FILE - In a Nov. 3, 2008 file photo, Chief Warrant Officer Randall Watson, of California, Missouri,... 
(AP)
A new law meant to protect the voting rights of deployed troops and other Americans overseas is forcing at least a dozen states to consider holding their primaries earlier or to negotiate another plan that federal officials will accept.
Ballots must be sent to certain voters at least 45 days before an election under a requirement included in a major defense bill signed Wednesday by President Barack Obama. It leaves states with 2010 primaries in August and September in a pickle because the deadline for distributing November ballots will pass by the time many certify the results of the primary.
"You can't print a ballot until you know who won," said Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, who is urging his state's lawmakers to shift the Sept. 14 primary by at least a month. "And you can't print ballots in five seconds. It takes several days to print a ballot. Then you have to put them in the mail."
Some states have said they may seek a waiver to avoid moving their elections. Though faxing and e-mailing ballots to overseas voters might be one workaround, one congressman who supports the deadline said the goal should be to keep standards as uniform as possible.
"What I think election officials across the country certainly need to realize is we need to make sure that those who are fighting in defense of our freedom have the ability to exercise the greatest freedom Americans enjoy, and that is the right to vote," said Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo.
Vermont's top election official, like Ritchie, is urging that her state's primary be moved earlier. Other states with September primaries include Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Wisconsin. Even states with mid-August elections, Colorado and Washington among them, are worried about a time squeeze.
Colorado, New York, Washington and Wisconsin are among states already planning to request waivers.
Sending ballots overseas and back takes time. For military members in particular, Coffman and fellow advocates describe a mail delivery maze that can chew up a month each way as items go from port to port and then compete with food, bullets and supplies in convoys headed to forward operating bases.
