I'm in the New York Times today!

[AdamH]

Alright so I've been posting for months about trying to register to vote as a dual citizen. And although I was told by the US Embassy and the Federal Voter Assistance Program that I couldn't vote (never resided in the States) I ultimately did through www.overseasvote2004.com.

I got my ballot last week, filled it in and mailed it back and sent an email to the people at that website to thanks them; had I not found their site it's doubtful that I'd have known I could vote. And I'm one person who did a considerable amount of work to find that out so I'm scared to think how many folks won't vote for some or all of the same reasons.

So on Monday I got an email back saying thanks and could they pass my story on to a contact at the New York Times. He called and interviewed me yesterday morning for the story posted below. I was also photographed at Parliament Hill but I haven't had a chance to grab the hard copy yet to see if my mug is in there.

September 29, 2004

ABSENTEE VOTES

Hurdles Remain for American Voters Who Live Overseas

By MICHAEL MOSS

our years after overseas voting became a battleground

in the presidential election in Florida, millions of

civilians and soldiers living abroad still face a

bewildering and unwieldy system of absentee balloting

that could prevent their votes from being counted.

Election officials concede that tens of thousands of

Americans overseas might not get ballots in time to

cast votes. Late primaries and legal wrangling caused

election offices in at least 8 of the 15 swing states

to fail to mail absentee ballots by Sept. 19, a cutoff

date officials say is necessary to ensure that they

can be returned on time, a survey by The New York

Times shows. In Florida in 2000, late-arriving ballots

became a divisive issue when some were counted and

others were disqualified.

The tardy ballots are just one of several setbacks or

missteps that have affected the ability of the

estimated 4.4 million eligible voters overseas to

participate in the presidential election. Some have

been unable to send their registrations to a Pentagon

contractor's computers, which are clogged by thousands

of voter forms. Others were denied access to a Web

site designed to help Americans abroad vote. And many

voters simply have had trouble navigating the rules

and methods that determine how and when to register

and vote and that vary by state.

"I found it so convoluted I gave up," says Alex

Campos, a management consultant in London who

repeatedly tried to register using the Pentagon

program, without success.

To help speed the balloting process, federal officials

activated a new system last week in which voters can

obtain absentee ballots instantly through the

Internet. But the Web site, myballot.mil, will be

offered only to members of the military and their

families, quickly raising concerns about fairness in a

program that the Pentagon has been directed to run for

civilians as well. In addition, 23 states have already

declined to join the system for various reasons,

including security, according to Pentagon and state

officials.

People on both sides vying for the overseas vote say

the balloting system remains so flawed that some

predict legal battles if these votes prove crucial to

the outcome of the presidential race.

"If it's a close election, one can expect a great deal

of challenges given the confused state of this complex

matrix of rules and regulations, and the lack of

central leadership in their implementation," said Jim

Brenner, the executive director of Americans Overseas

for Kerry.

In recent interviews, Pentagon officials defended

their voting assistance effort and said the new

Internet ballot retrieval system was only one item in

a menu of services the program was using to help both

military and civilian voters.

"There is no favoritism," said Scott Wiedmann, the

program's deputy director, adding that the new system

must be limited to the military because the identities

only of service members can be verified.

Other efforts under way to help overseas voters

include speeding mail delivery for people in the

military and a special federal ballot that all voters

can request if their regular ballot does not arrive

from their state on time. But election volunteers

working overseas say that many voters do not know the

ballots exist, or if they do, do not know how to use

them.

Republicans and Democrats are pushing hard to solicit

these voters after some assessments indicating that

President Bush's support among the estimated 500,000

members of the military and their families overseas

may have weakened. There is little direct polling of

soldiers, but Peter D. Feaver, a sociology professor

at Duke University, says surveys have shown that while

most officers are staunchly Republican, the rank and

file newest to the military has been more closely

divided between the parties.

"Kerry will do better in this group than Gore did,''

Mr. Feaver said, "but he will not reverse the Bush

advantage."

