Voting Absentee in Maryland

Requests for absentee ballots in Maryland this year are on the rise, according to the Sun, due mainly to recent changes in the law and the voting machine debacles in the September primary, as well as endorsements of absentee voting from Bob Ehrlich and Doug Duncan. I like voting absentee myself, despite some past problems, and I wouldn't mind having Marylanders do all its voting by mail, as they do in Oregon. However, I don't think it's worth dispensing with the secret ballot and making voters easier to influence -- I'm thinking of, say, women in Republican households who don't like President Bush or the Iraq War, but don't want to cross their husbands. This is why we need early voting -- oh wait.

While we're on the topic of voting, let me second Thomas Nephew's opposition to Question 4 on November's ballot. Linda Lamone, the elections administrator for this state, has been remarkably callous about citizens' concerns over electronic voting machines; her callousness doesn't need to be rewarded, as Question 4 would do.