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Absentee Voting in the United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Paul G. Steinbicker
Paul G. Steinbicker
Affiliation:
St. Louis University
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Extract

As part of the most basic process in democratic government, the laws of the various states having to do with absentee participation in elections merit consideration. In the election of November 3, 1936, it is estimated that nearly two per cent of the total of forty-five millions were absentee votes. Furthermore, all available evidence indicates a steady expansion of this figure. The number of federal employees in Washington is on the increase; from this source alone the number of absentee voters in the election of 1936 was over eighty thousand. The revival of business and industry, especially in the fields of transportation and communication, and the growing mobility of Americans generally, can be expected to add their quotas to the total number of absentee voters.

Type
American Government and Politics
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 32 , Issue 5 , October 1938 , pp. 898 - 907
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1938

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References

1 This figure is based on an estimate. Only nine states had information as to the number of absentee voters, but these nine collectively present a fair cross-section of the whole United States. The figures, in round numbers, as secured from the respective secretaries of state, are as follows: Arizona, 14,000; Connecticut, 20,000; Maine, 20,000; Massachusetts, 50,000; New Hampshire, 5,000; New Mexico, 1,800; North Carolina, 25,000; Ohio, 56,000; Rhode Island, 1,000.

2 Marquis W. Childs, in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oct. 20, 1936.

3 Ray, P. O., “Military Absent Voters' Laws”, in this Review, Vol. 12, pp. 461–469 (Aug., 1918)Google Scholar.

4 Ray, P. O., “Absentee Voting”, in this Review, Vol. 11, pp. 116–117 (Feb., 1917)Google Scholar.

5 Kansas, in 1901, with a law applicable only to railroad employees, which was broadened in 1911 to cover “any qualified elector.”

6 Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and North Dakota. See this Review, Vol. 10, pp. 114–115 (Feb., 1916).

7 Ray, P. O., “Absent Voters' Laws”, in this Review, Vol. 18, pp. 321–325 (May, 1924)Google Scholar. Since 1924, eight states have enacted absentee voting laws, as follows: Georgia and Texas in 1924, New Hampshire in 1925, New Mexico in 1927, Colorado in 1929, Michigan in 1931, Rhode Island in 1932, and Connecticut in 1933.

8 Tennessee and Virginia constitute the only exceptions. Their laws provide specific arrangements for absentee voting from abroad.

9 Missouri and Oklahoma.

10 Rhode Island and West Virginia.

11 Ohio demands a minimum of ten miles, Utah twenty miles. Massachusetts requires that there be at least two municipalities between the voter and the municipality of his residence.

12 The 22 states are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

13 Election Laws of Delaware, 1936, Art. V, Sec. 149, p. 209Google Scholar.

14 Election Laws of Michigan, Revision of 1936, Ch. X, Art. 3134.

15 Michie's Tennessee Code of 1932, Sec. 2228, p. 274Google Scholar.

16 Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, and Missouri.

17 See Primary and General Election Laws of Oklahoma, 1935, pp. 39Google Scholar et seq.

18 Ibid., p. 40.

19 The two exceptions are Georgia, which allows application only by mail, and Louisiana, which allows it only in person.

20 Arkansas, New Hampshire, and North Carolina.

21 Maine and Massachusetts.

22 If the request is made by mail, the application blank is usually forwarded at the state's expense. But there are some exceptions. Georgia, Nebraska, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia require the applicant to pay all postage both ways. Texas collects from each applicant $0.15, Wyoming $0.30, and Minnesota, $0.35, to cover the state's expense in each case.

23 Alabama alone requires no formal application.

24 Generally the same states that limit absentee voting to those necessarily and unavoidably absent.

25 Nebraska and Washington.

26 Wyoming, for example, requires that the application be accompanied by a statement as to the identity of the applicant, signed and sworn to by two other voters of his home precinct.

27 Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut.

28 Iowa, Ohio, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

29 Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri.

30 Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

31 Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Ohio, and Oregon.

32 South Dakota alone requires that the check-up be made by the election officials of the applicant's home precinct. In all the other states, this work is handled by employees of the city or county election board.

33 The exception is Connecticut, which forwards, instead of a ballot, an “instruction blank.” This is marked by the absentee as he wishes, and constitutes his instructions to the election officials of his home precinct to mark his ballot on election day. Of course, under this arrangement, the absentee's ballot is not secret; but the officials concerned must pledge under oath not to reveal the instructions of the absentee except when so ordered by a court of proper jurisdiction.

34 Of course, for the prospective absentee who applies in person, all these difficulties are obviated, except that he too must fill out and swear to the affidavit.

35 Idaho Code Annotated, 1932, Vol. 1, Ch. 10, Sec. 33–1005, p. 53Google Scholar.

36 Election Laws of Michigan (revision of 1936), Sec. 466, p. 120Google Scholar.

37 Statutes of Minnesota, 1927, Vol. 1, Sec. 503, p. 104Google Scholar.

38 Except in those states where the time limit extends beyond the day of election. In such states, the absentee votes are counted centrally and added to the totals already published for the respective precincts. See California Election Laws, Vol. 1, Sec. 1360–1362.

39 Ohio Election Laws, 1933, Ch. XII, Sec. 4786–138, pp. 107–108Google Scholar.

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