Many of the people involved were not responsible enough to leave the city before the hurricane struck. How many of them do you think know that there are absentee voting provisions ... much less what they are?
If I understand correctly, Ater and company want to pre-emptively contact all the evacuee/voters and advise them of an upcoming election.
Who decides which potential voters are now "absentee" ... without canvassing the city beforehand?
The question is, has this ever been done before for absentee voters?...
... [N]o one ever wrote [military personnel] ... and advised of an upcoming election ... That is to say, if Louisiana is obliged to notify absentee voters of elections, why haven't they been doing so for people in the military before now?
Probably not. There has probably never been a situation like this before now. As to military personnel, the question at hand may raise an interesting test case to insure that they will be notified of future elections.
This begs the question. How is it determined that someone is an absentee voter? I would think this would require the notitication of all registered voters ... not just some arbitrarily deemed to be potential absentee voters. Any other course of action would, arguably, violate rights of those who were not notified. This could become a cumbersome and expensive proposition.
Presumably, the people they want to contact are those who have been housed in shelters. Countless other evacuees have housed themselves in various rented quarters and/or in homes of relatives or friends. Why should they not be contacted about voting absentee ... as well as those who are FEMA subsidized housing? I, myself, have been housing a Katrina refugee whose home is in an area that did not flood. Other damage to her home will make it impossible for her to return any time soon. Would she be considered a potential absentee voter? And, if not, why not? Who decides who is and who is not a potential absentee voter?
So far, FEMA has steadfastly refused to release names of evacuees they are housing ... including to at least one local sheriff who wants to do criminal background checks on the people.
I am completely opposed to the actions they propose because of the enormous potential for fraud.
Very, very good points. As the debate unfolds, i'll relay them to Moon and get them put out into the public discourse...
State laws clearly define a process by which a resident out of the parish on election day can vote in Louisiana – an absentee/early voting system designed to minimize the chances of voting fraud. RS 18:1303(4) http://www.legis.state.la.us/lss/lss.asp?doc=81337 clearly permits displaced Louisianans the right to vote this way (and the language of RS 18:1306(c)(1) http://www.legis.state.la.us/lss/lss.asp?doc=81340 in the use of the word “shall” would permit enough of these ballots to be distributed). The process outlined in RS 18:1307 http://www.legis.state.la.us/lss/lss.asp?doc=81341 is incredibly simple – make a request, follow simple instructions to fill out, and mail in.