Until this election cycle, I had never considered voting by absentee ballot. After I did, I began to hear rumors of ballots returned for non-sufficient postage, or being held by the Post Office. I began to doubt the integrity of that system. Both parties had urged me to vote by absentee ballot this year.

At 1 AM on election day, I stumbled into the motel lobby and asked the clerk how to get on the Internet. "You can't," I was assured. "We're still using a telephone for everything." There is no Internet café in town, etc. At 1:30 AM, I tried to phone AP. They hung up after 14 seconds.

Over the following 25 hours, I got an education. I witnessed the counting of the absentee ballots as a volunteer for the Democratic Party in the city we were in. I came away convinced that if the ballot made it to the clerk's office, it would be counted.

In Michigan, the envelope is an odd size. A 37 cent stamp won't cover it. For that matter, neither will two. "Most Post Offices know that absentee ballots are an exception to the postage due rule. The clerk is required to pay the postage due on an absentee ballot."

I suggested that since there was a white spot on the envelope where the voter had to sign his name, that the envelope should be considered "Franked" if it was signed by the voter, and the U.S. Govt.should absorb the postage. A specoal bar code in the address, I proposed, would identify it as an absentee ballot. A scanner could then scan the white area to ensure that the envelope had been signed.

Topics for discussion:

Des this seem a reasonable idea to ensure that Absentee Ballots don't get lost in the mail.

Is this technologically feasible?

If you believe this could work, would you please forward the idea to your Congressman?