The troops can vote, too.

And all you good guys out there killing bad guys should vote early.

Military votes

Sen. Conrad Burns, Montana Republican, has had to bust up the Pentagon furniture to persuade it to fully adopt the integrated voting alternative site, or IVAS. It is a secure connection whereby a deployed person can download an absentee ballot from his or her county election board and mail it in. It greatly cuts the time to complete and mail in a ballot, meaning more service members should be able to beat their local election board's deadline to vote.

Mr. Burns blocked several Defense Department nominations until he thought the bureaucrats were finally adopting IVAS, as called for in Congress' 2004 defense budget.

There is an independent report that backs Mr. Burns' stance. "Successful outcomes from either the current [Federal Voter Assistance Program] or the continued IVAS effort are questionable at this point," said the August report by a military officer.

It said that after the 2004 election, the Pentagon dropped IVAS altogether. It did not restart it until the 2006 defense bill authorized it and then Mr. Burns raised concerns.

Citing "significant friction," the report also said the Pentagon's voter assistance office and the IVAS developer did not get along. (Thanks to Inside The Ring for the heads up.)