By HEATHER BOSCH
KIRO Radio

They're braving the dangers of Afghanistan and other foreign fields, but some US soldiers might not get a chance to vote in the upcoming election.

Several states missed a deadline to get their overseas ballots in the mail.

Washington State, is not one of them.

"We have 48,000 military and overseas voters," says Secretary of State Sam Reed, "All [ballots] were mailed out on time."

But the Department of Justice has filed lawsuits against New York and the US territory of Guam for failing to mail ballots, in time, to military and other US citizens overseas.

The department is also investigating Illinois and has contacted Wisconsin and New Mexico about similar delays.

Last year, Congress passed the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act. It set deadlines, so that Americans who are serving overseas have time to fill out their ballots and mail them back.

Not only is Washington State complying with the new rules, Reed points out, "We have the best record in the country of counting those ballots when they return. 99 percent are counted."

He says one reason for that is Washington State has quickly embraced email ballots. "They [soldiers] are able to receive those anywhere in the world including, we found out from the Department of Defense, some of the people out in combat situations in Afghanistan.

Reed, who says he frequently talks with local soldiers about voting, adds, "There's nothing like being in the armed forces and your life being controlled by public policy to motivate you to want to participate in the process."