(MA) Lawmakers mull unconditional absentee voting

[paineinthearse]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/03/26/lawmakers_mull_expansion_of_voting_by_mail/

Lawmakers mull expansion of voting by mail
By Michael Levenson, Globe Correspondent | March 26, 2005

All voters in Massachusetts could cast their ballots by mail under a constitutional amendment that is gaining momentum on Beacon Hill with support from leading legislators and the League of Women Voters. The amendment would end the current requirement that a voter must be disabled, out of town, or unable to reach the polls for religious reasons to vote by absentee ballot. Lawmakers say the measure recognizes that many voters, juggling busy work and family schedules, are often unable to squeeze in a trip to the polls on Election Day. Many voters are already ignoring the requirements and voting by absentee simply because it is more convenient.

In last year's presidential election, 110,000 Massachusetts voters requested absentee ballots, the most ever and nearly double the number from the presidential contest four years earlier, according to the secretary of state's office. Lawmakers say that making it easier to vote by absentee ballot would dramatically increase participation. But critics fear it would transform Election Day from a collective civic experience into a routine chore no more significant than paying an electric bill. Also, some city and town clerks are worried about the cost of the additional paperwork.

The amendment has the support of both the House and Senate chairmen of the Legislature's Joint Committee on Election Laws. Within two days of its drafting last Wednesday, 31 other legislators signed up to cosponsor it. A hearing on the issue is scheduled for April 5. ''It seems like a logical thing to say: Anybody who wants to vote for any reason, for just convenience, for someone who doesn't want to wait in line on Election Day, ought to be able to exercise their right to vote by absentee ballot," said Senator Edward M. Augustus Jr., Democrat of Worcester, the newly appointed chairman of the Senate Election Laws Committee.

The supporters point to last year's presidential election in Florida, where 1.5 million voters, 20 percent of the electorate, cast ballots early, either though absentee voting or by walking into a polling place, which that state also allows. ''It's a question of removing the obstacles to voting," said Risa Nyman, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, which has been lobbying heavily for the amendment. Stay-at-home mothers, caretakers for the ill, or anyone else unable to find the time to vote could benefit from the process, known as unconditional absentee voting, Nyman said.

more......

[TaleWgnDg]

1. No, thanks. I'll stick w/ the "Australian (secret) ballot" . . . n/t

[Wilms]

2. Isn't this a bit scary?

"Some local elections officials are concerned that they lack the staff, money, and machinery to process a potential flood of ballots arriving by mail, said Judith L. St. Croix, Wayland town clerk and first vice president of the Massachusetts Town Clerks' Association."

What are the arguments against this relative to fraud?

[shraby]

3. They better lock up the round files.