Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed and state elections Director Nick Handy today emphasized that the state’s recent federal “waiver” of the 45-day ballot deadline for military and overseas voters shouldn’t be viewed as providing less voting time for our soldiers abroad.

Indeed, Washington has a generous 51-day transit period, and all properly voted military ballots that are returned in the three weeks after Election Day are counted.

“It’s clear that some people hear the word `waiver’ and jump to the erroneous conclusion that it means we are trying to shortchange our military voters, or even disenfranchise them. Nothing could be further from the truth,” Handy said. “We are providing a 51-day transit period, and many counties will be able to make the 45-day standard that is mentioned in the new federal law.”

Reed, a former County Auditor himself for many years, said military voters have always been a paramount priority for state and county election officials — and that nothing has changed about that firm commitment. The former president of the National Association of Secretaries of State noted that Washington has been a national leader in complying with the new federal MOVE Act, including e-mailing and faxing ballots.

“Make no mistake, the counties are making every effort to get the ballots into the mail ASAP,” Reed said. “Ballots also are available by instant email and fax.”