22 states may have to change absentee voting laws

Although this wouldn't affect us, here's an interesting piece of federal legislation that has emerged from the House Administration Committee and could get a House floor vote next week. According to H.R. 281 (Susan Davis, D-California), states would have to adopt no-excuse absentee vote-by-mail laws by the November 2008 election. The bill would preempt any state’s absentee voting laws unless they allow for no-excuse absentee voting by mail (ours does). 22 states and the District of Columbia have absentee voting laws that do not live up to H.R. 281’s federal mandate. It is a mandate, which makes it unpopular with some state electeds. Still, I think states should consider different ways of increasing civic participation and voter turnout, and allowing "no excuse" voting by mail is one way of doing that. Our absentee law would be invalidated, of course, if legislation is enacted requiring voters to show up personally at the polling place and present an identification card in order to cast a vote.