Program to enable combat troop votes

Source: San Antonio Express-NewsJuly 27--As early as the March 4 primary elections, San Antonio enlisted military personnel stationed in combat zones will be able to cast ballots via email, officials announced Friday.儲存倉Texas Secretary of State John Steen selected Bexar County to participate exclusively in the pilot program, which was the result of a bill passed by the Legislature this year. About 300 service members are expected to participate in the first round.Bexar County Elections Administrator Jacque Callanen's staff will send out ballots to soldiers at their secure military email addresses in January. To cast the ballots, voters must also submit a signature page that confirms their identity.Unlike paper ballots, the process will not be completely anonymous. Select staff in Callanen's office who receive the emails will see the voters' names. Once the ballots are printed, no one else will see the voters' names."(Voters) are going to have to trust the integrity of this office, plain and simple," Callanen said.The bill's author, Rep. James White, said when he was in the U.S. Army in the 1980s and '90s, soldiers who submitted ballots via postal mail never knew if their ballots made it in time."You cast one, and obviously it takes quite a bit of time for ballots or any type of mail to get back home," said White, R-Woodville. 迷你倉沙田So who knows if your vote was counted. But that's the past; now we're moving toward the future."Joe Camacho, the operations coordinator for Callanen's office, was in the Army around the same time as White."I was in a combat zone at the time," he said, "and to tell you the truth, when I was there, voting was the last thing I was thinking about."According to Steen, 28 states now allow for some type of electronic voting for soldiers, either via email ballot or fax. His office has been tasked with reporting back to the Legislature in 2015 with details on the program's progress.The pilot program piggybacks on an earlier program tested in Bexar.Callanen's office began sending soldiers ballots via email in 2008. The records were printed and mailed back in secure envelopes. She called the process a success.In 2008, there were 59 ballots sent via email to Bexar County military members and their dependents; that number rose to 559 in 2010, when the program was expanded throughout the state, and then to more than 5,000 in the 2012 elections."We were really proud of that," Callanen said, "and we're really looking forward to doing this."emoravec@express-news. netTwitter: @EvaRuthCopyright: ___ (c)2013 the San Antonio Express-News Visit the San Antonio Express-News at www.mysanantonio.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉價錢