Odd story out of Hamilton County, KY.  Seems that third party absentee ballot applications include a box which states: “I am a qualified elector and would like to receive an Absentee Ballot for the November 4, 2008 General Election.”  If this box is not checked, Hamilton County officials are rejecting the application.

What makes the story odd is that the official county application does not contain the check box, so apparently not checking the box if it is not there means your absentee ballot application wiil not be rejected.

Confusing?

Less confusing is the dustup in Ohio.  Senator McCain’s campaign is claiming partisanship on the part of Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.  Thousands of voters who filled out absentee voting applications distributed by the campaign forgot to check a box stating that they were a registered voter.

It seems to me that in both these cases, it would be pretty easy to check the validity of the registration in the statewide file.  Am I missing something here?