U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office

Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800

Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001

43–118 2008

HEARING ON MILITARY AND OVERSEAS VOTING: 

PROBLEMS AND PROGRESS IN ENSURING THE 

VOTE 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON HOUSE 

ADMINISTRATION 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, APRIL 15, 2008 

Printed for the use of the Committee on House Administration 

( 

Available on the Internet: 

http://www.gpoaccess.gob/congress/house/administration/index.html 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

(II) 

COMMITTEE ON HOUSE ADMINISTRATION 

ROBERT A. BRADY, Pennsylvania, Chairman 

ZOE LOFGREN, California 

Vice-Chairwoman 

MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts 

CHARLES A. GONZALEZ, Texas 

SUSAN A. DAVIS, California 

ARTUR DAVIS, Alabama 

VERNON J. EHLERS, Michigan 

Ranking Minority Member 

DANIEL E. LUNGREN, California 

KEVIN MCCARTHY, California 

S. ELIZABETH BIRNBAUM, Staff Director 

WILL PLASTER, Minority Staff Director 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

(1) 

MILITARY AND OVERSEAS VOTING: PROBLEMS AND PROGRESS IN ENSURING THE 

VOTE 

TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2008 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

COMMITTEE ON HOUSE ADMINISTRATION, 

Washington, DC. 

The committee met, pursuant to call, at 11:08 a.m., in Room 

1310, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Robert A. Brady 

[chairman of the committee] Presiding. 

Present: Representatives Brady, Lofgren, Gonzalez, Davis of 

California, Davis of Alabama, Ehlers, Lungren and McCarthy. 

Staff Present: Liz Birnbaum, Staff Director; Thomas Hicks, Senior Election Counsel; Janelle Hu, Election Counsel; Jennifer Daehn, 

Election Counsel; Matt Pinkus, Professional Staff/Parliamentarian; 

Kyle Anderson, Press Director; Kristin McCowan, Chief Legislative 

Clerk; Daniel Favarulo, Legislative Assistant, Elections; Gregory 

Abbott, Policy Analyst; Gineen Beach, Minority Election Counsel; 

Ashley Stow, Minority Election Counsel; Bryan T. Dorsey, Minority 

Professional Staff; and Fred Hay, Minority General Counsel. 

The CHAIRMAN. Good morning, everyone. I will call this hearing 

to order. And good morning, members of the committee, witnesses 

and guests. 

Today’s hearing will focus on the Uniformed Overseas Citizens 

Absentee Voting Act. Our men and women fighting overseas make 

many sacrifices to guarantee the freedoms that we enjoy. Our Nation can never fully repay that debt, but we can ensure that the 

freedoms they are fighting for are given to them as well as to us 

at home. 

UOCAVA assures the right of uniformed overseas Americans to 

participate in Federal elections by allowing the use of absentee ballots and, in case they are not received in a timely manner, the use 

of the Federal write-in absentee ballot. UOCAVA covers eligible 

Americans living abroad in addition to our military voters. 

I believe more can be done, which is why I called this hearing 

today, to find out what the Department of Defense and others are 

doing to ensure that every eligible man and woman who qualifies 

under this act registers, receives and submits a ballot for Federal 

office. 

The Government Accountability Office estimates that there are 

close to 6 million eligible voters. The EAC estimates that only 33 

percent of the ballots requested by these citizens were cast and 

counted in the 2006 general election. That means that over 70 persmartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

2 

cent of the ballots requested are not being counted for office. I 

would like to hear from our witnesses proposed solutions to correct 

this problem. 

In 2007, the committee staff journeyed to several naval and Air 

Force bases and United States Embassies to talk to our men and 

women in uniform and civilians about their voting experiences. 

Many had positive things to say, but a few wondered why they 

were unable to receive and submit ballots electronically; why can’t 

States adopt standard rules for voting in Federal elections. 

The EAC has issued several recommendations on administrating 

UOCAVA. I am interested in hearing if any of these recommendations are being implemented or other solutions are being weighed 

to ensure that all eligible Americans here and abroad have the opportunity to register and cast ballots in Federal elections. 

Lastly, it should be noted that overseas Americans will enjoy 

their voting bloc at the Democratic National Convention in August 

with 11 delegates. This is another step to include all Americans in 

the process. 

We can and must do better, especially for our men and women 

fighting for democracy not only in Iraq and Afghanistan, but all 

American soldiers around the world. And I look forward to hearing 

from our witnesses today, and I would like to recognize the Ranking Member, Mr. Ehlers, for any statement that he may have. 

[The statement of Mr. Brady follows:] 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

3 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 8 here 43118A.001
4 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 9 here 43118A.002
5 

Mr. EHLERS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for calling 

this hearing. And thank you also to our witnesses for joining us 

today. 

I certainly appreciate the need for taking action on this. I spent 

a year overseas at one point and found the entire process of voting 

was incredibly cumbersome. Of course, back then they were using 

the Pony Express, which made it more difficult. No, I am not quite 

that old. 

I also want to commend Representative McCarthy for his leadership in introducing H.R. 5673, the Military Voting Protection Act. 

This bill, which I am proud to cosponsor, ensures that military personnel are not left out of the election process while serving our 

country overseas. Just yesterday, Representative McCarthy’s bill 

received a major endorsement from Vets for Freedom, which is the 

Nation’s largest veterans’ organization for those who have served 

in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their endorsement further reflects a 

strong desire of our Nation’s servicemen and women to participate 

in the very freedoms that they protect each day from posts around 

the world. 

H.R. 5673 is also important because studies have shown that our 

military personnel overseas have cast votes that were not counted 

due to lengthy delivery times involved in returning the ballots to 

the United States. This, to me, is amazing in an era when we have 

package delivery companies, three major ones internationally, who 

can tell you at any instant where every one of their 23 million 

packages is located. There is no excuse in the world for not having 

a method of delivering those ballots here and delivering them 

quickly. 

In September 2007, the Election Assistance Commission released 

a report on military and overseas absentee voting which found that 

the third largest reason for rejected ballots was that they were received by the election offices after the deadline stipulated by State 

law. The EAC’s findings also suggest that roughly 10 percent of all 

uncounted military and overseas absentee ballots were rejected because they were received past the required deadline. Ten percent 

amounts to a huge number of people. 

[The information follows:] 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

6 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 12 here 43118A.003
7 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 13 here 43118A.004
8 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 14 here 43118A.005
9 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 15 here 43118A.006
10 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 16 here 43118A.007
11 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 17 here 43118A.008
12 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 18 here 43118A.009
13 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 19 here 43118A.010
14 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 20 here 43118A.011
15 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 21 here 43118A.012
16 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 22 here 43118A.013
17 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 23 here 43118A.014
18 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 24 here 43118A.015
19 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 25 here 43118A.016
20 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 26 here 43118A.017
21 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 27 here 43118A.018
22 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 28 here 43118A.019
23 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 29 here 43118A.020
24 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 30 here 43118A.021
25 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 31 here 43118A.022
26 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 32 here 43118A.023
27 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 33 here 43118A.024
28 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 34 here 43118A.025
29 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 35 here 43118A.026
30 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 36 here 43118A.027
31 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 37 here 43118A.028
32 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 38 here 43118A.029
33 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 39 here 43118A.030
34 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 40 here 43118A.031
35 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 41 here 43118A.032
36 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 42 here 43118A.033
37 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 43 here 43118A.034
38 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 44 here 43118A.035
39 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 45 here 43118A.036
40 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 46 here 43118A.037
41 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 47 here 43118A.038
42 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 48 here 43118A.039
43 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 49 here 43118A.040
44 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 50 here 43118A.041
45 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 51 here 43118A.042
46 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 52 here 43118A.043
47 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 53 here 43118A.044
48 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 54 here 43118A.045
49 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 55 here 43118A.046
50 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 56 here 43118A.047
51 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 57 here 43118A.048
52 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 58 here 43118A.049
53 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 59 here 43118A.050
54 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 60 here 43118A.051
55 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 61 here 43118A.052
56 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 62 here 43118A.053
57 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 63 here 43118A.054
58 

Mr. EHLERS. The Military Voting Protection Act is designed to 

ensure absentee ballots submitted by military personnel who have 

little control over their geographic assignments are delivered to 

election officials in a timely fashion. While this bill only addresses 

ballots cast by those serving in our military overseas, it is an important first step in ensuring that all registered voters living 

abroad are able to cast a ballot. And for that reason, I thank Representative Maloney for her interest in ensuring that all civilians 

as well as military people are able to cast a ballot and have their 

votes counted. 

As we know, in addition to those who serve our country in the 

Armed Forces, there are millions of Americans living abroad who, 

despite the distance from their home district, look forward to casting their ballots in support of candidates in the United States. And 

I might mention, this is not true just of the Federal ballot, but also 

many of those abroad take a deep interest in local and State issues 

back home and really deserve to vote. Registered voters overseas 

should be able to cast their ballots with confidence; that they will 

be received and counted and the persons voices will be heard. 

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today about potential solutions to addressing the challenges posed to our citizens living overseas who wish to exercise their right to vote. I am confident 

that the members of this committee can work towards finding a solution in a bipartisan fashion, because this is a bipartisan issue, an 

issue that will ensure that every legitimate vote is counted regardless of the location of the voter. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

[The statement of Mr. Ehlers follows:] 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

59 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 66 here 43118A.055
60 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 67 here 43118A.056
61 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 68 here 43118A.057
62 

The CHAIRMAN. Anybody else like to make a statement? Nobody 

else? Then I would like to welcome our distinguished panel. Congressman Kevin McCarthy represents the 22nd District of California and a Member of our House Administration Committee. And 

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney represents the 14th District of 

New York and Chairman of the Financial Institution Subcommittee 

on the Financial Services Committee. 

I would also like to welcome Kevin McCarthy’s wife and children: 

Judy; his son and his daughter, Connor and Meghan. Thank you 

for your participation. And for his wife, I have a nice list of very 

expensive restaurants. We will talk later. 

