States ' rules for absentee ballots vary ; rules can change during 2000 . only about 30 percent of overseas military ballots returned , counted in 2000 , official estimates . Mail from war zones sometimes does not get to county registrars in time . A part of the problem is that each state has its own rules for absentee voting , and those rules can change in the middle of an election season . Military ballots were a focus in the 2004 recount in R-California .
States ' rules for absentee ballots vary ; rules can change during 2000 . only about 30 percent of overseas military ballots returned , counted in 2000 , official estimates . Mail from war zones sometimes does not get to county registrars in time . Military ballots were a focus in the 2004 recount in R-California .