On July 9, three U.S. Senators introduced S1415, to help overseas voters get their ballots counted. The sponsors are Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga), and Ben Nelson (D-Neb). The bill requires states to send their overseas absentee ballots no later than 45 days before the election. Also, it says that if the ballots are postmarked no later than election day, they must be counted as long as they arrive no later than 10 days after the election. Also the bill forbids states from requiring that voter registration applications, or absentee ballots, be notarized.

The bill is expected to move ahead rapidly. It has a hearing on July 15. Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for this news.

A recent poll by Survey USA says almost 80% of New York residents favor state legislative term limits. See this story. Thanks to Paul Jacob for the link.

In Massachusetts, State Treasurer is an elected partisan position. On July 8, the Massachusetts Treasurer, Tim Cahill, changed his registration from “Democrat” to “Independent”. He is more fiscally conservative than most Democrats in state government. He says he is “leaning heavily toward running” for Governor in 2010 as an Independent.