WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Ballot requests by service members stationed overseas is down from previous election cycles despite efforts to make it easier to vote, officials say.
With less than a month before the Nov. 6 election, analysts say the number of ballots returned from service members and their families outside the United States are low compared to 2008, Stars and Stripes reported Monday.
Data suggest the overseas military vote this year will fall behind almost all other demographic groups despite the greater ease in voting, said Michael McDonald, a political science professor at George Mason University.
The Defense Department says about 67 percent of overseas service members returned a ballot in 2008, compared to 74 for overseas civilians.
Military voters were twice as likely to face registration problems in the 2008 election compared to other voters, the Pew Center for the States reported. Nearly 28 percent of military and overseas ballots were rejected or returned as undeliverable or lost in 2008, the Congressional Research Service said.
Some 17 percent of registered active duty military said they requested an absentee ballot in 2008 but did not get one.
The following year, the federal Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act was passed, mandating military and overseas voters receive electronic ballots at least 45 days before an election.
At least 47 states and the District of Columbia have passed similar laws.
