Introduction of the Free Absentee Act of 2007

Floor Speech

INTRODUCTION OF THE FREE ABSENTEE ACT OF 2007 -- (Extensions of Remarks - May 04, 2007)

* Mrs. DAVIS of California. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce a bill to provide free postage for absentee or mail-in ballots in federal elections.

* Since voter participation rates are shockingly low in this nation where we pride ourselves on our democracy, our leaders must do all we can to encourage voter turnout and remove obstacles.

* We know that not everyone can make it to the polls on Election Day and we know that some voters prefer to vote from home because they have more time to review their options and do not want to wait in line to vote.

* While only 6 percent of voters used the vote by mail option in 1979, that number has risen to around 40 percent in areas where voters can vote by mail for any reason such as in my district in San Diego.

* In our fast-paced hectic society, voting by mail is an option that works for many people. We need to make voting by mail as convenient as possible. Making ballots postage free is a step in that direction.

* The price of a stamp is not a burden for many people though it certainly is for some. For these people, adding a stamp to a ballot is a sort of poll tax and that is wrong.

* For those for whom a stamp is affordable, it is not always easy to acquire a stamp or to know how much postage to put on an odd-sized ballot envelope. In fact, a postal employee even told me she drives around with her own mail in her truck for days because she can't find the time to weigh it and buy stamps.

* With election deadlines, voters do not have time to wait until they can stop to pick up stamps. They should be able to vote and put their ballots in any mailbox without worrying about finding the right amount of postage.

* We must also realize that providing postage for mail-in ballots does not come at tremendous cost to the federal government. Postage for ballots is managed in bulk making them eligible business reply rates which cost less than individual first class pieces. But more importantly, each voter need not figure out how much postage to put on.

* It is hard to give an exact cost estimate of this bill since the number of mail-in voters varies election to election. However, if the federal government paid for the mail-in ballots in the 2004 election, the cost would have been around $23 million. That is a small price to pay when you compare it with the billions we are spending on election machines and other costs.

* In Congress, we have become accustomed to sending mail out with just the frank. We don't worry about having the proper postage. Shouldn't we share that privilege with the voters?

* Creating postage-paid mail-in ballots is just one of the three major improvements we can make to mail-in voting. The others are allowing no-excuse absentee voting and implementing a ballot tracking system similar to that which we use for overnight packages. I have introduced legislation addressing these other areas as well.

* If voters could vote by mail for any reason and know that they could just toss their ballots in any mailbox without having to worry about postage and if they knew they could track the progress of their ballot, more voters would vote by mail, the strain at the polls would be less and I suspect voter turnout would increase dramatically.

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