Thank you so much. I would like to now recognize the Honorable 

Kevin McCarthy. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. KEVIN McCARTHY, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 

Mr. MCCARTHY. Thank you, Chairman Brady and Ranking Member Ehlers, for holding this important hearing today to look at 

ways we can improve military and overseas voting. Specifically I 

appreciate the opportunity to testify regarding a bill I recently introduced to ensure our troops’ votes are counted. Also I want to 

thank my colleagues on the committee for joining in this discussion 

today to look into ways to protect the votes of our brave men and 

women defending us abroad. 

When I was first named to this committee I was proud to join 

a committee where Republicans and Democrats are known to work 

together to find solutions. I want to be active in looking at our elections and working for solutions that rightfully gives American voters full confidence in their vote to be counted and counted correctly. 

Last year I went to Iraq and Afghanistan and was honored to 

meet with our troops, who told me how proud they were to fight 

for our country. Every day our troops fight for our country. They 

fight for their mission. Most of all they fight to protect our Constitution and the democratic ideas that have carried our Nation forward for over 200 years. 

With that in mind, a recent EAC study on military and overseas 

voting reported that only 47.6 percent of absentee ballots requested 

by members of the military ended up being counted. I was appalled 

at the fact that so many votes of our military servicemen and 

women were not being counted, both because they were unable to 

get their absentee ballots as they serve abroad, and because their 

ballots were not counted because they might not have been received by election officers in time. Moreover, when votes are systematically uncounted because of lack of dependability on ballot deliveries, both stateside and abroad, our brave men and women 

serving our country cannot rely on the fact that their vote was 

counted. How ironic it is that our servicemen and women may not 

be able to participate in the very constitutional freedoms or democracy they are so courageously protecting. 

I have introduced the Military Voting Protection Act in order to 

help address one problem that could possibly be addressed quickly. 

According to studies, 23 percent of ballots arrive too late to be 

counted under deadlines applied by States. My legislation, cosponsored by my friends, Ranking Member Ehlers and Congressman 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

63 

Lungren, would amend UOCAVA to provide for expedient collection 

and delivery of overseas uniformed servicemembers’ ballots. This 

bill would do so by directing the Department of Defense to make 

additional provisions for collection, transportation and tracking of 

absentee ballots of overseas uniformed service voters. It would 

allow the Department of Defense to do so by using private carriers, 

and would ensure that servicemembers have access to a tracking 

mechanism so they know that their ballot arrived and was counted. 

This ‘‘expediting’’ and this assurance is the least we can do for our 

men and women serving abroad defending our freedoms, like our 

democratic right to vote. 

With that said, I would like to work with all members of the 

committee. This bill is by no means a comprehensive solution to ensuring our servicemen and women that their votes will be counted. 

However, I believe it is a good first step that we can build upon 

in a bipartisan fashion so that our heroes abroad can participate 

in this year’s historic Presidential election and Federal elections 

thereafter. 

We must do more to ensure the franchise of our military voters, 

and I stand ready to work with you, Mr. Chairman, our House colleagues, the military community, State and local officials, to 

strengthen and protect military votes. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

[The statement of Mr. McCarthy follows:] 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

64 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 73 here 43118A.058
65 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 74 here 43118A.059
66 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 75 here 43118A.060
67 

The CHAIRMAN. The Honorable Carolyn Maloney. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. CAROLYN MALONEY, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

Mrs. MALONEY. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman and Ranking 

Member Ehlers, for inviting me to testify today, and Zoe Lofgren 

and Mr. Davis and other members of the committee. I think that 

it is very important that we focus on the voting problems that are 

faced by military personnel and our overseas citizens. 

I also want to acknowledge the hard work of my colleague Kevin 

McCarthy and Representative Honda, who have likewise introduced legislation to improve overseas voting. I know that we all 

agree that regardless of political affiliation, all American citizens 

should be able to exercise their right to vote. 

I became interested in this issue through the census where we 

were working in a bipartisan way to count Americans abroad, both 

in the military and in our workforce. And as we moved to more of 

a globalized economy, we have, out of necessity, many Americans 

working and living abroad. Along with the military, their votes 

should be counted, yet it seems that election after election we are 

facing these same problems of lack of access to information, lack 

of access to ballots, and confusing procedures for submitting completed ballots to local and State election officials. 

Although I, Representative Honda and Representative McCarthy 

have all introduced bills designed to make the voting process easier, I fear that our efforts will be in vain because of the incompetence of the Federal Voting Assistance Program housed within 

the Department of Defense. The 2006 election sadly was the status 

quo for the Federal Voting Assistance Program. For example, only 

33 percent of military absentee voters were even aware of the Federal Post Card Application, the form used to request an absentee 

ballot. Only 25 percent had received the Federal Post Card Application by the DOD deadline of January 15th. No wonder so few people voted. They didn’t even get the application. And only 5 percent 

of Unit Voting Assistance Officers had delivered the Federal Post 

Card Applications to their personnel by the January 15th deadline. 

Lastly, the Federal Voting Assistance Program spent an astonishing $1.1 million on the Integrated Voting Assistance System, but 

only eight votes were traced back to the system. 

I have raised my concerns with the officials of the Federal Voting 

Assistance Program numerous times, both in writing and calls and 

in person, and yet the FVAP continues to spend millions in taxpayer dollars, and the situation for military and overseas voters 

does not seem to get any better. I truly believe that Congress must 

step in to provide the necessary leadership to ensure that the 3 to 

6 million American citizens who live and work abroad or serve in 

our military are being represented at the State, local and Federal 

levels. 

Last year in a bipartisan way, along with Representative Joe 

Wilson, we founded the Americans Abroad Caucus in the hope that 

we can help give these individuals a voice in Congress. I have also 

introduced legislation, H.R. 4237, the Overseas Voting Practical 

Amendments Act, to make it easier for overseas voters to vote. 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

68 

According to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, about 

two-thirds of the absentee ballots requested for the 2006 elections 

by overseas Americans were not even counted. Ballots either 

weren’t received in time, were sent to an incorrect address, or filled 

out incorrectly. Most of these errors result from the unnecessary 

complexity of the process. 

The practical amendments bill that I have introduced proposes 

simple, inexpensive fixes that will help change that and ensure the 

votes of every overseas American are counted. These changes include designating one official form as the overseas Federal voter 

registration and ballot application. 

Secondly, it would prohibit States from refusing to accept balloting materials because they are generated by a computer program. If we had one Federal ballot, then they could download it 

from computers on our bases and overseas and use it. States have 

refused ballots for really ridiculous reasons, such as the weight of 

the paper or really things that have absolutely nothing related to 

election fraud. I, for one, do not support Internet electronic voting. 

We are talking about paper ballots and not refusing paper ballots 

for silly reasons, which oftentimes they do. 

Thirdly, it would ensure that States provide correct information 

and sufficient postage on preaddressed materials to prevent overseas mail from going astray. 

And it would allow overseas voters to automatically receive requests for absentee ballots. 

It would extend the voting rights to American citizens’ children 

born overseas who may have never spent enough time on any visits 

to the U.S. to establish residency before voting age. I have had several constituents whose sons or daughters have been living overseas with them, they become 18, and they cannot vote without 

moving back to the United States. 

We should give overseas voters more time to correct a rejection 

of their voter registration or absentee ballot requests prior to election day, and allow the State Department to help transmit the ballots of overseas voters in countries with inadequate mail service. 

Often in Third World countries, now citizens in other countries can 

vote at their consulates. This would allow in certain areas where 

there isn’t a service, where our Peace Corps members are working, 

or some of our oil companies may be working, that they could vote 

at the consulate in their region. 

I believe that these basic improvements would go a long way towards improving the voting situation for our overseas citizens, and 

I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the 

aisle as we move toward this new election. 

Mr. Chairman, I request permission to place in the record a CRS 

review of the legislation that I have put forward, an explanation 

of the need for this legislation, and also independent research in 

support of the legislation that I have put forward by the Pew Foundation in support of practical ways that we could improve overseas 

voting. 

I would just like to close that we are—— 

The CHAIRMAN. Without objection. 

[The information follows:] 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

69 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 81 here 43118A.061
70 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 82 here 43118A.062
71 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 83 here 43118A.063
72 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 84 here 43118A.064
73 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 85 here 43118A.065
74 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 86 here 43118A.066
75 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 87 here 43118A.067
76 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 88 here 43118A.068
77 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 89 here 43118A.069
78 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 90 here 43118A.070
79 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 91 here 43118A.071
80 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 92 here 43118A.072
81 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 93 here 43118A.073
82 

Mrs. MALONEY. Many of our Americans are serving overseas in 

our military, and they are serving overseas in American businesses. They are patriots, they are American citizens, they want to 

vote. We should work with them to streamline it and make it practical and easy for them to continue their citizenship and their right 

to vote overseas, particularly when they are in service of our country and in service of our American businesses and are working 

overseas in a global economy. 

I thank you very much for focusing on this issue. It is an important one. It deserves a thorough debate, and I believe it deserves 

action in this Congress. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

[The statement of Mrs. Maloney follows:] 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

83 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 95 here 43118A.074
84 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 96 here 43118A.075
85 

The CHAIRMAN. I thank the gentlelady and I thank the gentleman for your interest and your participation in this hearing. 

Anybody have any questions? 

Yes, Ms. Lofgren. 

Ms. LOFGREN. I don’t want to question our colleagues, but I 

would like to thank them both for taking the initiative to think 

about people overseas and how they can vote, certainly our military. It is absolutely essential we do that. And as Mrs. Maloney 

has mentioned, there are also other Americans who serve in the 

Peace Corps, in the Department of State and various activities. So 

I just thank them both, as well as Mr. Honda, for the attention, 

and yield back. 

The CHAIRMAN. I thank the lady. 

