In 2012, Sgt. Kevin Townley’s vote didn’t count. He mailed it from the United Arab Emirates, but it never got to hometown of Trumbull to be counted. Townley said that while some people would rather get medals, “I’d just like my vote to be counted.” Townley, who serves in the Connecticut National Guard, is not alone. The Connecticut Secretary of the State’s office found that 40 percent of the absentee ballots transmitted to members of the military overseas were never received and never counted. That’s why Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford, and Rep Russ Morin, D-Wethersfield, are proposing legislation that would allow overseas military men and women return their ballots by fax or email. Currently, military men and women serving overseas can receive their ballot by fax or email, but they have to return it through the postal service. … However, there is opposition to the measure. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy vetoed a bill last year which included the same provision.
“I agree with Secretary of the State Denise Merrill that this provision raises a number of serious concerns,” Malloy wrote in his veto message. “First, as a matter of policy, I do not support any mechanism of voting that would require an individual to waive his or her constitutional rights in order to cast a timely, secret ballot, even if such waiver is voluntary. Second, as the Secretary of the State has pointed out, allowing an individual to email or fax an absentee ballot has not been proven secure.
“To be clear, I am not opposed to the use of technology to make the voting process easier and more accessible to our citizens,” Malloy continued. “However, I believe that these legitimate problems have to be carefully studied and considered before enacting such a provision.”
Luther Weeks, executive director of Connecticut Voters Count, said fax machines and emails can be compromised.
“All network communications are subject to interception, substitution, or deletion. Military voters and registrars are not exempt from these problems,” Weeks planned to testify Tuesday.
Full Article: CT News Junkie | His Vote Didn’t Count Last Year.