http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=5&docID=news-000003167195A Senate panel Wednesday approved legislation designed to ensure that the votes of U.S. troops and other Americans living overseas are counted in upcoming elections.
The Senate Rules and Administration Committee approved the bill (S 1415) by voice vote in response to evidence that military and other overseas voters are being routinely disenfranchised by rules that too strictly limit their ability to cast absentee ballots.
The legislation would require states to send ballots to military and overseas voters at least 45 days before an election and provide a 10-day grace period for ballots to be received after Election Day, so long as they were postmarked in time.
Panel Chairman Charles E. Schumer , D-N.Y., the bill’s sponsor, said he plans to offer the legislation as an amendment to the fiscal 2010 defense authorization bill (S 1390) now on the Senate floor.