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> Nobody could be caught in voting somebody else's ballot if they have the 
> "permission" of the person to whom the ballot was issued (or if the person to 
> whom it was issued didn't even notice).  But I still think that it is, 
> philosophically, wrong.  Technically is is a violation of the regulations of 
> the organization as well.

Kat, unfortunately in our case, there is no provision for an "absentee"
ballot--given the time it takes mail to reach my husband overseas and
the time it would take for him to send the ballot back from overseas, he
would most likely miss the cut-off date if I were to forward him his
ballot.  He has lurked at enough of the board meetings with me to have a
pretty good idea what goes on, and he has some pretty strong opinions
about the issues.  Sometimes he has strong feelings about individuals as
well.  Asking me to physically mark his ballot for him is not the same
thing as assigning his rights.  In fact, I would say that by going
through this process, we are actually facilitating his right to vote.

This is no different than the service I provide for my mother, who has
macular degeneration and a serious hand tremor, who can use a walker on
a limited basis but is otherwise in a wheelchair, but who has a mind
like a steel trap.  She insisted on getting an absentee ballot to vote
in the general election.  I was intrigued, as she and I had not
discussed politics at all in the year she has been in the care center. 
I had to read the ballot to her, and I had to mark her choices for her,
because she cannot control her hand well enough to color in the little
ovals.  She knew exactly who was running, right down to the fact that
she can't stand our incumbent county sheriff and wanted to do a write-in
for that position.  I read her ballot to her and marked her choices, we
sealed it up right there, and she put her shaky signature across the
envelope.  Her choices were pretty close to my own, but not
identical--no surprise, since we think pretty much alike.  Does she have
a right to a vote?  You betcha.  But she would not be able to exercise
that right without the "technical assistance" of having someone do this
for her.  

Likewise, my husband wants to exercise his right to vote in the AERC
elections, but the fact that he is consistently overseas in November
with slow mail (heck, our ballots didn't arrive HERE from the AERC
office until after mid-month), he would be deprived of that right if I
didn't open the ballot for him and ask him what he wants to do about it.
I'm merely his technical assistance.  If the voting period were open
for a longer period of time, he could fill out his own.

Heidi


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