SYRENE KOON
Students hoping to vote by absentee ballot in the coming elections can now get all the information they need on the World Wide Web.
A website on the Internet provides addresses for absentee ballot requests for all 50 states. Students can also download a form letter to mail to election officials in less time than it takes to walk to campus.
Douglas Rosen and Jon Van de Ven have created a website that eliminates the need to track down election officials.
The site, which was launched the first week of October, offers all the information necessary to quickly obtain an absentee ballot from anywhere in the United States.
The website directs users to choose the state they are registered to vote in. They then need to enter information regarding their county, address, zip code, date of birth, Social Security number and reason for requesting an absentee ballot.
After typing a current mailing address the website will download a form letter containing the name and address of the election official in the registered county. Students need only print the letter, sign the bottom of the form, mail it to the address printed at the top of the form letter and wait to receive their ballots.
This website can be accessed in the James E. Talmage Math and Computer Building IAS lab, or at any Internet access terminal at http://www.xballot.org.
“Our website is the only way, on a national level, to get an absentee ballot,” said Rosen.
Rosen said young people need to participate. He hoped that promoting electronic use of the Internet for voting will modernize the voting process.
Rosen and Van de Ven have collaborated with Rock the Vote and MCI in an effort to inform more people about access to absentee ballots and get them involved in the political process.
Meredith Spungin, secretary of the Young Democrats and senior at Wooster College in Wooster, Ohio, sent the form letter generated by xballot through campus mail and encouraged students to request absentee ballots.
“I found xballot to be the most effective and easiest way to obtain an absentee ballot. This technology will enable any student the ability to vote,” Spungin said.
“This result will not only shape and change elections in the future, it will also help dispel the myth that our age group is apathetic and uncaring about the future of this country,” she said.
Members of the Young Democrats of Wooster College believe our generation will take the initiative to vote and participate in the democratic process if they are given easier access to it.
Scott Bradford/Daily Universe
CAST YOUR VOTE: Kari Wilcox, a senior from Salt Lake City majoring in broadcasting, works at a computer in the IAS lab in the James E. Talmage Math and Computer Building. The IAS lab offers Internet services where students can get information on absentee voting
