Absentee ballots available online

Working to involve the voters under 20 in the upcoming presidential election, Rock the Vote is now making absentee ballots available online, according to a press release.\nThe nonpartisan group, which already works to register voters online, said in the release that obtaining absentee ballots has served as a difficult obstacle in registering young people to vote. The group pointed to a recent Harvard University survey which they said found that 61.4 percent of students said "streamlining the absentee ballot process would be very effective in getting college students involved with politics," the release said.\nAlison Byrne Fields, creative director and chief strategist for Rock the Vote, said in a press release that online ballots are vital in the process of increasing vote registration among young adults.\n"We know that young people become involved in politics when the system is accessible to them," she said in the release. "Making absentee ballots more readily available to this group is helping democracy catch up with technology -- and with young people."\nFields said she hopes the new technology will be successful in the upcoming election.\n"In 1992, we learned that the under 20 vote can be an influential swing vote," Fields said. "In 2000, we hope that an unprecedented number of young people become involved in politics, making ours a system that works for everyone"