Next to the cold reality of the election turnaround in Alaska stands a blistering hot reminder: it was the tally of the absentee vote that made the difference.

In light of this fact, the U.S. Senate Runoff Election in Georgia, Chambliss vs. Martin, ratcheted up even more in its importance – and along with it our awareness of the wildcard role played by the absentee vote. As many as 173,000 overseas and military ballots may find their way back to Georgia to declare the next victor. Not only can Georgia’s overseas and military voters cast their ballots in the runoff but they may brandish the power of being able to overturn results, break a tie, or challenge the status quo.

The Georgia Secretary of State Elections Division is working impressively hard to make sure those 173,000 ballots get their best chance to be cast in the December 2nd runoff. Not only did they send runoff ballots preemptively to all General Election overseas and military absentee voters, they are re-sending them.  In addition, they have posted their State Write-in Absentee Ballot online.

Overseas Vote Foundation announced an upgraded online Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot which uses a Vote-Print-Mail Ballot system to guide voters through the Georgia state-specific questions and present them with the runoff candidate list for Georgia’s U.S. Senate Runoff Election.  Voters previously barred from participation in the overseas and military voting system by its inherent quagmire of regulations can now request ballots, obtain ballots, find where to send ballots and how – with a few clicks.

The Georgia runoff could be a race of razor thin margins. New Internet-based options from states and private organizations such as Overseas Vote Foundation may enable the overseas and military absentee voters – those furthest away from home on December 2nd – to write-in the future of the Senate.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 21st, 2008 at 10:16 am and is filed under Uncategorized .