There is also little polling of the 3.9 million

civilians abroad. But last month, a Zogby poll of

Americans who had passports found that they supported

John Kerry over Mr. Bush, 58 percent to 35 percent.

The concern about states not getting their overseas

ballots out in time surfaced most recently in a report

this month by the newly formed United States Election

Assistance Commission, which found that 18 states did

not have systems in place to mail ballots at least 45

days before the election. A commissioner, Paul

DeGregorio, said in an interview that states with late

primaries did not have enough time to turn around and

send out their ballots overseas.

Of the eight swing states that missed the 45-day

mailing mark, only three will accept ballots that

arrive after Election Day. Overseas voters have until

Nov. 10 to send their ballots to Florida, which

experienced problems four years ago that prompted

widespread calls for improvements to overseas

balloting.

In 2001, the General Accounting Office examined

overseas voting and found numerous problems, from

inadequate public education on the subject to late

ballot mailings. In surveying small counties

throughout the country, for example, the G.A.O., now

the Government Accountability Office, found that 8.1

percent of the overseas votes had been thrown out

mostly because they were late or not properly

completed.

In response, the Pentagon placed voting assistance

officers in military units worldwide and retooled its

general Web site for voting assistance to help more

Americans navigate the labyrinth of local voting

procedures that apply overseas.

But some voters say the Web site remains difficult to

use and that program workers have provided wrong

information. Adam Hess, 26, a marketing coordinator in

Ottawa, said he was told that he could not vote

because he has never lived in the United States; he

later learned that was not true since he received his

citizenship through his American father.

In recent weeks the federal effort has also been

clouded by a series of missteps that appear to have

affected mostly civilian voters.

After blocking Internet systems in more than two dozen

countries from gaining access to the general Web site,

the Pentagon retreated last week and says it is trying

to find a less encumbering way to protect against

hackers.

Two weeks ago, Americans in various countries

complained to voting rights groups that they received

only ringing or busy signals when they tried to fax

voter registrations to the number provided by the

Pentagon.

"I come from Florida, and it's like, here we go

again," said Timothy P. Mason, a telecommunications

analyst in Britain who said he tried for two days

before giving up.

In an e-mail message to one of the voting groups, a

Pentagon official said that military installations

were tying up the lines by faxing in hundreds of

registrations in single batches, and that efforts

would be made to accommodate the volume.

New questions have also arisen about the private

contractor hired by the Pentagon to handle these faxes

and unsealed completed ballots at its offices in

Alexandria, Va. The company, Omega Technologies, was

sued last year by Adams National Bank, which accused

it of failing to pay off a loan of more than $500,000.

In court records the bank also said Omega improperly

gained access to a Pentagon computer to reroute

payments to the company's new lender.

A lawyer for Omega, Daryle Jordan, denied wrongdoing

by Omega and said it had countersued in contesting the

debt claim. Pentagon officials said they were not

aware of the litigation or another billing dispute,

brought in 2002 by a Nashville resort. Omega settled

the second dispute without admitting or denying

accusations that it fabricated a Federal Express

record. Mr. Jordan said Omega did not consider the

litigation relevant to its Pentagon work.

An effort by the Pentagon to create a broad Internet

voting program collapsed in February after criticism

by security experts that the system was prone to

manipulation.

Ten states so far have agreed to dispense ballots

through the more limited service that the Pentagon is

announcing this week, according to officials.

Nearly half of the states now also allow voters to fax

back their ballots to election officials, but the loss

of privacy is causing concern among some soldiers.

Scott Rafferty, a Democratic activist lawyer in

California, said soldiers had contacted him to say

they feared voting by fax. One, an Army sergeant in

Germany who asked not to be identified for fear of

retribution, explained his reservations.

"Some places you have to hand it off to get it faxed

because the machine is behind the counter, at the

finance office or personnel support battalion," the

sergeant said. "They should come up with a better,

more surefire system."

