E-voting overseas.

• Author: Underhill, Wendy
• Position: TRENDS & TRANSITIONS

Voting by fax and email is the latest advance in a decade-long effort to ensure ballots cast by U.S. military and other citizens living abroad are received by elections officials in time to be counted.

Numbers tell the story: In the 2008 election, more than 17,000 military and overseas ballots were disqualified because they arrived too late. In the 2010 election, a non-presidential year with a lower turnout, the figure was roughly 10,000. In total, 6 percent to 7 percent of ballots from military and overseas voters were disqualified, with the single biggest reason being that the ballots missed the deadline. (Data for 2012 aren't available.)

To fix the problem, states have moved back primary dates to ensure ballots are distributed at least 45 days before an election, posted voter information online, and let voters ask for absentee ballots via email. West Virginia tested Interact voting, but reservations persist about its security.

So far, the Interact solution with the most promise appears to be electronic transmission of ballots. Under the U.S. Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act of 2009, state election officials are required to send a blank ballot attached to an email to any service member who requests it. The attachment includes instructions on how to vote and a printable ballot and envelope, which voters mark with their selections and mail back to the United States. But in countries where postal service is poor or nonexistent, this isn't possible.

For those in remote places, 31 states and the District of Columbia now allow them to print their ballots...