Voters using absentee ballots are required to provide certain information when completing the ballot. Some of the information is considered “material” and a voter’s failure to include certain “material” information will result in the absentee ballot being invalidated. The SBE has proposed two unnecessary and restrictive regulations involving a generational suffix (Jr., Sr., I, II, etc.) and a street identifier.
I object to these changes because the information distinguishing the voter from another is already on the return mailer, and the frequency of multiple generations residing at same address voting by absentee ballot cannot be significant. Moreover, the likelihood of two voters sharing the same name and same street name will be slight, yet the regulations would have the effect of disenfranchising many voters who forget to add an identifier such as ”Place” or “Road” after their street name. The regulations are not narrowly tailored. A voter's failure to include a generational or street identifier should not be considered "material omissions" especially when these sources of confusion can and should be clarified during the General Registrar’s review of absentee ballot application