No other questions. Thank you. And again, thank you for your 

participation, and thank you for your interest. 

Mrs. MALONEY. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for focusing on this. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

We would like to call our next panel up. We have Deputy Secretary Michael Dominguez, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for 

Personnel and Readiness out of the Department of Defense. And 

prior to his appointment at Defense, Mr. Dominguez was an Assistant Secretary of the Air Force. 

Secretary Beth Chapman, Secretary of State of Alabama, recipient of numerous awards and honors for her public service, including recognition from the United States Selective Service Board. 

I welcome you and thank you for your participation. 

And, Mr. Dominguez, you can go first. 

STATEMENTS OF MICHAEL DOMINGUEZ, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY 

UNDER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR PERSONNEL AND 

READINESS, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE; AND BETH CHAPMAN, SECRETARY OF STATE, ALABAMA 

STATEMENT OF MICHAEL DOMINGUEZ 

Mr. DOMINGUEZ. Mr. Chairman, thank you for convening this 

hearing to explore how we can improve our ability to ensure that 

UOCAVA voters have the opportunity to vote. 

I want to begin by acknowledging up front that serving the 

UOCAVA voter is challenging, and that challenge really emanates 

from four principal causes. First, within the military, the mobility 

and speed with which our Armed Forces can and does respond to 

national security challenges. So they are often not where we expect 

them to be at the time ballots arrive or ballots need to be cast. 

The second big challenge is the locales in which we find the 

UOCAVA voters; that is, both the military who will be forward-deployed somewhere on the battlefield, but also many of our civilian 

overseas voters. I note my wife was a Peace Corps volunteer in 

Korea well before the development of that country into a modern 

society. Where she served, it was not possible to get mail to and 

from her in any reasonable amount of time. She was not able to 

vote. There are others like her even today. 

The third challenge is our Federal system in which the registration procedures, primary dates, ballot printing, distribution and 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

86 

deadlines for receipt of the voter ballots are determined by a large 

number of independent jurisdictions. 

So three challenges that are—or three factors that make the 

UOCAVA challenge a big one. 

Now, our approach in the Department of Defense to exercising 

our responsibilities to serve the UOCAVA population is characterized by—in terms of addressing these challenges, characterized by 

partnerships with anyone who can help; that is State and local 

election officials, that is the United States Postal Service, that is 

nonprofit partners that you will hear from today and other Federal 

agencies. So partnerships is a major piece of our effort. 

The second is by expanding options beyond mail into electronic 

and Internet technologies. 

The third is by working with the States toward minimal and understandable standards that apply across the States, such as distributing ballots at least 45 days before the election so the ballots 

have time to get out there and back using the classic mail processes. 

And then lastly it is by extensive outreach and communication 

to the voters. 

Now, while we have made progress, and we must be mindful that 

the mail does work for a large number of UOCAVA voters, more 

remains to be done. In this regard the Internet does seem to hold 

some promise in reaching many of the hardest-to-reach UOCAVA 

voters. 

The Internet can be, however, a dangerous place. I call your attention to these statements in the June 2007 GAO report on electronic absentee voting. Page 11, ‘‘we found that broad application 

of Internet voting presented formidable social and technological 

challenges. In particular we noted that challenges to remote Internet voting involve securing voter identification information and ensuring that voters secure the computers on which they vote. We 

also reported that because voting requires more stringent controls 

than other electronic transactions, such as on-line banking, Internet voting systems face greater security challenges than other 

Internet systems.’’ 

Now, the fiscal year 2005 National Defense Authorization Act 

laid out a path to overcoming these challenges. We are now engaged with the Election Assistance Commission and the National 

Institute for Standards and Technology on this work. In the meantime, we continue to support processes, systems and statutory 

changes that help the UOCAVA voters exercise their right as U.S. 

citizens to vote. 

On a final note, you have heard from the prior witnesses some 

statistics, and I just urge you to understand where those statistics 

come from. Many of the reports and studies have—by virtue of the 

methodology that they use cannot be extended to the overall population. These reports clearly indicate there are problems in serving 

the UOCAVA voter that ballots arrive late, ballots never get to the 

voter, ballots are rejected when they are received. These things do 

exist. But I urge the committee to understand these things in the 

magnitude that they report may not be extensible to the whole 

UOCAVA population. Our data, which are based on statistically 

sound approaches and methodologies, indicated that in the general 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

87 

election of 2004, 73 percent of the military voted in that election. 

So many do, many are able to, but many are not. 

Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, thank you for your 

time and for this hearing, and I look forward to your questions. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

[The statement of Mr. Dominguez follows:] 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

88 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 103 43118A.076
89 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 104 43118A.077
90 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 105 43118A.078
91 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 106 43118A.079
92 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 107 43118A.080
93 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 108 43118A.081
94 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 109 43118A.082
95 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 110 43118A.083
96 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 111 43118A.084
97 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 112 43118A.085
98 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 113 43118A.086
99 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 114 43118A.087
100 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 115 43118A.088
101 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 116 43118A.089
102 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 117 43118A.090
103 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 118 43118A.091
104 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 119 43118A.092
105 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 120 43118A.093
106 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 121 43118A.094
107 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 122 43118A.095
108 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 123 43118A.096
109 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 124 43118A.097
110 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 125 43118A.098
111 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 126 43118A.099
112 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 127 43118A.100
113 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 128 43118A.101
114 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 129 43118A.102
115 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 130 43118A.103
116 

The CHAIRMAN. Honorable Beth Chapman. 

STATEMENT OF BETH CHAPMAN 

Ms. CHAPMAN. Chairman Brady, Ranking Member Ehlers, committee members, specifically my colleague from Alabama Representative Davis, I am deeply honored to be today representing 

the great State of Alabama, the National Association of Secretaries 

of State and, most importantly, the men and women of the United 

States military. 

Please allow me to share with you a portion of a letter written 

to Congress. Quote, ‘‘about 2.5 million men and women in the 

Armed Forces are of voting age at the present time, many serving 

in parts of the country distant from their homes. They are unable 

to return to their States to register or vote, yet these men and 

women who are serving their country, and in many cases risking 

their lives, deserve above all others to exercise the right to vote in 

this election year. The least we can do is make sure they are able 

to enjoy the rights they are being asked to fight to preserve,’’ end 

of quote. 

These words, so eloquently written, expressing exactly how I feel, 

and the heart and soul of today’s subject, are not my words. Ironically, they are the words of President Harry S. Truman in a letter 

to Congress 55 years ago. 

Today we gather five-and-a-half decades later with no solution 

and, frankly, no acceptable excuses. With computer technology 

achieving what once seemed impossible, with numerous trips to the 

moon and beyond, cars that park themselves, robots that sweep 

and vacuum our floors, and running shoes with computer disks 

that track our distance, the problem of not allowing our men and 

women in the military every opportunity to vote is a travesty of 

justice. 

Throughout the years the full right of democracy has ensured racial and gender equality and has paved the way for those with disabilities; however, it has failed to meet the needs of the very ones 

who fight for our freedom. America should no longer keep democracy within the confines of the voting booth. If our military voters 

cannot come to a voting booth, then we simply must take the voting booth to them. 

I hope that no one will ever stand 55 years from now where we 

are standing today and quote from this speech as I have done from 

President Truman’s. To allow that to happen would be blatant disrespect for our military and a shameful slap in the face of democracy. 

There are three companies located in America that are already 

providing safe, secure internet voting in other countries. America 

is not accustomed to being last in anything, and now is not the 

time to start. From our greatest vulnerability must come our greatest strength, a sound democracy. 

Members of our military should have this opportunity in 2008 because they created the Internet; therefore, I think we can trust 

them to use it securely as they do every day through their Common 

Access Cards, Army Knowledge Online Intranet where they check 

their bank accounts, their retirement benefits, e-mail their families, and other business of a confidential nature. 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

117 

Members of our military, unlike other citizens abroad, do not 

choose to live there, nor do they have any choice in how often their 

families are uprooted and moved or for what amount of time. We 

must not ask them to fight for a freedom they are not allowed to 

have. Private air transportation companies, as has been pointed 

out, provide ways to stop this injustice and help our military vote. 

There are only 144 business days left until this country elects a 

new President. There must be a resounding sense of urgency 

among us today. Time is of the essence. Congressman McCarthy’s 

bill would provide for an immediate solution to this urgent need by 

directing the Presidential designee under UOCAVA to establish 

procedures for picking up and delivering ballots with tracking accessibility to ensure that votes are counted. However, it does not 

dismiss the need for notaries or witnessed signatures because there 

must be a certain level of integrity maintained in the sacred process. 

The key to H.R. 5673, as I see it, is to carefully treat the democratic process much like a surgeon operates on a vital organ of the 

body; he opens it up, cuts through the surface, and maneuvers 

around tiny vessels without nicking a major artery. Likewise, we 

must open the democratic process just enough to repair it to expedite the military’s vote without opening it wide enough to bleed it 

of its integrity and risk the infectious disease of fraud. It is a lifethreatening surgery of the democratic process we must perform, 

and the question remains is it worth it? I say, in an effort to provide democracy to the very defenders of that democracy itself, it is. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

[The statement of Ms. Chapman follows:] 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

118 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 135 43118A.104
119 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 136 43118A.105
120 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 137 43118A.106
121 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 138 43118A.107
122 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 139 43118A.108
123 

The CHAIRMAN. You both, I assume, heard Congresswoman 

Maloney’s testimony where she asked about one form for registration for the ballot. I understand there are many forms out there. 

And she also talked about refusing ballots or refusing to accept the 

vote or refusing to give them the ballot because of the paper or different discrepancies in the paper, and one last thing, the postage 

sometimes is incorrect. I mean, is there anything that we are doing 

to correct those things? They seem relatively easy. I understand 

that the one form may be a little bit of a problem, but it is nice 

to have everything uniform to make it easier to allow our people 

to vote. Anyone? 

