Few soldiers used new voting option

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Secretary of State Matt Blunt touted fax and e-mail balloting as options to make voting more accessible to military members in combat, but a statewide survey shows just a few dozen people used those options in the November election.

The survey of local election officials found that U.S. military members serving overseas requested at least 3,213 ballots and returned at least 2,252, according to data provided to The Associated Press. About 90 percent of the ballots returned were counted. The most common reason ballots weren't counted was they arrived too late.

Just 54 ballots were submitted by either fax or e-mail, the data showed.

The survey did not break down how many of those were sent by fax and how many were sent by e-mail. It also did not include data from St. Louis city and Boone County, which had not yet submitted the information to the secretary of state's office.

In August, Blunt said that military members serving in combat overseas could receive an absentee ballot and either fax it directly to their local election authority or e-mail it to the Department of Defense, which then would forward the ballots by fax to local officials.

The faxing option also was available in the August primary, but Blunt heard concerns from some troops that they had greater access to e-mail than to fax machines. Election officials received 10 military ballots by fax in the primary election.

"Secretary Blunt feels both the fax and e-mail voting options enabled many more of our men and women in uniform the opportunity to have their ballots counted in a timely fashion," Blunt spokeswoman Terri Durdaller said Friday.

Blunt is to be sworn in as governor Monday.

Durdaller said the secretary of state's office did not have expectations about how often the option would be used but felt it was important to make it available.

When the plan was announced, some Internet security experts raised concerns about fraud and ballot secrecy with e-mail balloting, saying e-mail is insecure. The state said safeguards were in place, including a tracking number and signature comparisons.

The secretary of state's office received no complaints about security or mechanics in handling the ballots, Durdaller said.

St. Louis County, the state's largest, reported 14 ballots returned by fax, the most in any county.

The county's Democratic director of elections, Judy Taylor, said that when faxed ballots came in, they were folded and sealed by a bipartisan team until the county counted all absentee ballots.

She said the number cast by fax or e-mail was "very low," but added that it's probably just a matter of time before more people use the system.

"It was just something new," Taylor said. "It's going to take a while to catch on."

All counties are supposed to submit voting information by the end of January for a report to the federal Election Assistance Commission.

The survey results also included information on voting by other members of the U.S. military who were not overseas and by U.S. citizens voting from overseas.

Others in the military who were not overseas requested 5,145 ballots statewide and returned 3,847. Twelve were sent in by fax. About 95 percent of the ballots returned were counted.

Among U.S. citizens overseas, 2,362 ballots were requested, and 1,803 were returned, none by fax, because it wasn't an option for non-military people. About 94 percent counted.

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Secretary of State: http://www.sos.mo.gov