Reply #5: LWV urges support for constitutional amendment on absentee voting

[Melissa G]

Hunt: LWV urges support for constitutional amendment on absentee voting
By E. Ruth Hunt
Friday, September 9, 2005

To the editor:

The League of Women Voters urges state legislators to support the constitutional amendment to lift restrictions on absentee voting which will come before the Constitutional Convention Sept. 14.

Massachusetts' current absentee ballot laws make voting even more difficult for the modern citizen. With young or old dependents keeping us at home and urgent business or personal crisis taking us out of town, difficulty getting time off from work, so many voters report an inability to get to the polls despite their good intentions.



Why do we make the voting process cumbersome when we are striving for increased citizen participation in the electoral process and bemoan low voter turnout as a sign of civic apathy and disengagement? Voting is the key to a strong, functional representative democracy that is responsive and accountable to the people.

Currently, the Massachusetts Constitution restricts absentee voting to people who will be absent from their city or town on Election Day, have a physical disability that prevents them from voting at the polling place or cannot vote due to religious beliefs. Yet, in Election 2004 there were a record number of requests for absentee ballots in Massachusetts. The current law is unenforceable.

http://www2.townonline.com/canton/opinion/view.bg?articleid=321842