The Enid News and Eagle, Enid, OK

Opinion

Discussion

October 7, 2012

Letter: Voting abroad was an adventure

Enid News & Eagle

I was concerned about receiving our absentee ballots to vote in this year’s presidential election. I was worried because of reports of of absentee voting by American citizens living in other countries; particularly our military.

Our ballots finally arrived. I contacted the Garfield County Election Board to ask about notarization of our ballots. I was told that we must go to the American Embassy as a Hungarian notary would not be recognized or accepted.

I wrote to the American Embassy in Budapest, Hungary. It was confirmed by email that our ballots had to be notarized at the embassy. We made the two-hour trip to Budapest; and then walked and took the subway to get to the embassy, which added another 40 minutes to our journey. When we arrived at the embassy, we were told to come back when we had an appointment. Then we were told our ballots did not need to be notarized at the embassy. We produced the email from the embassy that said we must do this for our ballots to count.

After much persistence, we were allowed inside the building. We passed through security similar to airport security. We finally had our ballots notarized. Very interesting: The ballots were notarized before we signed them. At no time in the process, including going through security, were we ask to provide any form of identification.

To cast our ballots in Hungary took about 8 hours total time. In Enid, we would go to the polls at 6:45 am and I would be on my way to the hospital at 7:10 am.

Michael B. Scott, D.O.,

living in Eger, Hungary

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