electionline Weekly

In Focus This Week

State lawmakers’ MOVE voting legislation
Numerous states work to comply with federal military and overseas voting act

By Matthew Morse

Lawmakers across the country have been working hard in recent weeks to pass legislation to reform states’ military and overseas voting practices to comply with the federal Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act.

Due to significant variations, many states face unique challenges in implementing the federal requirements based upon the degree of centralization as well as existing laws and regulations.

Two such states, Georgia and Virginia, have already grappled with interpreting and implementing the federal act that goes into effect in November.

In Georgia, recently appointed Secretary of State Brian Kemp (R) and Rep. John Meadows (R-District 5) undertook the effort. Bill HB 1073, was approved by the House Committee on Governmental Affairs last week.

Discussing the difficulty of interpreting MOVE’s requirements side-by-side with laws and procedures, Kemp said, ““Our office worked closely with U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss and leaders in the Georgia Legislature to ensure that HB 1073 conforms to requirements in the federal MOVE Act, and provides the greatest ballot access possible for Georgia’s military and overseas voters.

“We have also worked closely with Georgia’s county elections officials to explain the new requirements and initiate the necessary training on the new procedures.”

In Virginia, the effort started as a package of election reform bills. On the Senate side, those bills have been rolled into SB 55, sponsored by Sen. Stephen Martin (R- District 11) and Sen. Robert Hurt (R- District 19). SB 55 was approved 39 to 1. On the House side, HB 1235 was sponsored by Del. Richard Anderson (R- Woodbridge) and unanimously approved. At press time, HB 1235 has advanced through Senate committee.

As part of its compliance with the MOVE Act for federal elections, the Georgia and Virginia bills require military and overseas absentee ballots to be mailed at least 45 days in advance and for blank ballots to be sent electronically upon request.

The federal act also requires electronic transmission of voter registration and ballot requests, an online tracking system for absentee ballots, expedited mail service for voted ballots, online portals for voting information and access to the Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot (FWAB), elimination of notary requirements and several other changes, such as elimination of restrictions on paper sizes and types.

Numerous states are using MOVE Act implementation as an opportunity to consider other ways to improve the system for military and overseas voters. One easy way to do this is by extending the MOVE Act’s protections for time to vote and electronic transmission beyond federal elections to state and local elections as well. One example, Michigan HB 5279, allows military and overseas voters to vote in Michigan elections under certain circumstances even if that voter is not otherwise qualified to vote in the state or locality.

Lawmakers are also providing additional safety nets for military and overseas voters. For example, some states are allowing the Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot to count as a ballot request and/or voter registration form in addition to a voted ballot.

Va. SB 55/HB 1235 and Ga. HB 1073 also allow voters to use the FWAB for state and local offices, whereas until now it was only accepted in federal contests.

Virginia and Georgia are far from alone in their efforts. Many other states, including those with large military populations, have begun working on legislation that would help with MOVE compliance. All told, approximately 25 states have 86 active pieces of legislation to address this issue. Many other states have inactive carryover legislation or are still too early in their legislative calendars to begin work on the issue.

States have been active in military and overseas voting for months, including prior to the MOVE Act’s passage. The majority of the work began around January 4th of this year, however, when many state legislatures reconvened.

Because part of the MOVE Act requires changes by the November election, states with short legislative sessions like Virginia, Florida, and Georgia are especially under pressure to changes laws before the legislature adjourns for the year.

This comes roughly a year after the Pew Center on the States published its No Time to Vote report, which found that 25 states and District of Columbia do not provide enough time for overseas military personnel to vote. Even states like Virginia that were found to give enough time to vote are required to make some changes as a result of the MOVE Act, which will serve to further enfranchise these groups of voters.

Similarly, states are improving their election information technology to keep pace with changes to state law and regulations. Virginia already provides data on polling places, ballot and candidate lists, and election official contact information to all voters using an embeddable gadget (note: gadget uses data from the 2009 election and is for demonstration purposes only) through its participation in the Voting Information Project.

Soon, military and overseas voters will be able to use a similar gadget to self-populate an FWAB with candidate information. This will save staff time, serve voters well, and streamline the process of implementing MOVE Act requirements to provide such tools.