Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Will Hurricane Victims Be Able to Vote?

Lots of people are talking about what hurricane victims that have been displaced from their homes can do about voting in the upcoming general election. The Secretary of State has weighed in on this serious matter. Go here for a look at what the SOS has to say.

Now the reason I posted this link is that I am a little concerned about a bit of misinformation at the Houston Chronicle.

Here is what they say:

“People who want to return home but don't know when that will be possible can maintain their current voter registration and request a mail ballot from their home county election office. Applications must be received by Oct. 28.”

What is not clear in this is that it looks like you can request a mail in ballot if you are not sure when you will be returning to your residence. Be aware that this option is only granted if you declare that you will be out of the county during the election, and the mailing address you provide to them to send the ballot is one outside the county. There is no way they will send an absentee ballot to your residence.

I know, it sounds like a fine point of distinction, but I tripped over that statement when I read it, knowing that this was incomplete in some way.

A possible pitfall in an election where a voter does not get to have his vote count.

And we don’t want that to happen again, do we?

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