higher turnout, more than 200,000 absentee
ballots were cast in Virginia.)
Compared
to some states such as Texas, where absentee ballots
comprise 25 percent of the ballots cast,
Virginia’s absentee ballots totaled only four
percent of the more than two million votes cast in
November’s state-wide elections. This may be
because Virginians are required to state a reason
they are voting absentee. Individuals who qualify
range from those who will be away from their normal
precincts to those in the military; college
students; those who care for ill or disabled family
members, and several other categories (Virginia
State Board of Elections -- Absentee Voting).
In
2005 in Massachusetts, the League of Women Voters
lobbied for universal absentee voting. The
organization argued that the state’s restrictions
didn’t allow for absentee voting by mothers with
small children, people who held more than one job,
or those working and going to night school. Despite
the League’s efforts to convince people that
increased absentee voting wouldn’t result in more
voting fraud, less- informed voters, or the loss of
a sense of community that voting that a polling
place fosters, the proposal to the state’s
amendment failed.
In
Tennessee, North Carolina, Arkansas, Texas and other
states where voters are not required to give a
reason for casting absentee votes, early voting has
exploded. In 1980, only about five percent of voters
cast absentee votes in the U.S. Some predict that in
the 2008 presidential election, more than 30 percent
of voters nationwide will cast pre-election votes.
Absentee
ballots are sometimes cited as the deciding votes in
recount elections. In most states, absentee ballots
are counted on Election Day, but can be delayed as
long as 10 days after the election in places like
Washington, D.C. and for overseas ballots in
Florida.
While
many pundits suggested the close race between Jim
Webb and Sen. George Allen might result in a
recount, Sen. Allen conceded two days after the
election when a post-election canvass indicated that
Webb’s lead would change very little (George Allen
Concedes Senate Race to Democrat Jim Webb --
bloomberg.com).
According
to the Virginia process, a recount can be requested
only if the difference between the apparent winning
and losing candidate is one percent or less. This
year, none of the state’s other elections were as
close as the Senate race. An apparent loser must
file a petition requesting the recount with the
Circuit Court of the City of Richmond within 10 days
after the vote is certified by the State Board of
Elections. The Chief Judge of the Circuit Court and
two other judges oversee the process and certify the
recount. The candidate must pay the cost of the
recount, unless he or she is declared the winner
or the difference between the winners and losers is
less than a half of a percent. Then the cities and
counties involved in a recount must pay the cost.
The Virginia State Board of Elections does not
anticipate recounts in any of the other November 7
races, either. These included all of the U.S. House
of Representative seats and several other races.
("Virginia Recounts -- The
Basics," The
Washington Post, November 8, 2006).
Whether absentee voting is a threat to the
democratic process or actually gives more people the
opportunity to cast their ballots is yet to be
decided, but one thing is true: early voting is
certainly growing in popularity!
UP
NEXT: Virginia’s Alma Maters: Halls of Ivy in the
Old Dominion
--
December 4, 2006
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