Mr. DOMINGUEZ. Sir, if I could start, I think the Congress has 

already addressed the issue of the standard form for ballot requests 

and delivery through the Federal Post Card Application that they 

mandated the States accept for Federal elections, and through the 

Federal write-in absentee ballot that the Congress mandated the 

States also accept for Federal election purposes. We do, it is true, 

have problems with some States or largely localities who don’t get 

the word and who take actions to reject some of these things. When 

we find out about it, we are able to intervene and correct those. 

But I think the legislation here, the act of the Congress or will of 

the Congress has already been expressed. 

Ms. CHAPMAN. Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman. In Alabama, we are now 

on line with the Overseas Vote Foundation, which you will hear 

much more about in later testimony. We have tried everything we 

can to streamline into one card. We used the FVAP voter registration card, and that is very standard. 

But, yes, with Congresswoman Maloney’s comments earlier, 

there are guidelines as State elections officials that we must follow 

that have been set for us. 

The CHAIRMAN. In Alabama you have provided no data to the 

EAC yet? 

Ms. CHAPMAN. When you say ‘‘data,’’ to which data are you referring? 

The CHAIRMAN. For the most recent reports on how many 

UOCAVA ballots are requested or counted. 

Ms. CHAPMAN. No, sir, because I have only been Secretary of 

State for a little over a year now, so in the past elections that information, I am embarrassed to say, was not provided, but will be provided in this election. 

The CHAIRMAN. Okay. Thank you. 

Anybody else have any questions? 

Mr. Ehlers. 

Mr. EHLERS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. Dominguez, I am a little concerned about the statement you 

made that you can’t keep track of all the people in the military, 

and you don’t always know where they are. Early in my testimony 

I commented about the fact that FedEx and the other companies 

keep track of 23 million packages a day. I would think you might 

want to try using their technology, or else just give each of them 

a FedEx box and have FedEx follow the box. I understand in a battle situation, when you are in action, you can’t keep track of everyone very clearly, but the majority of your forces and their dependsmartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

124 

ants are relatively stable, and I would hope that is not a problem 

to keep track of them for voting purposes. 

I don’t know if you have tried various innovative ways of working 

with secretaries of state and local election officials to ensure that 

they get the ballot application on time and get their ballots in on 

time. What are you trying to do to correct that situation if you can’t 

keep track of them? 

Mr. DOMINGUEZ. Sir, I apologize if I misled you. We can absolutely keep track of them. The point I was trying to make, obviously not very effectively, is that people—let us take an example 

of the Guard and Reserve—people can be mobilized, particularly in 

the case of a national emergency, where they had a full expectation 

of being home and able to vote, and then because of a national crisis and the speed and mobility with which our Armed Forces now 

respond to a national crisis, that person can be way, very far away 

from the State or locality in which they were planning to vote. And 

that can happen overnight. And so that the second example is, as 

you mentioned—is the mobile warriors on the battlefield. 

So we assign people to forward-operating bases, and we know 

where they are, and we know that is where they get their mail. 

Unfortunately they can be gone from that location maneuvering in 

the field for 2 and sometimes 3 weeks during that critical period 

of the transmission of the mailed ballots. 

So those are realities of the speed and agility that you can take 

pride in from your Armed Forces. They create problems not in us 

knowing where they are, but in the traditional mail processes of 

being able to get them. That is why I said in my opening statement 

that I believe the Internet is going to be a contributor to closing 

this gap and the gap that applies to some of our civilians overseas 

as well. 

But specifically now to answer your question about what we are 

doing, it is that extensive outreach campaign to try to get information to voters; get voting materials out to voters and get them to 

recognize that they can vote; they can download and use the Federal write-in absentee ballot and send that in even if they haven’t 

received their State ballot, so as long as they are registered, and 

that if they are going to be gone, or they know they are going to 

be gone, use that ballot and vote and be counted. 

Mr. EHLERS. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Any other questions? 

Mr. Davis. 

Mr. DAVIS OF ALABAMA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to 

welcome my secretary of state here today. And, Mr. Chairman, neither Ms. Chapman nor I have a genuine Alabama accent, so we 

will endeavor to get an Alabamian with broader vowels; neither 

one of us can really put that in the record. 

I only have one line of questions. First of all, thank you for the 

job you do. By definition, Secretary Chapman, it is impossible to be 

a good secretary of state without being bipartisan, and the ones 

who have gotten in trouble have forgotten that, and the ones who 

do their job well day in and day out remember it. So I thank you 

for remembering that. 

I want to ask you only one question. As you recall, before you became secretary of state, Alabama and a few other States were sued 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

125 

by the Department of Justice because our runoff election procedure 

in primaries bumped up against the timetable for getting absentee 

ballots from overseas service persons, and the Alabama remedy to 

that suit was to extend our runoff period. Now, it so happened in 

2006 this was kind of a tree falling in the forest. A lot of people 

missed it, because, as you know, a lot of incumbents ran for reelection in 2006 at the statewide level, and there was only one highprofile statewide runoff, and that was for Lieutenant Governor in 

your party. And frankly, a lot of people are still not aware that we 

have extended our runoffs to 6 weeks. 

Now, fast forward to 2010 when there is a certainty of the Governor’s race being open, and likely contested battles in both parties, 

a likelihood because of the Governor’s race being open and various 

other offices opening up as people run for Governor. There could 

well be as many as eight or nine State runoffs in both parties. And 

a number of criticisms have been raised, and they tend to go along 

two somewhat different but interesting lines. 

One argument is that the 6-week runoff period is very burdensome to the candidates. As someone who won my seat in the runoff, 

I can certainly tell you a 3-week period requires you to raise an 

enormous amount of money; a 6-week period only more so. And 

frankly, the voters often aren’t happy because in a 6-week runoff 

campaign, you essentially start from scratch. 

The other argument that people raise is along a different track, 

and it deals with the fact that people just don’t tend to come out 

to vote on a runoff. And in Jefferson County, for example, there 

were, on the Democratic side, three runoffs in 2006 at the legislative level. House districts are roughly 20,000 to 25,000 people in 

Alabama. There was a turnoutout of 71⁄2 percent in one of those 

districts. Someone won with 1,800 votes to 1,500 for the adversary. 

In another district there was a turnout of 121⁄2 percent, and I think 

the high turnout was 20 percent, all of those abysmally low. And 

people raised the valid concern, I think, that when you have a 6- 

week period, especially in a State that is not accustomed to that, 

you get very, very low turnouts. 

Are there any remedies the Alabama Legislature could adopt for 

2010 that would enable us to go back to our 3-week runoff campaign? 

Ms. CHAPMAN. With great respect, sir, I can never propose to 

speak on behalf of the Alabama Legislature. 

Mr. DAVIS of Alabama. Neither you, nor me, nor anybody else. 

Ms. CHAPMAN. And if you would like for me to answer this in my 

dialect of the original Southern dialect so that everyone can hear 

it here today, I will be happy to do so. 

The Alabama Legislature has many things before it with regard—as you know, HAVA compliance, federally we are now HAVA 

compliant. We were very far behind, I am once again embarrassed 

to say, but we are catching up. There are a lot of questions before 

them. 

But I think your question of voter turnout is very pertinent. A 

lot of that, I believe, in the past has just been due to lack of education. And in this last primary that we had, the first Super Tuesday in Alabama, we had a record number of voters. I believe that 

in November we will have a tremendous number of voters that 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

126 

have never voted before, and that is good for democracy. Regardless 

of which side of the aisle they are voting for, I think that is a good 

thing. 

But with regard to the legislature, yes, sir, there are many 

things we will be discussing. One of them is a military and overseas voting task force that we have established. We will be presenting some times—some legislation regarding time lines. As you 

know, if someone from overseas, military or nonmilitary, tries to 

apply to vote, the whole process from beginning to end could take 

up to 42 days, which is a month and a half. Totally inexcusable. 

So, yes, sir, there are a lot of things that we hope to be doing, 

and certainly hope to prevent any more lawsuits from the Department of Justice. 

Mr. DAVIS of Alabama. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Lungren. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Thank you very much for your testimony. Let me 

just ask a couple of questions and see if I got this right. 

Mr. Dominguez, as I understand it, there is a specific absentee 

ballot application that is standard that can be used for voters in 

all States if they are in the military; is that correct? 

Mr. DOMINGUEZ. Yes, sir. There is a standard Federal Post Card 

Application, which is an application for registration and for a ballot 

that is standard across all voting jurisdictions for the UOCAVA 

voters. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Secondly, you said something about a back-up 

Federal ballot. And could you explain to us exactly what that is? 

Mr. DOMINGUEZ. Yes, sir. The Federal write-in absentee ballot 

anticipates the problem of a ballot from a local election official not 

getting to a voter who wants to participate in a Federal election. 

And the Congress has mandated that this ballot, which is—we distribute blank ones so it is available through voting assistance officers. It is also downloadable from the Web. You can download that 

ballot, write in the candidate selections that you prefer—— 

Mr. LUNGREN. For Federal elections. 

Mr. DOMINGUEZ [continuing]. For Federal elections. 

Mr. LUNGREN. In your jurisdiction. 

Mr. DOMINGUEZ. And then pack it up and mail it to the local 

election official in your jurisdiction. 

Mr. LUNGREN. So it is a blank one where I would write in Congressional District 3, California, and put a person in my district 

there? 

Mr. DOMINGUEZ. Right. 

Mr. LUNGREN. So that obviously I need to have the information 

as to who is running and do it correctly. 

Mr. DOMINGUEZ. Right. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Now, and maybe I should address this to both of 

you, in terms of the State, is there a specific obligation that the 

State must accept that so long as it follows the parameters established under the Federal law? 

Mr. DOMINGUEZ. Yes, sir. 

