VotersUnite!

Active military personnel may be able to vote by fax
Nov 13 2003 12:00AM By

By GREGORY R. NORFLEET
Register-News

MT. VERNON — Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn this week urged the state legislature to allow military personnel on active duty to vote by fax machine.
In a press conference in Chicago, Quinn and other government officials asked the General Assembly to approve legislation that would allow a new form of absentee voting.
“As we observe Veterans Day ... let’s honor those who are on the front lines now by making it as easy as possible for them to exercise the most fundamental right of a citizen in a democracy,” said Quinn.
As of this week, there are nearly 9,000 Illinois National Guard members and reservists called up for Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. About half are on active duty, said Quinn.
The legislation would allow voting by fax for the November 2004 election. The law would also make provisions for Illinois citizens traveling abroad.
Area veterans generally approved of the concept, but worried about how county clerks would establish a reliable method of determining whether the votes were valid.
“I’m in favor of letting them vote,” said Alfred Bean, who served in the Air Force in World War II. “But I don’t know about faxing ... let them mail it in.”
Evertt Atkinson, who served in the Army Air Corps in World War II, said there must be a way to document who cast the votes. If there’s any way at all to control the authenticity, Atkinson said, he would favor Quinn’s proposal.
Retired Navy aviation fighter pilot Lyle Endicott said it might be a good idea.
“As familiar as fax is to the younger generation, I would say ‘yes,’ as long as there are no tricks,” the World War II veteran said.
Quinn’s proposal should at least be tried, retired Marine John Kowalski said.
“As long as the vote can be verified, why not?” he said. “This is the electronic age, and their vote should count.”
He suggested assigning a member in each regiment the duty of “voting officer” to sign or stamp a fax vote, showing it is genuine.
Quinn said he once had a salior’s mail-in ballot take 40 days to reach him, coming in past Election Day.
“This legislation lets our citizen soldiers know they won’t have to worry about forfeiting their right to vote when they are on patrol in Iraq or Afghanistan,” said Quinn. “They are already making enough sacrifices.”