The right to vote is one of our most basic rights, one that must not be denied lightly. All voters should be treated as equally as physically and administratively possible regardless of the voting method used. Nevertheless it is recognized that some differences will still exist. However, there is no reason that absentee voters who mail in their ballots should be treated differently from one another. Currently, domestic voters are required to write the address of their legal residence on the outside of their B envelope. However, UOCAVA voters are not required to do so. Further, even though only one of the two types of ballots submitted by mail require that the legal address be provided on the B Envelope, the regulations (B4) then identify failure to provide his legal address as a material omission which would cause the ballot to be rejected. That’s simply inappropriate.

Further, domestic voters are required to write their names on the ballot envelope even while the UOCAVA voters are not. Regardless of whether the voters name is written on the ballot envelope or not, the identity of the voter is known from the label on all returned ballots whether they are domestic or UOCAVA voters. Nevertheless the Proposed Regulations B1, B2 and B3 establish failure to provide all or part of the voter’s legal name on the B envelope as a material omission that would cause a ballot to be rejected. Recognizing that this requirement applies only to Domestic ballots shows that once again that domestic and UOCAVA voters are treated differently and thus inappropriately.

The proposed regulations for Chapter 70, Absentee Voting, 1VAC20-70-20. Material omissions from absentee ballots, would codify material omissions that would render an absentee ballot void thereby depriving that voter the right to have his or vote counted. Because of the severity of the consequences, only genuinely serious omissions and/or errors should result in a ballot to be voided. Clearly the omission described in B4 –(The voter has not provided his house number, street name and city of residence on the B Envelope) does not rise to the level to legitimately constitute a material omission that should warrant the voiding of a ballot due to (1) the fact that the requirement to provide the legal address is inconsistently applied ; and (2) that on the domestic ballot, that same information is provided in preprinted form on the outside of the return envelope used to send the ballot back to the registrar.

1. Inconsistant application.

Currently, the B envelope included with the ballot sent to a domestic voter requires the voter to enter his or her full legal address on the B envelope. However, the B envelope included with the absentee ballot sent to a UOCAVA (Military or overseas) voter does not require the voter’s legal address. As these ballots without the address are deemed acceptable, clearly, they set the lower threshold of the minimum information required. Requiring only a certain class of voter (domestic absentee voters) to provide additional information clearly represents inconsistent treatment and is unacceptable, especially when the regulation goes on the state that not providing that information is serious enough to warrant the invalidation of a ballot. However, since the legal address is required on only some of the ballots, that requirement does not rise to the standard that failure to furnish is sufficiently serious to warrant ballot rejection.

 

The voter’s legal address is already pre-printed on upper left corner of the return envelope in which the voter’s marked ballot and B envelope are returned to the Electoral Board. The address on the return envelope was determined to be the valid address of residence when the voter’s application to vote absentee was approved. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been printed on the return envelope.  Requiring the voter to repeat the legal address information on the B envelope is not adding any new information that would facilitate the determination that a ballot was legitimate.

How can the omission of or even an incorrect address entered on the B Envelope be considered a material omission if the voter’s correct legal address is already printed on an envelope that will accompany the ballot? Failure of the voter to write that same address on the B envelope merely duplicates information already provided on the envelope returned by the voter. How can the omission of the same address or even an erroneous address be considered a material omission? Clearly it can’t.

 

Recommendation:

While there may be some requirement under the law to have the voter provide his legal address on the B Envelope, failure to comply with the requirement to do so doesn’t rise to the level to be considered a material omission that would require invalidation of a voter’s ballot and effectively denying that voter’s right to cast a vote. Not providing a legal address on the B envelope (where requested) correct or otherwise should be relegated to section C, errors and omissions that should not render a ballot to be invalid.

 

Again, this is another equal treatment issue. Only domestic voters are required to provide their names separate from their signatures on the B envelope. Failure to provide it or providing only a first or last name would be considered a material omission. Note that there’s no requirement that the name be written legibly so there’s no guarantee that one would be able to even read the name. Nor is there provision for a voter who may not know how to write. UOCAVA voters have no such requirement to write their name on the B envelope. There’s only a requirement for a signature as there also is for the domestic ballot. And as mentioned above, the identity of the voter is known from the label on all returned ballots whether they are domestic or UOCAVA voters. Since requiring the voter’s name on the domestic ballots imparts no new information, failure to provide that information clearly does not rise to the level of a material omission which would cause a ballot to be rejected.

Shift these three to C, omissions that would not cause a ballot to be rendered invalid.