Mr. LUNGREN. And is that the case in Alabama; you would receive this, and so as long as it comported with the requirements 

under Federal law, you must accept that as a legitimate vote for 

that particular race? 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

127 

Ms. CHAPMAN. Yes, sir. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Are either one of you aware of any problems with 

respect to State authorities or their subdivisions accepting those? 

Have we had a problem with that? 

Ms. CHAPMAN. The biggest problem we have had is in receiving 

the actual ballots and not having two witnesses or one notary, 

which in our State is what the requirement is. 

Mr. LUNGREN. So if someone is on the battlefield, and they have 

to fill this out they need a notary? No, I am being serious. 

Ms. CHAPMAN. If they are voting absentee, yes, sir, they must 

have a notary or two witnesses. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Or two witnesses? 

Ms. CHAPMAN. Yes, sir, it is an either/or. 

Mr. LUNGREN. And that is anticipated, I expect, by the Federal 

legislation; that is, that that is an acceptable requirement for a 

State? 

Ms. CHAPMAN. Yes, sir. And because Alabama falls under section 

5 of the Civil Rights Act, everything we do must be and presently 

is approved by the Department of Justice. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Then it seems to me, as I understand it, the problem is not that we haven’t provided back-up mechanisms in order 

to allow for someone to vote even if they are not where they are 

supposed to be, or even if they did not receive the official ballot 

from the State, it is a question of delivery to them and then delivery back to the appointed authorities in the State by the time certain? Would that be correct; is that the problem we are really dealing with? 

Ms. CHAPMAN. In our situation that is a huge part of the problem. Another aspect that you have not mentioned is a lot of those 

come back to us not fully completed once again, which is why Alabama was so attracted to the Overseas Vote Foundation system, 

because you fill it out on line, and it will not print it for you if 

there are any errors on it. Say if you left off your ZIP code, or you 

did not provide the proper information, then it corrects it before it 

prints it. So we hope that that will solve a lot of those problems 

for us. 

Mr. LUNGREN. I have a problem with us going to Internet voting 

per se. I have no problem with using the Internet providing the 

ballot to you so that then you can execute the ballot and then have 

it delivered. Is that system possible today? 

Ms. CHAPMAN. I believe it is. I have seen demonstrations where 

I have been shown that it is. We do not presently use it. But with 

OVF, keep in mind it is only voter registration, it is not voting. 

Mr. DOMINGUEZ. Congressman, if I might as well. Yes, what you 

described is possible, and, in fact, the Congress appropriated 

money to the Department for us to go out on a competitive solicitation for the development of that technology and fielding it in the 

2008 general election. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Mr. Dominguez, I appreciate the concerns that 

you have expressed and the difficulty that is inherent in us making 

sure that we get the numbers up in terms of participation and in 

terms of getting the valid vote received in a timely fashion. But 

even if someone is away from where they are supposed to be, I 

would presume that you are making an effort to get these writesmartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

128 

in ballots available to everybody no matter where they are, certainly before this next Presidential election is coming up, because 

we know that is a date certain for everybody, correct? 

Mr. DOMINGUEZ. Yes, sir. And we have an extensive outreach 

campaign. Every unit has a voting assistance officer. Every installation has a voting assistance officer. Those people are charged 

with reaching out to and educating that population. And those people, in the case of people on the battlefield, you can back up and 

you say, okay, if you don’t have your State ballot today, then you 

need to download or use—here, here is a Federal write-in ballot; 

you can vote today and get that in. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Is there a way, therefore, for us to make sure that 

we expedite the receipt and delivery of those to the States in time? 

And, again, I am not against the U.S. Post Office, but most of us 

in our work, frankly, use UPS or use FedEx as much if not more 

than we do, and is that available; is that something we need to 

have? 

I mean, I am just concerned. It sounds like we have done in the 

Congress the kinds of thing that we needed to do to make sure you 

get back up; the question is delivery. This isn’t rocket science. 

Mr. DOMINGUEZ. Yes, sir. And I want to say I am pleased to report an extraordinary partnership with the U.S. Postal Service. 

And they do absolutely expedite and give special handling procedures to election materials, and they will start that process in 

about September. 

Mr. LUNGREN. But can you know—for instance, I can go on line 

right now, and I can find out—if I send something by UPS or 

FedEx, I can, without calling them, find out exactly where my document is. I mean, they will tell me where it has gone from here 

to wherever their collection facility is, to when it goes to California, 

to what truck it is on. I can find that out immediately. I can’t find 

that out from the post office. 

It seems to me if we are worried about getting our votes in on 

time for men and women in uniform around the world fighting to 

preserve our ability to vote, we ought to make every effort. And if 

it means competing with the post office, again, I am not against the 

post office, but if it means putting competition out there until they 

have a like system, maybe that is what we ought to do. 

Mr. DOMINGUEZ. Sir, I will defer to the Postal Service on their 

ability to track and know where all those documents are. I do say, 

though, that they have taken extraordinary measures working with 

us to expedite the movement of these materials during that 

preelection period. And the military postal service agency does that 

from the battlefield back to these ports of entry into the United 

States where we turn it over to USPS. 

Ms. CHAPMAN. Representative Lungren, to make some comments 

about your question, the future appears inevitable that the Internet in some shape, form or fashion be used in the democratic process. And we are dreaming here, and we are looking to the future, 

but ideally when the military transports or deploys someone, we 

are looking for a system that will actually make that address correction back on their voter registration form, because a huge number of ballots and applications come back for insignificant, incorrect 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

129 

addresses. We have spoken with men and women of the military 

who have been moved 23 times in two years. 

So for us as State and local election officials, that is part of the 

problem is mail being returned to us for insufficient addresses. And 

I might add that the National Association of Secretaries of State 

unanimously supported a resolution in 2004 encouraging expediting votes in the very way that you just mentioned. And I certainly, as a Secretary of State myself, certainly support that and 

brought that to the attention of my Governor and my legislature 

in 2003. So we are a little behind. We need to catch up. 

Mr. LUNGREN. I just want to make sure we do it before the next 

election. I ran for Governor in California. If I had only gotten 1.2 

million additional absentee ballots, I might have won. Maybe we 

can work on that, and I will try again. 

Ms. CHAPMAN. Well, time is of the essence, and this is an urgent 

situation. Thank you. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

Mr. Gonzalez. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. My apologies to one and all for my tardy arrival. I was at another hearing 

that . . . my presence was absolutely required. 

I didn’t hear the testimony, and I apologize, but it would appear 

to me, and maybe we will all get in some sort of trouble here, it 

is not just all overseas ballots. And I would like to concentrate on 

members of the armed services. And the difference there, of course, 

is that they don’t really have a choice. They are following an order. 

Anyone else that finds themselves overseas, it is their own volition. 

Even if they are a government employee, they don’t have to take 

the assignment or they can even quit. When you sign up and you 

put on that uniform, there’s no saying no. So I think there is a distinction. So let us start off with that basic point. They don’t have 

a choice. 

The second observation is just the noninvolvement, whatever 

problems you may have. Whether you do have the military voter 

exercising the voter vote, for whatever reason it’s not there in the 

percentages that it should be. And when they attempt, they are 

frustrated in greater percentages than should be. I think we probably can agree on a couple of those basic facts. 

The trouble I have is, Why don’t we utilize the Internet more extensively? Why can’t Congress? And I know in your written testimony, Ms. Chapman, or Secretary Chapman, you do point out that 

I think the Governor has a commission or a study group, and that 

you say that sooner or later we will have Internet voting and such. 

Well, I think the time is now, and I think we agree on that. 

My staff also told me, though, that I believe that Mr. Dominguez 

might have a reservation as to the potential fraud. But I really believe in a military situation, with military personnel, how great a 

threat is fraud in the context of using the Internet, which is probably the most efficient way of casting the ballot and counting the 

ballot? I think we need to start thinking in those terms. And we 

struggle, and we have our differences of opinion on where fraud 

may be happening and what we do to prevent that without impacting the legitimate voter and accommodating the exercise of the vote 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

130 

by a greater number than we have presently in this country today, 

and especially by our citizens overseas. What is the problem with 

fast-forwarding and utilizing the Internet as the vehicle for the registration, the filing, and voting? 

Mr. DOMINGUEZ. If I can start. The first thing is that it is the 

Government Accountability Office, a quote from a study that I read 

in my oral statement, that has, among others, raised the issue of 

security and the special security needs relating to Internet voting. 

So consistent with that finding and the advice from people who 

participated with us back in the secure—the SERVE project we 

tried to do at the request of the Congress in an Internet voting occupation, security concerns were raised there, subsequently ratified 

by the GAO in their study of 2007, I think June 2007, pointed out 

that there are these special security concerns. Now, the Congress 

has legislated that we move to internet voting, and the NDAA, National Defense Authorization Act for 2005, and the process that 

Congress laid out was for the Election Assistance Commission and 

the National Institute for Standards and Technology to define the 

standards, you know, for how this would work. And subsequent to 

the definition of those standards, particularly with regards to how 

you deal with the security problems, the Department will develop 

the applications to allow that to happen. 

We are prepared to go. We have shared all the information we 

have with the EAC. Our teams are meeting. I am hopeful that the 

EAC and NIST will provide their standards here shortly. It is not 

going to be available for the 2008 election obviously, but there is 

no reason why we can’t have that in place for the next general election beyond that, sir. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Secretary Chapman. 

Ms. CHAPMAN. Representative Gonzalez, first of all, let me say 

that I believe all Americans overseas certainly have a right to vote. 

In my testimony I did become much more specific with regard to 

military voting, for the same reasons and more that you use, so I 

certainly concur with that. 

More importantly, I think we need to recognize all overseas voters do not have a system already in place. The United States military already has Intranet and Internet systems in place that they 

are already performing confidential business over every single day. 

In addition, they created the Internet. So it is a little bit different. 

And I think for that reason, I advocate very strongly for the military to be allowed some type of privilege in the general 2008 election. 

