Absentee ballot bill gets House approval

The House approved a bill Tuesday that will make it easier to use an absentee ballot — in fact, any registered voter could use that method.

Last summer, then Lt. Gov. Olene Walker (who is now governor) asked an interim committee to consider whether to allow multiday voting to increase voter participation and to save money by reducing the number of electronic voting machines required by 2006.

But legislators worried multiday voting would make campaigning for smaller offices, such as legislative seats, more difficult.

As an alternative, making it easier to vote with an absentee ballot was a way to lessen lines at the polls on Election Day, legislators argued.

HB9, which passed the House Tuesday by a 69-1 vote, also dealt with concerns that increasing the size of voter precincts could allow county clerks to group voting precincts dominated by one political party together, and thus make longer voter lines, that in turn could reduce turnout.