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Sen. Bill Nelson Plans to Make Voting Easier for Military
11/10/08 - 04:39 PM

Senator Bill Nelson’s Office

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FORT WALTON BEACH, FL – U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson met with Okaloosa County Supervisor of Elections Pat Hollarn today to announce his plan to introduce legislation that would provide federal funding to states or counties that seek to replicate Okaloosa County’s overseas military and absentee Internet voting program.

“This successful program should be a model for other localities that want to help those serving their country oversees cast their ballot online,” said Nelson.  “While wide-scale use of Internet voting may be years away, we should continue to encourage and improve upon the technology.” 

Nelson’s visit comes just days after the county became one of the first nationwide to count votes cast via a secure Internet connection.  93 registered Okaloosa county voters stationed near three U.S. bases overseas cast their ballots online at kiosk stations set up in Ramstein, Germany; Mildenhall, United Kingdom; and Kadena, Japan. 

The test program was established to make it easier for U.S. soldiers and citizens abroad, who often have difficultly receiving or sending absentee ballots through the mail, to cast their votes electronically.  According to Nelson, programs like this are needed because as many as half of the absentee ballots sent overseas aren’t returned in time to be counted.

Nelson has long been an advocate for voting rights.  In 2001, Nelson got a similar measure passed into law requiring the Department of Defense to expand a pilot project allowing military voters to cast their ballots over the Internet.  The military canceled the program in 2004 after numerous delays.  In June of this year, Nelson introduced legislation that would overhaul the way we elect the president, including doing away with the Electoral College and creating a system of rotating regional primaries.  The new Internet voting measure will be included in a the larger voting rights package when it is introduced during the next Congress.