You asked the question about fraud. From the conversations I 

have been in and the summit that I recently attended in Munich, 

many meetings in Washington, and with fellow secretaries of state, 

the fraud is not, in my opinion, as much of a concern for people 

in the voting process as it is from the hacking perspective over the 

Internet. I think that is what scares people most. 

I will also go a step further by saying that I would trust FedEx, 

UPS and the Internet, if properly maintained, with my ballot sooner than I would some ballot boxes in some courthouses across 

America. To me it is equally as protected, if not more so. 

And to answer your question what is holding us back, in my 

State legislation, I must have legislation to use Internet voting or 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

131 

any new, innovative, progressive approaches in this arena, or a 

Federal mandate. So that answers your question as to what is 

holding us back. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you very much. 

I yield back, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

Mr. McCarthy. 

Mr. MCCARTHY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

To Mr. Dominguez, just kind of following up on some of what Mr. 

Lungren was saying, and you referring back that you have come 

into an agreement with the U.S. Post Office. It is my understanding that there was a recent meeting in Germany of UOCAVA, 

a summit, 2008. 

Mr. MCCARTHY [continuing]. And I have a press release here 

from April 4 where FedEx, the world’s largest transportation company, is a sponsor of the nonprofit foundation. And I don’t quite 

understand all that they are doing. But are you familiar with this? 

Are they partnering up? And they say they are partnering, using 

their global network, ‘‘FedEx will deliver ballots from voters—countries of residence back to the voting authorities in their home 

States. Information of what overseas residents should do, details 

about the access on FedEx services.’’ Have you talked to them or 

UPS? Or do you only talk to the Postal Service? 

Mr. DOMINGUEZ. No, sir. The members of the Federal Voting Assistance Program on my staff were at that conference that was initiated—done at the initiative of the Overseas Vote Foundation, one 

of the great partners that we have, and there are many, working 

through these problems, trying to close those gaps. So we were at 

the conference. And our partnership is open to everybody who will 

help us exercise our responsibility to the Federal Government to 

close this gap and support UOCAVA voters. 

I personally am not familiar with the specific proposals that, you 

know, FedEx may have put on the table, but my staff is. They are 

aware of them, and they are working with whoever can help under 

the law. 

Mr. MCCARTHY. Can your agreement with what you have done 

with the Postal Service, is that exclusive to the Postal Service? Or 

could you utilize FedEx, UPS, DHL, any other known individual 

that could track and meet the requirement? 

Mr. DOMINGUEZ. Sir, I will have to take that question for the 

record and provide you an answer. I am not—I don’t know the law 

and the restrictions that govern us and the ballot transit process 

as well as my staff. So I will consult with them to get you an answer. 

Mr. MCCARTHY. One of the things that I have heard, I mean, we 

understand it is going to take a comprehensive bill to apply. One, 

you raise the issue of knowing where everybody is at, being able 

to respond. And that will probably take longer than this general 

election. And listening to Secretary of State Chapman, there are 

144 business days to go. I think the one thing that we can achieve 

is making sure the vote counts, knowing the statistics were that 23 

percent do not. And being able to track and go forward, I think 

that is something we can achieve this election. And I would really 

like to work with you and the secretaries of state as well as this 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

132 

committee to make sure we can do that, knowing that you are talking to the Postal Service. But here we have FedEx actually offering. But it is not to military personnel. It is actually to overseas 

citizens. My priority would really be to military personnel over 

there, much like what Mr. Gonzalez said because they didn’t have 

a choice. They were told where they were going. 

So having said that, I would yield back, unless anybody has any 

comments to my statements. Ms. Chapman. 

Ms. CHAPMAN. One would be in defense of the United States 

Postal Service, they cannot deliver and return mail from addresses 

that are incorrect. So I do want to say that for the record. 

And secondly, unless Congress passes legislation immediately 

and mandates it, I and the State of Alabama and my staff cannot 

accept a ballot by any other means than postal or in person. And 

that is not—you know, not something that I am happy about. But 

it is the law. And as you know, we must follow them. 

Mr. MCCARTHY. So are you familiar—have you heard of this 

FedEx? 

Ms. CHAPMAN. Yes, sir. I have. 

Mr. MCCARTHY. And could you elaborate? Do you know much of 

the plan? I mean, if they have FedExed a ballot to you, could you 

not accept it then? 

Ms. CHAPMAN. I cannot under my present laws unless Congress 

or the Alabama Legislature comes up with legislation and mandates that that be the case. I cannot at this point, which saddens 

me greatly. 

Mr. MCCARTHY. Because our law may stop us from solving the 

problem. But if we were to act quickly, you could accept it then. 

Ms. CHAPMAN. Very quickly. And the 144 days cannot be stressed 

enough. 

Mr. MCCARTHY. I appreciate both of your testimonies. I yield 

back. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you all. 

We would like to call our next panel up, please. Good morning 

and thank you for being able to participate. Ms. Susan—can I just 

do the Ms. Susan Suinat before I butcher that? Ms. Susan Suinat 

is the CEO of the Overseas Vote Foundation, widely recognized as 

an innovator in voting technologies. Mr. Kimball Brace, President 

of Election Data Services, Inc., has worked for 13 States on congressional and legislative redistricting. 

Ms. Susan, you are up first. Thank you. 

STATEMENTS OF SUSAN DZIEDUSZYCKA-SUINAT, PRESIDENT, 

OVERSEAS VOTE FOUNDATION; AND KIMBALL BRACE, 

PRESIDENT, ELECTION DATA SERVICES, INC. 

STATEMENT OF SUSAN DZIEDUSZYCKA-SUINAT 

Ms. DZIEDUSZYCKA-SUINAT. Thank you, Chairman Brady, Ranking Member Ehlers, committee members. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today at this important hearing. 

My name is Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, and I am President and 

CEO of Overseas Vote Foundation. We are a nonprofit nonpartisan 

501(c)(3) public charity organization, and we are dedicated to serving the needs of—the voter registration needs of our uniformed 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

133 

services members and overseas American citizens who wish to participate in Federal elections. 

Overseas Vote Foundation has four core activities. The first is to 

develop and provide online tools and services that simplify the 

overseas and military absentee voter registration process. We provide UOCAVA service programs to the States as well. We provide 

voter support and outreach programs, and we conduct research regarding the UOCAVA process. 

Our Web site, overseasvotefoundation.org, provides six Web applications which are user friendly and compliant to the Federal voting assistance guide. The first is an online voter registration tool, 

which simplifies the complex processes that differ between the 

States for registering with the common Federal postcard application, and the election official directory, which lists all election official jurisdictions in the country and their complete contact data, 

Web sites, mailing and, physical addresses. A voter help desk 

which provides personalized and automated knowledge-based services. We have a State-Specific voter information directory, which 

provides election dates and deadlines by State, and a write-in absentee ballot generator for those whose ballots are lost or late. 

We also have an optional service called a voter account service, 

which allows voters to maintain their information on our site. Our 

data is hosted by Server Vault based in Dulles, Virginia, and they 

count DOD and DIA among their government clients. 

For the States we have created a host assistance program, which 

enables them to take the entire OVF software suite and have their 

own customized design and provide UOCAVA services to their voters from their States. To date, Alabama, Kentucky, Minnesota, 

Ohio and West Virginia have signed agreements with OVF to license our software services for their own State UOCAVA voter 

services sites. 

Results to date, a few high points. First, our site action tracks 

very closely to election activity and worldwide news coverage. The 

total site visits through the end of March reached 718,000. Site visits on Super Tuesday alone were over 45,000. Note that we do not 

report on hits because that can be very misleading; there were 12 

million of those. We report on visits where voters come to the site 

and actually do something. From actual registrations to date this 

year, we can see that first-time overseas voters represent 70 percent of the total registrants to our site, that young voters represent 

30 percent, that is 18- to 29-year-olds, and that U.S. military networks are the second largest source of visitors to the OVF Web site. 

Military registrants have grown from 3 percent to 13.4 percent this 

year. 

I would like to summarize four concrete initiatives taken by OVF 

in 2008. The first is the 2008 ballot return initiative with FedEx. 

They will work together with us in 2008 to deliver ballots from voters around the world back to their election offices. This includes 

the military. 

Second is a military site released earlier this month, and that 

provides the full complement of voter services which I outlined to 

uniform service members and their families. 

Thirdly, a low bandwidth option. This is a site for military voters 

and those in remote sites around the world. OVF will launch a resmartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

134 

duced-graphics site which uses less bandwidth and has faster performance. The objective is always to increase the voter accessibility. 

The final initiative, as mentioned earlier, we did conduct our second annual summit on overseas and military voting in Munich, 

where we brought together agencies with overseas citizens, members of the military, technologists, innovators, students and election officials, all with the goal of tackling UOCAVA voting challenges. 

Two key concerns that we have in 2008. The first is to address 

known practical issues that hinder the UOCAVA program. Our research shows that the lack of uniformity in rules and regulations 

across the States, coupled with many practical and simple-to-fix 

issues, are the root of most UOCAVA problems. Most of these are 

not costly problems to fix, but they do require time and attention 

to harmonize. 

The second key concern is around UOCAVA ballot counting and 

the subsequent loss of voter confidence. We are very concerned that 

more qualified attention on the accuracy and validity of the survey 

and the data collection methods is needed to rectify the situation 

of uncounted UOCAVA ballots. States and local jurisdictions may 

need assistance to better monitor UOCAVA ballot counting, according to HAVA requirements. Not responding to this obvious need 

threatens to undermine UOCAVA voter participation. 

To finalize, in 2008, OVF will grow our underlying voter services 

and outreach with a focus on military and young voter sectors. We 

will continue our voter communications program and our support 

to State-level UOCAVA processes. We will team with industry leaders, such as Google and FedEx, to bring high-level services to 

UOCAVA voters. And we will solidify our post-election research 

program. We stand ready to support Federal, State and local agencies in their UOCAVA program efforts. 

