Don’t try to fix a system that isn’t broken by permitting the fax and e-mail of voted ballots [“Tweaking law makes overseas voting easier,” Opinion, Jan. 26].
 
The state Legislature’s bills — House Bill 2483 and Senate Bill 6238 — are supposedly being pursued to comply with a new federal law before the 2010 election cycle. States must establish procedures for military and overseas voters to electronically receive blank absentee ballots. The law does not require or condone the electronic transmittal of voted ballots — A 2004 report to the Pentagon and subsequent reports by top computer scientists say this can’t be done securely.
 
Current Washington law allows service personnel and citizens overseas to receive ballots by e-mail, so long as the original ballot is returned by mail. The bill under consideration does not provide this safeguard.