CDR: Re: A secure voting protocol

Tim May tcmay at got.net
Mon Nov 13 15:07:40 PST 2000


I did some more digging on various Florida sites which discuss 
absentee ballots.

It looks like Florida makes a clear distinction between what I'll 
call "ordinary absentee ballots" and what I'll call "military 
absentee ballots."

Ordinary absentee ballots--students, tourists in Israel or France, 
bluehaired yentas living in Tel Aviv, etc.--must have their ballots 
returned by 7 pm on the day of the election.

_Military_ absentee ballots get the "postmarked by election day, 
received within 10 days" treatment.

This has not been widely reported, and contradicts the many press 
interviews with residents of foreign countries who are presumed to 
possibly be the hinge votes. At least I have not seen such a 
distinction made, and I've been following this thing for probably 14 
hours a day for the past five or six days.

Here is language from Bay County's Web site:

"Absentee ballots must be returned to the Supervisor of Elections by 
the voter, either in person or by mail. If the voter personally 
delivers the ballot, he or she must present his or her own picture 
identification before the ballot will be accepted.

If the voter is unable to mail or personally deliver the ballot, the 
voter may designate in writing a person to return the ballot. The 
designated person may NOT return more than two (2) absentee ballots 
per election, other than his or her own ballot, except that 
additional ballots may be returned for members of the designee's 
immediate family (as defined in the section on requesting absentee 
ballots). The designee must provide a written authorization from the 
voter as well as present his or her own picture identification.

Voted absentee ballots must be received no later than 7 p.m. election 
day at the office of the Supervisor of Elections. A VOTED BALLOT 
CANNOT BE ACCEPTED AT A POLLING PLACE.

MILITARY INFORMATION
Military personnel may apply for voter registration or request 
absentee ballots with a Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) which 
may be obtained from the unit voting officer. If the FPCA is not 
available, phone or send a written request to the Supervisor of 
Elections Office, 300 E. 4th Street, Room 112, Panama City, FL 
32401-3093. Spouses and dependents are considered to be of the same 
category of absentee voters as military members and generally should 
follow the same rules. U.S. Embassies and Consulates can assist in 
completing, witnessing, notarizing and mailing FPCA forms, absentee 
ballots and other election materials. Federal portions of general 
election and presidential preference primary ballots voted by persons 
outside the U.S. are counted if postmarked no later than election day 
and received within 10 days of the election. Additional military 
election information is available from:
-- 
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES:   831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
"Cyphernomicon"             | black markets, collapse of governments.





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