Alexis Rehrmann, Eric Schmitt and John Schwartz

contributed reporting for this article

[Ms.Huxtable]

Good for you Ahess. I am so proud of you. Not for being in the Times, but for making such an effort to voice your opinion. I only hope other American citizens will step up to the plate as well.

Kudos!

[StoneMtn]

I second Ms. Huxtable's comments. That is great, Adam, that you went to all that trouble. I find it an unfortunate "coincidence" that it seems to be exactly those votes that are likely to hurt the current administration that seem likely to be excluded. It sounds strikingly familiar to the recent report that millions of poor, black American voters' registrations within the USA have also been disqualified for some technicalities. I applaud your effort, Adam, and I hope others will be as diligent and follow suit.

[hamilton]

Groovy - that's one more vote for John Kerry!!

(or, well, kind of... y'know how that funny College of Electors works down there... which I guess means that it's one more vote for a guy who's promised to vote for John Kerry!)

(errr... I'm assuming, anyway!! )

[thatpatguy]

makes me kinda want to look into getting my own American Citizenship.. I wonder if I'm too old now.. of course I doubt I'll get it in time to vote..

[thatpatguy]

hey Ahess.. do you have any info as to whether or not the IRS will come after you if you vote? depending on what that says I could probably get my folks to vote

[bokonon]

how many people on the board do strategic voting instead of just voting for who they actually want to win?

[AdamH]

thatphatguy - I never looked into that aspect but am fairly sure there's no consequences involved. In my case I don't maintain anything in the states (work, property, debt) so there'd be nothing for them to pursue.

Hamilton - as if you had to ask

Bokonon - In this case the answer to both is yes. In other cases I vote strategically.

[meggo]

ahess - i'm wondering if i can do the same, maybe you came across this in your research...

my mom is american, she grew up in the U.S. and moved to canada probably when she was 25-ish, when she and my dad got hitched. i know that if she had gotten the ball rolling when i was a kid, i'd have had dual no problem. now, i'm not sure. suggestions? i'd love to vote in this election if possible. [as would most, i imagine]

[AdamH]

Check your PMs Meggo.

[TimmyB]

Good for you ahess,

All summer when I was in the USA I was trying to convince people to register to vote. I'm glad you can too.

[bouche]

Ahess is 26

I had no idea!

Cheers man, that is some savvy work on your part and an excellent example made.

[Vermontdave]

Great job man. Every vote counts.

[paisley]

how many people on the board do strategic voting instead of just voting for who they actually want to win?

one day you learn that sometimes voting against Hitler and the pain and suffering his rule will incur is more important than making a personal statement about who your ideal leader would be... Bush in the states, as well as the Conservatives in Canada, are anti-environment, anti-freedom, anti-peace and are only focused on making the rich richer, to them the poor and middle class are worthless except for buying the products their mutli-national friends force upon the masses

in better, less turbulent times we vote for our hearts... following your heart is definately the right thing to do unless it could end up indirectly hurting millions of people

(congrats ahess! good stuff!)

[ggrtrhhrtgg]

nice work ::

[StoneMtn]

I agree with Paisley. Although I have actively worked and organized events with the sole focus being opposition to Paul Martin's complacency regarding American plans to weaponize space, out of pure terror of the "New Conservatives", I had to bite the bullet and vote Liberal. Sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do. (Given the choice, I'd be voting Action Party http://www.canadianactionparty.ca , who clearly rock, but have no chance any time soon.)

[Douglas]

Thank you ahess

[Groove Fetish]

so this was the fist year I decided to pursue using my dual citizenship to vote down south too. But I registered at one of the booths you find at concets. so I got the phone call and they said that they had to mail it to an address in the atates so I used my grandmothers address. Now I wish that I had known about this site as I guess I could have registered to get the ballot sent up here. So now I don't know what to do- the registration is down south and I guess I have to figure out exactly how I plan to vote now.

I'd like to call the folks that run that site but I can't get the link to the overseasvote2004 site to work.

Is the link wrong somehow?