Thank you again for this opportunity. 

[The statement of Ms. Dzieduszycka-Suinat follows:] 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

135 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 170 here 43118A.109
136 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 171 here 43118A.110
137 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 172 here 43118A.111
138 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 173 here 43118A.112
139 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 174 here 43118A.113
140 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 175 here 43118A.114
141 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 176 here 43118A.115
142 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 177 here 43118A.116
143 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 178 here 43118A.117
144 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 179 here 43118A.118
145 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 180 here 43118A.119
146 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 181 here 43118A.120
147 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 182 here 43118A.121
148 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 183 here 43118A.122
149 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 184 here 43118A.123
150 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 185 here 43118A.124
151 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 186 here 43118A.125
152 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 187 here 43118A.126
153 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 188 here 43118A.127
154 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. Mr. Brace. 

STATEMENT OF KIMBALL BRACE 

Mr. BRACE. Mr. Chairman and members of the House Administration Committee, it is with extreme pleasure that I come before 

you today to testify about military and overseas voting. My name 

is Kimball Brace, and I am President of Election Data Services, a 

company that I started more than 31 years ago. For the past four 

decades, I have been heavily involved in election administration 

issues, including working with Dr. Richard Smolka, whose newsletter Election Administration Reports is a staple in the field. 

Over the past three decades, my company has been retained by 

Federal, State and local governments around the Nation to do a 

wide variety of studies. We have, since 1980, been the only one, or 

as I say, crazy enough, to keep track of what kind of voting equipment is used in every single county in the Nation. We collect and 

analyze election results, and we have published for the past 20 

years the well-recognized election result poster that I am sure is 

in a number of your offices and that we do with Roll Call after each 

election. In addition, we are heavily involved in redistricting all 

around the country, having worked in more than half the nation’s 

and helping them in that process. 

In short, Mr. Chairman, I am a numbers guy. And it is because 

of that background that we have been the contractors for the U.S. 

Election Assistance Commission for the past 4 years. We have been 

in charge of compiling, analyzing and helping the EAC create their 

reports to Congress on a wide variety of subjects, including the one 

that we did on UOCAVA voters that has been cited already. These 

reports for both 2004 and 2006 can be found on the EAC’s Web site 

at www.eac.gov. The source of these reports have been the electionbased surveys that the EAC conducted after each election. 

Before I talk about the results of the UOCAVA study, it is important to lay a framework of election administration in this country. 

There are 10,071 jurisdictions in this Nation that conduct elections 

on a regular basis, using a wide variety of different voting equipment. Slightly more than 3,100 are counties that conduct elections, 

but there are more than twice that number of local towns, townships and cities in the six States of New England as well as Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. As a result, half of all jurisdictions 

in this country have less than 1,400 registered voters. There are 

only 15 counties in the Nation that have more than a million registered voters. 

In short, most of the elections in this Nation are conducted by 

small jurisdictions that have small numbers of staff and very small 

budgets. This fact has been a problem in terms of the EAC survey, 

in trying to get responses from these jurisdictions. The 2006 reports were better than those produced for 2004, especially the one 

dealing with UOCAVA voting. But it was not complete, nor was it 

perfect. 

While every UOCAVA voter is important, it should also be noted 

that they are but a small element in the overall election and voting 

process. The EAC survey found that more than 78 percent of the 

ballots cast or counted in 2006 came from voters at the polls on 

Election Day. Overall absentee ballots make up another 13.8 persmartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

155 

cent of the vote. And UOCAVA voters contribute less than one half 

of 1 percent of the ballots that were cast or counted in 2006. While 

small in number, UOCAVA voters still constitute a significant voting block that suffers unique problems in grappling with the American election system. Overall the Nation’s States and counties reported for 2006 slightly less than 1 million UOCAVA ballots that 

were requested in that election. But that amounted to only 16.5 

percent of the nearly six million eligible citizens cited by GAO to 

be covered by UOCAVA. 

While reaching UOCAVA voters and getting them to participate 

in the election is one problem in which my colleague on this panel 

has been instrumental in helping to solve, the EAC survey also unveiled a more significant problem. Of these, more than 1 million— 

or slightly less than 1 million UOCAVA voters who requested absentee ballots, ultimately only 1/3 of them were cast or counted. 

One answer to this problem can be found in the reasons for the ballots to be rejected. The EAC survey found that over 70 percent of 

the ballots were rejected because they were undeliverable. In other 

words, they were sent out by election administrators but never 

reached the voter due to problems with the voters’ addresses. This 

is the top problem for UOCAVA ballots reported in 26 States. 

In addition, Federal law requires that election administrators 

must send ballots to UOCAVA voters for at least two elections. 

Therefore, while addresses of UOCAVA voters are old and have not 

been updated to reflect the fact that the voter has moved or, in the 

case of the military, been relocated, it is understandable that ballots don’t reach the voters. Domestic civilians have the advantage 

of U.S. Post Office with the mail forwarding service, but foreign 

voters do not. As a result, one of the key EAC recommendations 

from the UOCAVA study dealt with this problem of undeliverable 

ballots. ‘‘Mechanics need to be set up,’’ it said, ‘‘by the military, 

whereby a military transfer generates a moved notice to the local 

registrar. Additionally, military bases need to set up programs with 

State and local election offices, whereby an undeliverable registration or ballot generates a rapid notification, perhaps by e-mail, to 

the individual voter so that they can respond in a timely fashion. 

Another possibility would be providing forwarding exemptions for 

overseas military ballots.’’ 

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, I would like to take this opportunity to thank this committee for conducting an outstanding series 

of hearings on elections in the last 2 years. I am pleased to see you 

continue to listen to local election administrators from around the 

country. 

For the past 8 years, election administrators have been questioned, criticized, second-guessed and shortchanged. Having worked 

with them for more than 40 years, however, I can attest that they 

are one of the most dedicated and hard-working group of individuals that I have known. They continue to be asked to do the impossible with fewer resources, less staff and smaller budgets. But they 

are the bedrock of American democracy. 

Thank you for allowing me to testify. 

[The statement of Mr. Brace follows:] 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

156 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 194 here 43118A.128
157 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 195 here 43118A.129
158 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 196 here 43118A.130
159 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 197 here 43118A.131
160 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 198 here 43118A.132
161 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 199 here 43118A.133
162 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. Any questions, Mr. Ehlers? 

Mr. EHLERS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, Mr. Brace, 

thank you for the excellent summary of the statistics. I always 

wondered where all those statistics came from. 

Mr. BRACE. I am like you, Mr. Representative, a statistician at 

heart. 

Mr. EHLERS. Yes. Right. It is a terrible affliction. 

Mr. BRACE. Absolutely, yes. 

Mr. EHLERS. But I really appreciate it. And thank you for the 

light you brought to bear on this. 

Also, Ms. Suinat, I just want to thank you for what you have 

done. I think it is a great step forward, having your organization 

out there. You are going in the right direction. I think you have 

been very helpful to a lot of people already, and I have heard a 

number of good comments about your work and the work of your 

foundation and that, as you know, came out in the testimony today 

too from some other people. 

So thank you to both of you for what you do. I have no questions, 

Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. Any questions? 

Ms. DAVIS. Ladies first. 

Mrs. DAVIS of California. Thank you. And I am sorry I missed 

the beginning of the testimony. But I wonder if you could just talk 

a little bit about the role of the Federal Government, State and 

even the local governments. Because one of the discussions that we 

have here, of course, is what the proper roles are. And we know 

that there is not standardization. We have had some efforts to do 

that, but there are questions and concerns about it. How difficult 

do the individuals, foreigners, people in foreign countries, Americans that you work with, how great a problem is that, the fact that 

you have some States, some counties that are doing things differently from one another? 

Ms. DZIEDUSZYCKA-SUINAT. Thank you, Representative Davis, for 

your question. One of the fundamental problems in UOCAVA in 

implementing the program is that it is a Federal program, but we 

must keep in mind that the implementation is hanging on the 

States. It is absolutely the responsibility of the States to do the 

final implementation of the program. 

In that process, they can matrix a whole new set of regulations 

over the basic Federal program. So what you end up with is a Federal form that when taken by any State, they can add questions 

or requirements to for which there are no fields on the form. Or 

perhaps there are fields on the form, the answers of which they do 

not want in any given State. In order to manage that level of complexity and the fact that the instructions come in a 500–page book, 

we put that onto the Internet so that the voter doesn’t have that 

level of research required upon him or a voting assistance officer 

does not need to know 50 States and 5 territories worth of regulations. 

There is also the issue of those forms then going over to the local 

election office. There are 7,838 local election offices processing the 

registration forms, and you can imagine the variations. Some don’t 

have electricity, I hear, let alone Internet access. But the variation 

is great. And as Kim rightly explained, many of them are dealing 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

163 

with just one or two voters that are far away, but they probably 

know them personally. So this level of handling and managing the 

workload around these registration forms is very particular. 

Mrs. DAVIS of California. Are there one or two areas that you 

would suggest are worthy of a look in terms of more standardization that would make the job of helping people who want very 

badly to vote, to participate much easier and certainly more responsive. 

Ms. DZIEDUSZYCKA-SUINAT. In fact, when you matrix out all of 

the variations for all the States, you can see that there is a common way of filling out those forms that is required. And it is really 

all exception bases. But the exceptions are the landmines that 

catch the voters. For example, if you live in Ohio and you don’t 

write on your registration form how long you lived in Ohio before 

you moved overseas—but you would never know that. There is no 

field for that on the form—your form can rightly be rejected by the 

local election official. There are several—that is just one example. 

There are many different ones for different States. That level of 

variation—granted it may be felt to be necessary for the State to 

want to know that particular item of information. However, it just 

doesn’t translate. It doesn’t translate to actually voting from overseas. Because you can’t get that information to the voter in any 

feasible way unless it is online. So, I mean, we do work online 

quite successfully, and all those special requirements are integrated into our online programs. However, it is not—I still would 

say that that level of variation complicates—— 

Mrs. DAVIS of California. Is there any way of knowing how many 

ballots are thrown out as a result of the differences in requirements? 

