Vermont Company Builds New Ballot Tool for Overseas and Military Voters

National Summit Participants Praise New Ballot as a Solution to Continuing
Problems for Americans Away from Home Who Want to Vote
Washington, D.C. - An estimated six million Americans who are members of the
military or live overseas have a new way to ensure their vote for president
counts this November, according to experts speaking at a high-level summit
on military and overseas voters. Attended by members of Congress,
secretaries of state and other election officials, "Democracy at a Distance:
A Summit to Make Voting Work for Military and Overseas Voters" was convened
by the Pew Center on the States, in collaboration with the JEHT Foundation.
At the summit, Pew, the Overseas Vote Foundation, JEHT and Bear Code (a
Vermont company that builds custom online software) launched a new online
tool that allows voters to complete the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot
(FWAB) more easily and with fewer errors. This tool can be used by
Americans covered under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting
Act who have requested an absentee ballot from election officials but have
not yet received it.
The need to help military and overseas voters is supported by a new
bipartisan Tarrance/Lake poll commissioned by the Pew Center on the States
and released at the summit. It found 96% of Americans believe it's
important that these voters get the chance to participate and vote in U.S.
elections. The poll results also show that 81% of Americans favor creating
a uniform national set of rules for military and overseas voters.
The new FWAB tool, available at www.overseasvotefoundation.org, provides an
immediate solution for registered voters whose ballots are late or lost in
transit. The site offers easy access to the "Vote-Print-Mail" system.
"Military and overseas voters do not share an equal opportunity to vote,"
said Michael Caudell-Feagan, director of Make Voting Work, a project of the
Pew Center on the States. "According to research from the U.S. Election
Assistance Commission, only one-third of the nearly one million ballots
mailed to these voters were cast or counted in the 2006 general election.
FWAB is a powerful tool for these voters."
"It is unacceptable in this day and age that administrative hurdles should
impede the counting of overseas military and civilian votes," said Nicole
Gordon, vice president of the JEHT Foundation, which has supported the
Overseas Vote Foundation in efforts to partner with states to facilitate the
registration process for overseas voters. "The launch of the FWAB tool is a
significant step in easing and modernizing this outdated process."
The FWAB tool works by matching users' 9-digit zip code for their U.S.
residence to their voting district. The system automatically presents
candidate lists for federal races in one's district. Voters select their
candidates for office and then download, print, sign and send the FWAB into
the local election office.
"Through our help desk, I've heard thousands of stories from voters who have
been frustrated during presidential campaigns as they anxiously waited for
their absentee ballots to arrive," said Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, President
and CEO of Overseas Vote Foundation. "The new FWAB tool replaces that worry
with an immediate, user-friendly, online and secure process that overseas
and military voters from all 50 states and the District of Columbia can
use."
For more information about the challenges facing overseas voters, visit
pewcenteronthestates.org and download "Military and Overseas Citizen Voting
Project," an overview developed by the Pew Center on the States.
The new FWAB tool, as well as the entire Overseas Vote Foundation system,
was developed by Bear Code over the course of the last year.