Where should I vote? Migrants confused (TOI)

Times of India news article march 9-09

Bangalore : March 31 is just a couple of weeks away. Chandru, a Bangalorean settled in Hyderbad for three years now, is worried. “I want to vote. But where? My old ID card is invalid as my name has been removed from the list there. Further, I don’t know if I need to register again here,” he says.

Sunil, a techie from Chennai who has been living in Bangalore for almost four years now, finds himself in a similar fix. “I’m yet to get my ID card done as I moved out of my home town to study and then landed a job elsewhere. Being constantly on the move, I really found it hard to register myself on the electoral rolls,” he explains, adding, “But, I do want to vote.”

Many like them have migrated and lived elsewhere for years — without voting or even knowing they need to update themselves on the electoral roll.
The rule says that on shifting to a new city, if you plan to stay at your new place of residence for six months or longer, you are an ordinary resident of this place and can register to vote from there.

There’s no accurate figure on the migrant population in the city. But, a rather common observation is that a majority of them, particularly college students and employees in software firms, do not think much about their right to vote. For many, life in a new city very rarely extends beyond accommodation, travel and fixing utility services. Very few make it mandatory to go for voter ID revision.

However, some others do make that effort. Like Mansi Murali, 23, who got a new voter ID card three months ago. “I had no clue about the system and the rules, but thanks to my husband’s insistence, I can vote now,” says this homemaker from Mumbai who moved to Bangalore two years ago. A few voters like B Inbaraj, a techie from Trichy in Bangalore for over two years, do not hesitate going back home for elections to cast their vote.

“The issue at large remains to be tackled yet as a very small percentage (15-20%) of the migratory population casts its vote,” says Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP and ABIDe convener. People seem to suffer from a general lack of awareness of their rights and apathy towards the place and the candidates there — many of them do not get too involved in it…[more]

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Absentee Voting Elsewhere

United States of America

In the United States, an absentee ballot is a ballot that the voter records and casts at a place other than a designated polling station on Election Day. Registration requirements for absentee voting can vary from state to state. Most states and territories require registration to vote absentee. Voter registration and absentee request can be done at the same time by submitting a form. Typically these ballots are mailed. When mailed from any U.S. post office, U.S. embassy or consulate, or APO/FPO mail facility, the hardcopy voter registration/absentee ballot form is postage-paid.

It is recommended that in order to register to vote/request an absentee ballot, it is best done in January of each year, or at least 45 days before Election Day. Each State’s Secretary of State or Director of Elections is in charge of the election process, including voter registration and absentee ballot requests.

There is a cut off date for mailing ballots and it is determined by the local voting jurisdiction. In some jurisdictions, postmarks do not count, and ballots must be received by a certain time on election day. In other jurisdictions, a ballot must have a postmark on or before the day of the election and be received prior to the date of certification.

Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA)

Under Construction!

Germany

Under Construction!

Democracy in Orbit

Of the millions of American citizens eligible to vote this Election Day (Nov. 2), there’s only one who won’t be on the planet. But Expedition 10 Commander Leroy Chiao isn’t letting that little detail keep him from casting his ballot.

Image left: Chiao gives a “thumbs up” on the way to the launch pad in Kazakhstan on October 13. Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls.

Even though he’ll be floating around the Earth 230 miles up on the International Space Station, Chiao is not too far from the polls to stand up and be counted, thanks to a bill passed in 1997 by Texas legislators.

The bill sets up a technical procedure for astronauts — nearly all of whom live in Houston — to vote from space. (And here’s a bonus bit of presidential trivia: The bill was signed by the then-governor of Texas, George W. Bush.)

Here’s how it will work. An electronic ballot, generated by the Galveston County Clerk’s office, will be emailed to Chaio’s secure account at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Mission Control Center there will transfer the email to the Station using a high-speed modem via satellite, the same way they send all astronauts e-mails to the Station.

Then, Chiao will cast his vote and use a secure e-mail connection to send his ballot back to the clerk’s office to be recorded. It will be the first vote ever to be cast in a presidential election from space. But Chiao’s democracy in orbit doesn’t end there.

He’s using his unique experience to encourage others to exercise their civic duty. He’s sent a special message from space to all eligible voters urging them to go to the polls.

PS: If US can ensure voting rights for its citizens in space, can we not Indians settled outside the geographical borders of India have the ability to vote?

Source: http://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/livinginspace/chiao_votes.html