American Israelis angered by non-arrival of absentee ballots

U.S. citizens living in Israel are angry that they have not yet received their absentee ballots to vote in the American presidential elections in November. Many sent off their requests for the ballot months ago and now fear their vote will not be counted next month.

Former New Yorker Philip Marmaros sent in his request for an absentee ballot two months ago and is still waiting. "I haven't seen anything yet," he said this week from his home in Jerusalem. "I did what I was supposed to do, but now I'm being punished for living abroad. If you live outside the U.S., it's as if you don't exist ... I am an American citizen, I pay my [U.S.] taxes loyally," he insists, "and I have the right to vote."

Many other Americans also seem to be worried. "People have been calling up in a tizzy," said Joanne Yaron, vice chair of Democrats Abroad in Israel. "American citizens living here have registered, but there's an odd delay this year that's inexplicable. Something like this has never happened before."

For Yaron, who sent away for her absentee ballot in February and is still waiting for its arrival, the delay is deeply troubling. In the last election, she says, ballots came in the middle of September and yet among her extensive circle of expatriate friends and fellow Democrats, she doesn't know a single voter who has received an absentee ballot.

"If people don't receive their ballot in time, it's going to be hard to maintain motivation for people to vote in the future," she said.

Ruth Ann Stevens, deputy press secretary at the U.S. Embassy, confirmed that forms have, in fact, seem to be arriving "a little later" then in past years, but she warns citizens contacting her office "not to panic. There are a lot of states that haven't even sent their ballots out" and according to some political activists, states like New York only printed the necessary forms this week.

Registered voters, she added, could also contact their local embassy or consulate to get hold of a federal write-in absentee ballot, or "backup ballots" if their state forms don't arrive in time.

"We have a fall-back plan if people don't receive their ballots by Sunday," said Kory Bardash, chair of Republicans Abroad in Israel. "It might entail more work, but we'll still be able to satisfy the voting demands of the people."

Bardash, like his political counterparts, has spent hundreds of hours in recent months mobilizing the vote here and says the delay is worrisome, despite directives from DC headquarters to "sit tight" and wait patiently.

He's contacted the embassy here, he says, to coordinate voting days in coming weeks, so that registered American citizens can come to a designated location and fill out the write-in ballot. However, he admits this method is "a lot more cumbersome."

For David Froehlich, former U.S. voting coordinator and honorary chairman of Democrats Abroad, this year's delay is not unexpected and he is frustrated by what he sees as a lack of oversight to ensure efficient ballot distribution.

He too, has fielded "dozens" of calls from irate would-be-voters who are fuming that their ballot hasn't yet arrived. "Living abroad, we have no clout," he complained. "For the state officials dealing with voting issues, we're extra work and so they make it inconvenient for overseas voters." Froehlich says he will wait until October 20, and only then request a write-in ballot. "But very few voters are like me and they won't go out of their way to request the federal ballot," he said.

Voters in Arkansas can take comfort, in the meantime, that their ballot can be postmarked on election day and received within 10 days of nationwide voting. But for residents of many states, including California and New Jersey, ballots need to have been received by the time the polls close on election day.

"I decided it's just not worth it," says Chevy Weiss, a longtime member of the Republican party who now lives in Beit Shemesh and didn't even bother to request the requisite forms this year from her district in Baltimore. "My ballots never came on time - sometimes, I would receive it a few days before the election, once, it came after the election, and in the last presidential election [in 2000] I never received my ballot at all."