You Have My Vote!

Do you know that we have military troops stationed overseas?  Do you know that in some areas of their deployment, they do not enjoy all of the creature comforts that those of us who reside in the United States do?  Do you know, for example, that Afghanistan’s mail system isn’t as efficient as the United States Postal System?  Stop laughing!  It really isn’t!  I think their pack mule died (Afghanistan’s equivalent to the Pony Express) … or they ate it.  I’m not sure, but I do know that it’s not as reliable as our postal system … with or without Saturday delivery.

Why do I bring this up?  It seems that a percentage of our military personnel that is stationed overseas are at risk of not having their votes counted in the November election … once again.  Why do I say, “once again?”  Well, because it keeps happening!

Do you remember the 2000 Presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore?  Do you remember the controversy in Florida with the “hanging chads?”  During that storied recount, local election officials discarded hundreds, and perhaps even thousands, of military absentee ballots because they weren’t legible, weren’t signed, or weren’t notarized.  And that was just one State.

Now, if legibility was a standard criterion, a lot of Americans would be in jeopardy of losing their right to vote … and almost no physician would be eligible to cast a ballot.  I honestly can’t remember the last time I was asked to demonstrate my penmanship before I was permitted to vote.  Maybe my precinct is just lax. 

And when did a notarized signature become so important?  Luckily, this isn’t a big deal for our military personnel because there’s almost always a Notary Public nearby in a combat zone.  But, I don’t want to condemn election officials for applying their rules with great rigor.  Hmmm … that actually gives me an idea.  Doesn’t Acorn have a bunch of registered voters with “rigor mortis?”  Maybe we could get whoever casts their votes for them to serve as surrogate signatories for our military personnel.

Moving on to the next Presidential election in 2004, surely we had time to fix the problem.  Unfortunately, the problem remained.  What about the 2008 Presidential election?  I’m sorry to say that the systemic failure continued.  While we had the greatest overseas military voter participation in the history of our Nation, it is estimated that 25% to 33% of all such votes went “uncounted.”

In fact, we haven’t made a great deal of progress since the 1942 Soldier Voting Act was passed to “ensure” that deployed, active-duty military serving abroad could vote by absentee ballot in the presidential and Congressional races.  Showing that some things never change, Congress amended the Act in 1944 to "recommend" rather than “ensure” that the States would permit absentee balloting for all military members ... proving, once again, that there have always been “weiners” in Congress.

Congress went on to pass the Federal Voting Assistance Act in 1955, which still didn’t guarantee overseas military personnel and their dependents the right to vote absentee.  It wasn’t until 1975, when the Overseas Citizens Voting Rights Act was passed, that overseas military personnel and their dependents received expanded rights to cast absentee ballots.

In 1986, President Reagan signed The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act that allowed individuals to print out a "Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot" if their requested absentee ballot fail to arrive in time.  Unfortunately, this doesn’t cover State or local issues, so there’s no guaranteed way to cast a vote on them.

In 2002, under President Bush (“W”), the National Defense Authorization Act and the Help America Vote Act were passed to create a framework within which each military unit has an appointed Voting Assistance Officer (VAO) who takes responsibility for administering the voting process among military personnel.  It’s important to note that military personnel are required to comply with the unique voting requirements of their respective States and Counties.  Therefore, the VAO must make sure that absentee ballots are mailed to the appropriate County Clerk within the State where each member of the military who casts a vote.  Keep in mind that each State and County may require different registration forms, absentee ballots, submission deadlines and submission requirements (such as witnesses or notarization).  When you’re in a combat zone and literally dealing with “the rockets’ red glare … the bombs bursting in air,” those types of details may become less of a priority.

Then, there’s the issue of the “dead mule” mail system in Afghanistan … and its companion … the “dead camel” mail system in Iraq.  When the States don’t get their ballots out sufficiently in advance, our overseas military personnel can’t get them back in time to have them counted.

Finally, our government passed The Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act in late October of 2009; one year before the mid-term elections.  The MOVE Act offers the following improvements:

·         It eliminates notarization requirements and other registration requirements otherwise imposed on voters who file under The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act

·         All States must make voter registration, general election information, and absentee ballot applications available electronically, as well as Federal Write-In Absentee Ballots when official ballots don’t arrive in time

·         Overseas military personnel (and other overseas citizens) must re-register for every election cycle instead of every other election cycle

·         And, starting this year, all States must mail ballots a minimum of 45-days prior to the election (to account for the challenges of foreign mail systems).

As the Common Sense Czar, I approve of these measures.  Of course, that assumes that they are actually enforced by the Department of Justice.  You see, States can petition for waivers … and many have.  Mostly because they run their primaries in late August through mid-to-late September and can’t get their ballots printed in time to meet this year’s cut-off date of September 18th.  Hopefully, some of these geniuses will figure out a way to use a fax machine, an electronic file, or even Al Gore’s invention, the Internet, as a work-around.  Then again, they could have just moved their primaries up a month … but that would have been too easy a solution (kudos to Minnesota and Vermont for having actually done it).

Enter the Department of Justice!  It said it would file suit against any State that doesn’t voluntarily comply.  That’s a strong statement!  Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands all requested waivers, but the DOJ denied the requests just last week.  Way to go DOJ!

But wait a minute … the DOJ also granted waivers to Delaware, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Washington.  What’s up with that?  It probably has something to do with the dates.  Let’s see:

·         Colorado                             August 10th                   - DENIED

·         Washington’s                      August 17th                   - APPROVED

           

·         Alaska                                August 24th                   - DENIED

·         The Virgin Islands                September 11th              - DENIED

·         Delaware                             September 14th             - APPROVED

·         Massachusetts                    September 14th             - APPROVED

·         New York                            September 14^th              - APPROVED

·         Rhode Island                       September 14th              - APPROVED

·         Wisconsin                           September 14^th              - DENIED

·         Washington, D.C.                September 14th              - DENIED

·         Hawaii                                 September 18th             - DENIED

Okay, no “rhyme nor reason” there.  Does anyone have a clue as to why the approvals and denials appear to be so random?  Post a comment if you have a theory.

Since the Health Care Reform Act suggests that we clearly have the technology to track the medical records of every single man, woman, and child in the United States, it shouldn’t be all that difficult to track who is serving in our military overseas and approximately where they are at any moment in time.  Then, we could make sure that they receive the information and tools they need to cast their ballots in a manner that ensures that their votes will be counted.  In that regard, I would be remiss if I didn’t give “special props” to West Virginia for launching a pilot program to facilitate electronic voting for military personnel.  While not everyone stationed overseas will be in a position to cast an electronic vote, it’s still nice to see that some States might be trying to incorporate modern technology at least to the degree possible.

As for the rest of the States … you’d better get your act together and make sure that every single one of your residents who is serving in our military overseas that wants to vote … GETS TO VOTE!

The Common Sense Czar is watching … and he isn’t too happy!

P.S.  This absentee ballot issue impacts about 1.4 million of our military personnel serving overseas and approximately 400 thousand of their voting-age dependents.  They routinely put themselves in harm’s way to protect and preserve our freedom.  The least we can do in return is to protect and preserve the integrity of their votes.  They never let us down … so, let’s not drop the ball on this one.  Write your Congressmen and Senators to let them know how you feel ... and send a message to those who serve in the military:  "You have my vote!"

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Copyright © 2010 Dr. T.J. O’Hara. To support viral distribution, this article may be copied, reprinted, forwarded, linked, or published in any form as long as proper attribution is given to the author and no changes are made.