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CHICAGO – Chicago election officials have writtenPresident Bush (search)asking him to push for a law to extend the deadline for states to receive absentee ballots (search)sent by members of the military.
As many have experienced, the military mail servicecan be very slow, and state officials are concerned that their ballots won’t get counted if they are postdated on time but not received before the results are certified.
Chicago officials say they want to make the deadline for every state 14 days after the election.
“This should be addressed by Congress to establish uniformity among the states and to make sure that election jurisdictions have the legal tools that it takes to give every benefit to the military to make sure that those votes are counted,” said Langdon Neal of theChicago Board of Elections Commissioners (search).
Illinois is one of 37 states where overseas military ballots must be in by Election Day or the day before. The rest have extended deadlines from three days after the election this Nov. 2to an extra two weeks in ahandful of states, including Washington and Alaska.
The White House has yet to respond to the letter.
Click on the boxat the top of this story to watch a report by FOX News’ Steve Brown.