Ms. DZIEDUSZYCKA-SUINAT. Only if you gave a better tracking 

system to the local level to do so. You could not roll that up. I 

would definitely recommend that some attention be given to the 

idea of giving better tracking facilities and resources all the way 

down to the local level where they don’t have the resources to do 

this properly. 

Mrs. DAVIS of California. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. Mr. McCarthy. 

Mr. MCCARTHY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate both of 

your testimonies, everyone today. The panel before. Very interesting. 

Susan Suinat, is that correct? I was reading in the press release 

and I was looking forward to your testimony on the FedEx portion. 

It wasn’t clear whether it carried also to the military voting. And 

you said it did. Can you explain a little more of that partnership 

on the ballots? 

Ms. DZIEDUSZYCKA-SUINAT. I can explain some, yes. It hasn’t 

been announced in great detail because FedEx is working quite actively on defining what the conditions are for each and every country. So we will have another specific press conference dealing with 

exactly that. They have put a tremendous amount of resource behind this program. 

I initiated the program by writing a proposal to them, asking 

them to step in where certain other systems have failed voters 

overseas and in the military. And they accepted that proposal. And 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

164 

so this program is—it is the child of that idea where they will assist overseas citizen voters and uniformed services voters for a 

given amount of time, for example, but not specifically defined yet, 

but probably the months of September and October and just the beginning of November. 

Mr. MCCARTHY. Do they have to have a—have they gone as far 

as saying we need the ballot 5 days, 4 days, 6 days before the election to get it back in time? 

Ms. DZIEDUSZYCKA-SUINAT. No. Those specifics haven’t been defined by country. But we have discussed different ways of handling 

the operation. When it is not just prior to the election, for example, 

ballots could be gathered for a week and then all go at once. One 

of the challenges for an organization like FedEx to manage the 

costing around a program like that is the 7,838 destinations. 

Mr. MCCARTHY. Are they donating this service? 

Ms. DZIEDUSZYCKA-SUINAT. Yes, they are. 

Mr. MCCARTHY. So in essence, if they said they would already do 

the military, Mr. Chairman, I think we would have a concern here, 

listening to Secretary of State Chapman where she would not be 

able to accept it. Here is an individual working to solve this problem. And when you think about, one, just the concept, the idea that 

the bill I introduced brought forward would actually do what you 

were talking about, here is an individual that has gone out and I 

guess procured it in a way that we have an ability to have a solution for at least 23 percent of those that weren’t counted last time, 

but only 144 days to go. I mean, I think this is something maybe 

this committee should adopt and pursue and to make sure it is able 

to happen. I would hate to see all this work not to come to fruition 

as well. 

Ms. DZIEDUSZYCKA-SUINAT. Can I add—— 

The CHAIRMAN. Do you know how many States that don’t accept 

FedEx? We know that Alabama is one. 

Mr. MCCARTHY. I think that is up to the committee to find out, 

get together, do a little more analysis. You collect a lot of data. We 

have the expert right here. 

Mr. BRACE. I don’t know, Mr. Chairman, how many States do. 

But I do know that there are a number of States where the deadline for receipts of the ballots vary. After all, we have 50 different 

State laws. For some of them it has to be in by Election Day or 

that morning. Others simply have to be postmarked by that date 

and can come in over the next, you know—you have a couple days 

afterwards. 

Mr. MCCARTHY. But one thing you have found in some of your 

research, 23 percent not, and going to electronics, a lot of these 

count real fast and then give you a shorter time period. But I am 

not sure, Mr. Chairman, maybe some task force work because it 

seems as though we have a solution out there with all of these individuals working that I think we could act quickly to at least solve 

a small portion before this election comes forward. 

The CHAIRMAN. I entertain your request to be on that task force. 

Mr. MCCARTHY. Well, I just appreciate you doing this hearing 

and all. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you for volunteering. 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

165 

Mr. MCCARTHY. I will gladly. I am glad to help in any way possible and I just want to thank both of you for your service. And 

yield back. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Mr. McCarthy. 

Mr. Gonzalez. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My question is to Mr. 

Brace. In your testimony you cite there were 10,071 jurisdictions 

in this Nation that conduct elections on a regular basis. And then 

a total of 7,654 jurisdictions have less than 10,000 registered voters. And I am just thinking when you have information gathering, 

when you strive for uniformity, you are going to run into problems 

just because of resources that may be available to those jurisdictions that truly just don’t have that kind of—so I am going to be 

asking about the Internet. It seems to me that we put so much 

stock on the traditional way of doing things, the absentee ballot, 

being mailed in, it’s being delivered by the United States Postal 

Service. But we do acknowledge, maybe it could be a fax, maybe 

it could even be a fax that is first transmitted by e-mail and then 

reduced to fax and then sent by fax. I keep saying, well, how is 

that any—still using the Internet and such. I just think that we 

have so many fears of gaming and hacking and such that frustrate 

our efforts to probably do it the most effective way that is out 

there, that is available to us. And to deny that technology and still 

have the safeguards—and I know there is certain safeguards. But 

if we were to move into the Internet age when it comes to voting, 

what problems do you think are posed by your very observation 

that we have these small jurisdictions out there? Let’s say, you 

know, Atascosa County outside of San Antonio. My brother is the 

deputy sheriff. He’d like to run for sheriff. How does he game the 

system if it was Internet versus the way it is today with an overseas ballot? 

Mr. BRACE. Well, Mr. Gonzalez, I think one of the things that 

you do have to recognize, as you have noted, the smallness of the 

jurisdictions. And you need to keep in mind that not all of them 

have the Internet, not all of them in fact have a computer in their 

office. There are still a number of jurisdictions that just don’t have 

that technology as much as we have had it, for you and I, for who 

knows how long. But it is not all there. 

Now things have gotten better. HAVA, with the implementation 

of the statewide voter registration system, have begun to get computers into these offices where they didn’t have it before. But certainly getting that coupled together with the possibility of ballots 

coming back to them, that is a foreign entity, truly and figuratively. But it is something that certainly States should be looking 

at as a possibility. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Do we have any numbers just for these jurisdictions, the 10,071, that lack Internet access, computers? 

Mr. BRACE. We don’t. The EAC is undertaking its next round of 

data collection for the 2008. That particular question is not on the 

survey, but it is certainly something that maybe the EAC could be 

taking a look at. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. I would think we would lead off with that, as we 

are looking at ways of improving the system, that which is probably being utilized in every other aspect of American life and unsmartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

166 

derutilized, especially in circumstances of overseas voting. I understand what people are thinking in terms of the domestic use and 

such, and may be a different situation. 

Ms. Suinat, just so I get that part right, what are your thoughts 

on the use of the Internet when it comes to overseas ballots? 

Ms. DZIEDUSZYCKA-SUINAT. I think that the response that Mr. 

Brace gave about computers not being in these offices, that is a 

problem that is going away. So I would like to not—I would like 

to suggest we don’t take that as a stopping point. Technology continues to grow. 

Using the Internet is—it is an obvious solution. How we use it 

and how we tackle the security problems, those are questions that 

have not been resolved. Internet voting proposals, to date, are usually stopped because of security problems, that the answers to 

those have not been sufficient enough to convince the powers that 

be that there should be a solution as proposed. 

Now when you look at UOCAVA, you have a very, very complex 

situation in our country where the jurisdiction level administration 

of the elections adds an incredible layer of complexity of getting the 

ballots back to these many locations versus a centralized system. 

The other thing that we have with UOCAVA is we are not just 

talking about the Federal balloting. But in some counties they have 

300 potential ballot styles because they are also dealing with the 

very local level of balloting going out. So no one has yet really developed a solution that has been able to manage those complex 

issues and bring them together into a solution that is secure 

enough to pass the test. It is a Holy Grail. I hope we find it. I 

would love to be the one. I definitely would suggest we pursue it. 

It is an obvious avenue of fixing these problems. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you very much for your testimony. I yield 

back, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. And again, thank you for your testimony and your participation. Thank you. 

I would like to ask unanimous consent to include the testimony 

from Publius into the record. Without objection, so ordered. 

[The statement of Mr. Keenan follows:] 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

167 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 218 43118A.140
168 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 219 43118A.141
169 

The CHAIRMAN. And the record will remain open for 5 days so 

that witnesses can submit additional material and respond to written questions. Thank you all, and this hearing is now adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 12:45 p.m., the committee was adjourned.] 

[The information follows:] 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING

170 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 221 43118A.142
171 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 222 43118A.143
172 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 223 43118A.144
173 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 224 43118A.145
174 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 225 43118A.146
175 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 226 43118A.147
176 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 227 43118A.148
177 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 228 43118A.149
178 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 229 43118A.150
179 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 230 43118A.151
180 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 231 43118A.152
181 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 232 43118A.153
182 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 233 43118A.154
183 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 234 43118A.155
184 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 235 43118A.156
185 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 236 43118A.157
186 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 237 43118A.158
187 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 238 43118A.159
188 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 239 43118A.160
189 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 240 43118A.161
190 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 241 43118A.162
191 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert graphic folio 242/400 43118A.163
192 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 029 here 43118A.164
193 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 30 here 43118A.165
194 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 31 here 43118A.166
195 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 32 here 43118A.167
196 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 33 here 43118A.168
197 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 34 here 43118A.169
198 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 35 here 43118A.170
199 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 36 here 43118A.171
200 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 37 here 43118A.172
201 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 38 here 43118A.173
202 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 39 here 43118A.174
203 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 40 here 43118A.175
204 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 41 here 43118A.176
205 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 42 here 43118A.177
206 

smartinez on PROD1PC64 with HEARING


Insert offset folio 43 here 43118A.178