Count All Votes

Dear Editor,
    In 2000, we were living in England on sabbatical and did the process of an absentee ballot. Upon coming home, I discovered that Texas does not count the absentee ballots unless they "are needed"!
    I am still incensed over the fact that all votes are not counted for correct information for posterity. Can someone determine if this is still the way Texas "counts" our votes?!

   [Mary Fero, public information manager for the Elections Division of the Travis County Clerk's Office, replied (in part): We want to assure voters that every valid ballot cast and received by our office is counted. This includes votes cast through early voting in person, early voting by mail (domestic and overseas), and votes cast on Election Day. By state law, overseas ballots that are postmarked by Election Day have an additional five days to be received by our office and be counted. (For this election, the fifth day falls on a weekend, so the final day to receive overseas ballots is Nov. 10.) You will note that the vote totals released on election night change slightly when the official final canvass results are released. The final results include the eligible overseas ballots.]