AP Article: House Acts To Improve Absentee Ballot Tracking <read>
The bill, passed by voice vote, directs the Election Assistance Commission to reimburse states for costs related to establishing absentee ballot tracking programs for federal elections. It does not require states to set up such systems.
These tracking systems would allow voters to check, either through the Internet or by calling an automated number, whether an elections office has sent out a ballot, whether the completed ballot has arrived back at the registrar’s office, and whether the ballot has been counted.
Sounds like a positive step to close one of the several avenues of lost or rejected absentee ballots that disenfranchise voters who believed they voted and that their vote will be counted. Yet, we wonder if many states will adopt the system without a mandate – setting up a system is the 1st part of the process, the rest is managing and operating the system. In Connecticut that would mean the each town would need to update the system with each received ballot. Without detailed plans its difficult to estimate, but we would expect the bottom line would be a small price to pay yet a difficult proposition to sell.