The telegraph?

I’m at a conference on electronic voting in Germany, and was just catching up on news … and couldn’t believe Paul’s post, “This Just In: Voting By Telegraph.” So I checked it out myself, and Paul’s got the quotation right: indeed, it appears from the story that Paul referenced, voters in Sequoyah County, under some circumstances (“physically incapacitated and … who care for physically incapacitated persons …”), may apply for an abstentee ballot by telegraph. My first thought was how would a physically incapacitated individual find, let along go to, a telegraph office; but the thinking here must be that they’ll get someone to take the application to a telegraph office.

But interestingly, the story that Paul quoted also goes on and points out that those voters confined in nursing homes, military personnel, residents living overseas, and spouses and dependents of the latter two can apply by mail or fax. Note that voters confined to nursing homes, military personnel, residents living overseas, and the spouses and dependents of the latter two cannot apply to vote using the telegraph. Hm.

Auf wiedersehen, hopefully more to report as the week progresses regarding the discussion in this international conference on e-voting!