One of the many unintended and perverse consequences of Indiana’s new Photo ID Law, by far the strictest in the nation, is that it encourages voters who are unwilling or unable to present the required form of photo ID at the polls to vote by mail-in absentee ballot. Absentee voting, unlike in-person voting, is highly susceptible to fraud and undue influence because a mail-in absentee ballot is normally marked by a voter at his home and in the absence of the bipartisan scrutiny and safeguards that are present on election day. Despite this, the Indiana Legislature curiously chose to exempt absentee voting from the photo identification requirements now enforced on in-person, election day voters. [IC 3-11-10-1.2].

But as we shall see, absentee ballots are far more likely not to be counted than a vote cast in person. For example, under Indiana law an absentee ballot that does not bear the initials of both election clerks (unlike an election day ballot with the same flaw) cannot be counted in a recount proceeding, a rule which affected the outcome of AVA Board Member Scott Keller’s successful race for City-County Council in 2003. An absentee ballot may also be discarded if it is determined that the absentee voter’s signature on the poll book does not “correspond to” the signature on the envelope containing the ballot. [IC 3-11-10-17(a)(2)]. In Grant County, where a handful of votes currently separate the candidates in Indiana House District 31, some 39 absentee ballots were not counted either because the voter neglected to sign the absentee ballot envelope or the signatures, in the election board’s judgment, did not correspond.

Another pitfall for the absentee voter is that an absentee ballot application must be faxed or mailed at least 8 days before election day. [IC 3-11-4-3(4)]. But even if the voter submits a timely application and mails in her ballot so that it is received by the election board by noon on election day, the ballot still may not be counted if election officials fail to deliver the ballot to the polls before they close at 6 pm. In the House District 97 contest between incumbent Ed Mahern and challenger John Elrod, where Elrod currently leads by a mere 5 votes, at least 3 absentee ballots were not counted solely because the Clerk failed to see that those ballots were delivered to their respective precincts before the polls closed. Clerk Doris Sadler says this is standard operating procedure and that such ballots are routinely discarded each year because of this problem.

This is unacceptable! Voters should not be disenfranchised due to election worker error or neglect. This very principle is embodied in Indiana law, which permits recount commissions to count ballots that were marked and cast by a voter in compliance with the law but failed to comply with technical requirements due to the misfeasance of an election officer. [IC 3-12-1-12(b)]. As recount commissions undertake their solemn responsibilities, they must remember this fundamental precept—that the best way to honor democracy is to count every legitimate vote, giving the voter every benefit of the doubt, and not relying on technicalities to disregard a particular voter’s choice, where doing so may nullify the choices made by thousands of other voters on election day.

William R Groth's blog | login or register to post comments