A congressional investigation has determined that approximately 25% of Americans living overseas, mostly soldiers, who tried to vote in 2008 did not have their votes recorded by state officials. The Senate Rules and Administration Committee and the Congressional Research Service surveyed election results in seven states (California, Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington and West Virginia), and officials determined one out of every four absentee ballots requested—from a total of about 440,000—by military personnel and other Americans outside the country may have gone uncounted. California alone lost 30,000 of the 103,000 ballots it mailed out to residents living abroad, while West Virginia lost 57%.