Secretary of State Ross Miller on Friday applauded U.S. Senate passage of changes designed to give military personnel overseas more time to cast their ballots in statewide elections.
He said the language is especially important because military personnel are disproportionately left out of the electoral process. At a May 13 hearing, the Senate Rules Committee released a study indicating that fully a quarter of the 441,000 ballots requested by overseas military personnel never got counted in the 2008 elections.
"I'm proud to say that Nevada citizens who are serving their country, as well as civilians overseas, had that access before this bill was passed and that legislation I supported in the last state legislature further enhanced their ability to vote on time," he said.
Nevada recently received a top ranking from the Pew Center on the States for its laws which provide military personnel overseas more time to get and submit their ballots. Overseas voters from Nevada can request and submit their ballots electronically.
The Senate language is designed to remove barriers to overseas voters nationwide.