Absentee ballot sheet

1944

Members of the military were allowed to vote absentee in the 1944 election thanks to an act of Congress. The War and Navy Departments supported the adoption of a universal ballot in which military personnel had to write in the names of the people they wished to vote for. The design of the special ballot enabled the government to distribute it before candidate names became available, thus allowing for the weeks-long mailing and shipping time to distribute the blanks and received completed ballots from overseas voters. The ballot was only good for federal, not local, elections. Not everyone in Congress supported the bill and in the end states were encouraged to amend their own absentee ballot procedures to allow military personnel to vote. Eventually 20 states authorized the use of the federal war ballot.