Some students, especially those from swing states like Ohio and Florida, have opted to take advantage of absentee ballots in hopes that their votes will have a stronger impact in their home states than in North Carolina. But many are still wary that their votes might not be counted accurately.
Keith Greenberg was rejected. The freshman’s first voting experience, in Florida’s August primaries, was disenfranchisement, and he’s one of the few who actually know why.
Greenberg is just one of many students who have faced challenges in the election process. Some students, especially those from swing states like Ohio and Florida, have opted to take advantage of absentee ballots in hopes that their votes will have a stronger impact in their home states than in North Carolina. But many are still wary that their votes might not be counted accurately.
In the wake of the 2000 presidential election, the CalTech/MIT Voting Technology Project found that between 4 and 6 million votes were lost due to a variety of problems including voter registration mix-ups, faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots and polling place problems. Several students have reported that, in their experience, these problems seem far from cured.
Greenberg’s absentee ballot for the Aug. 31 primary was thrown out because he did not include a photocopy of proper identification with his vote. Not only did he fail to receive notification until late September, but the state also did not include any instructions directing first-time absentee voters to include a copy of proper identification. The law requiring that “you must make a copy” of such information just went into effect this past January.
As frustrated as Greenberg was to discover his first vote did not count, he is glad it happened early. “If I hadn’t voted in the municipal primary in August, I would not have known about the law and I would have been disenfranchised for the crucial presidential election,” he wrote to the Florida Secretary of State following the incident. “My peers in high school registered with me, and I am afraid that, if they vote, their votes will be invalid, too.”
In the past week, Broward County, which includes Greenberg’s hometown of Coral Springs, has validated his concerns. Election officials in Broward just re-sent more than half of the requested absentee ballots to the 76,000 voters who, as of last week, had not received their initial requests. The original ballots have apparently vanished without any evidence of criminal intent, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s investigation.
The only two counties in Florida that have re-sent additional absentee ballots are Broward and Palm Beach counties, according to the Florida state department’s election division. Since both political parties encouraged absentee voting this year, however, there was an unprecedented surge in absentee requests, and any problems similar to Broward’s could be compounded.
“I believe it will be even more emotional and divisive [than the 2000 election] because there are already reports of fraud and unethical electoral practices,” said John Transue, assistant professor of political science and an expert on public opinion and polling, adding that Florida and Ohio would likely determine the outcome of the presidential election.
Sophomore Susanna Temkin, a Miami Shores, Fla., resident, did not receive election materials until Thursday, when she got two ballots in the mail.
Freshman Katie Hutcheson, a Carroll, Ohio native, originally planned to vote with an absentee ballot, but she changed her mind while visiting home over fall break. When she went to the poll to vote early an election official told Hutcheson all she had to do was write ‘void’ on her absentee ballot and mail it back, but “it never came, and my mom told me that the Board of Elections called her and said it had been [voided and] returned,” Hutcheson said.
Broward native junior Carla Hermida still had not received her ballot as of Friday, leaving her worried that it would never arrive at Duke, or that if it does, that she would not be able to get it back to Florida on time to be counted. Hermida’s ballot was sent to her home in Ft. Lauderdale, and her mother mailed it to her more than two weeks ago, yet it still has not arrived. Both Temkin and Hermida expressed concern that Duke’s postal operations may be partially to blame for such inefficiencies.
“I understand why so few college students vote—the process is really a pain,” freshman Kathryn Minshew said. “I’m planning on doing it anyway because I feel it’s so important, but there’s got to be a better way for the government to handle this.”
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