Signal Tribune Newspaper

American troops stationed overseas will get a little extra time to cast their ballots under a bill by Bonnie Lowenthal that was approved by a key policy committee in the state Capitol Tuesday.
“Every vote should count,” said Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, author of Assembly Bill 1340, which requires election officials to count the ballots of active-duty military personnel and other overseas Americans, as long as their absentee ballots are postmarked on or before Election Day.
The bill was approved by the Assembly Committee on Elections & Redistricting, with a bipartisan 7-0 vote.
Current law requires military and other overseas ballots to be received by voting officials by the close of business on Election Day. Lowenthal’s bill would require those ballots to be deemed valid as much as 10 days after the election.
“Our service people can’t control the pace of the mail,” said Lowenthal. “We need to take every reasonable step to make sure that they have the ability to make their votes count. These are the people who are safeguarding the very rights we are talking about.”
Currently, 18 other states have provisions similar or identical to those contained in AB 1340. The bill is sponsored by Secretary of State Debra Bowen.
“This bill recognizes the real challenges faced by military and overseas voters, making it easier for these thousands of Californians to exercise their constitutional right to vote,” Bowen said.
In 2004, the Legislature approved a law that allows overseas voters to deliver their ballots though facsimile transmission. That option would remain in effect. But some voters and advocates have suggested that sending a paper ballot retains the highest level of privacy.
Although the measure could conceivably postpone in some cases the official results of an election, the 10-day window comes well within the 28-day window that is allowed to elections officials to certify the outcome of an election.
The bill is supported by California arms of the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Vietnam Veterans of America; as well as the California State Student Association, the National Peace Corps Association, and Common Cause.