Campaigns Spar Over Military Absentee Ballots | Military.com

Campaigns Spar Over Military Absentee Ballots | Military.com

Even as state election officials across the U.S. have noticed a rise in military voting, a disturbing trend has appeared. The rate active-duty military voters who reported not receiving a requested absentee ballot almost doubled from 16 percent in 2008 to 29 percent in 2010, according to a survey done by the Defense Department’s Federal Voter Assistance Program (FVAP). 

“It is a very real challenge” to get ballots out to forward operating bases in Afghanistan and other duty stations worldwide, said Paddy McGuire, FVAP’s deputy director for Elections Assistance. Mail services must also return those ballots as servicemembers try to keep track of ever-changing voting deadlines and the blizzard of federal, state and local election laws.

The political parties have added to the confusion of who can vote and when. Both Republicans and Democrats have dispatched platoons of lawyers to challenge or defend local election laws as they jockey for advantage.

The parties have clashed recently over an Ohio law that allowed military absentee ballots to be accepted up to the day before the Nov. 6 general election day. The cutoff for civilian absentee ballots is Nov. 2.

The National Guard Association filed a motion backing Republicans seeking to keep the three-day window for the military although Joseph Goheen, an NGA spokesman, said the motion was filed reluctantly.

“Our intent was to ensure that our members had a voice in this,” Goheen said. “But it’s been twisted in every direction by those seeking to politicize this.”

He said he supported the solution of accepting all absentee ballots up to Nov. 5 as requested in the lawsuit filed jointly by the Obama campaign, the Democratic National Committee and Ohio Democratic Party in July.

“We have no problem with that. We’re really not taking sides in this,” said Goheen, who explained that NGA’s main concern is making voting as easy as possible for servicemembers overseas. 

McGuire admits a “complexity problem” still exists for troops trying to navigate the absentee ballot process.

Military and Overseas Voter Protection Act MOVE

MVP Project Director To Testify Before Congress

Tomorrow marks another step in the right direction for our military and their right to vote. I will testify on behalf of the Military Voter Protection Project (MVP Project) before the Committee on House Administration regarding the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE Act).

As you know the MOVE Act is intended to protect the right for all members of our military stationed overseas to vote. The 2010 election left us with work to be done, and tomorrow I will present MVP Project's preliminary analysis of the elections and whether the MOVE Act had a positive impact. I will also highlight the egregious treatment of military voters in New York and Illinois during the 2010 elections and further discuss unsettled issues regarding enforcement of the MOVE Act by the Voting Section of the Department of Justice.

Protecting military voting rights is not just a once every two years job. As you will see by tomorrow's hearings it is an everyday priority for the MVP Project. We are asking, once again, for your support as we ensure that every vote of every military man and woman is counted on Election Day. The MVP Project will continue to fight hard for their rights as they are fighting for our rights. Thank you for joining us for this important endeavor.

If you are in the DC Metro area and wish to attend, hearings are open to the general public. You can also show your support by watching a live web stream of the hearings at the Committee's website.

Sincerely,

Eric Eversole
Executive Director, Military Voter Protection Project

Super Bowl Ad Targets Wrong Audience

Super Bowl Ad Targets Wrong Audience

While many Americans will park in front of their televisions to watch football on Super Bowl Sunday, others will tune in just to see the commercials. Unknown to most Americans, one commercial will be seen only by members of the U.S. military deployed overseas. Sadly, it’s a spot that probably needs to be shown to federal, state and local election officials, too.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen has arranged for a public service announcement (below) to air on the Armed Forces Network’s commercial-free broadcast of Super Bowl XLV in Dallas. The objective of the PSA produced in conjunction with the Federal Voting Assistance Program is to remind overseas military of their right to vote.Why should the FVAP spot be shown to election officials? Because election fraud, electioneering, vote fraud — call itwhat you will — seemed to run rampant during the 2010 election cycle.

Prior to the 2010 general election, several reports surfaced about problems with absentee ballots for military members stationed outside of their states of legal residence:

•BigGovernment.com reported about Illinois soldiers waiting for ballots;
•The Buffalo News reported on ballots being mailed after the federal deadline had passed;
•Pamela Geller reported on multiple cases of military ballots not being counted; and
•Investors Business Daily published an editorial, Denying Our Soldiers the Vote.

Morning Reads

IN THE NEWS:

ObamaCare Already Causing 47% Increase in Health Care Plans

What was Written on the Miners' Shirts?

Social Security: An "Innocent" Baby That Grew Up To Be a Monster?

Obama: Blacks Probably Don't Watch "Meet The Press"

Illinois Elections Officials Caught Lying About Military Ballots

The Democratic 'D' Now Stands for Demagoguery and Desperation

Obamanomics Paints Ohio Red

Reid Lost the Debate to Angle

Military Ballot Update from The Hill

Pentagon seeks to ensure voting access for service members in midterm vote

The Pentagon is moving aggressively to ensure that military members deployed overseas can cast votes in the 2010 midterm elections.

The Defense Department’s Federal Voting Assistance program this week started its training program for voting assistance officers at military bases worldwide. Based on a Pentagon directive, a voting assistance officer needs to be at every unit level.

Military and overseas voters now have to submit a federal post card application every year instead of every two or four years.

Every voting assistance officer has to hand deliver or email a federal post card application to every military member by January 15 and get the word out about the importance of sending the application card to election officials in 2010, said a Pentagon spokeswoman.There are about 6 million uniformed and overseas citizens who vote absentee. Embassies and consulates overseas also must have voting assistance officers on hand. For example, close to 100,000 U.S. troops will be deployed to Afghanistan by the November midterm election.

Over the next several months, U.S. troops in Iraq will decrease from about 110,000 to 50,000. Only about six or seven out of every 10 absentee ballots cast by military members are successfully cast. In the general population about nine out of every 10 absentee ballots are successfully cast, according to Bob Carey, Federal Voting Assistance Program director.

More

Warrior Legacy Foundation Southeast Region and Military Ballots

About 30 dedicated Virginia patriots showed up tonight to tell the VA State Board of Elections we don't appreciate the dissing of Warriors.

Without knowing it, these hearty souls were upholding the first tenet of Warrior Legacy Foundation:

Defend the Defenders

Get Rid of Nancy Rodrigues

Time for an anti-Tim Kaine Surge!

Don't wait til after we've won...start the clean-up now.

We need every Virginia Delegate and Senator on this ASAP!!!

Write or call and DEMAND that Timmy fire Nancy Rodrigues, who he appointed as Secretary of the State Board of Elections in 2007.

She intentionally disenfranchised the military overseas in the 2008 election, stating that there was no 'deadline' to mail those ballots. The judge ruled that she was out of line. She's a Democrat partisan operative overseeing our electoral process.

She's also the one who had the public hissy fit about not enough ballots in Chesterfield last year.

This deliberate action to exclude the military from voting is so reprehensible I'm at a loss for words. Call! Write! Demand accountability and her removal PRIOR to Nov. 3rd!

Should we mount a protest against her? I'm game.

Virginia Board of Elections Should Be Ashamed

Judge: Va. violated absentee voters' rights

RICHMOND A federal judge ruled Friday that Virginia violated the voting rights of military service members and other Americans living overseas when electoral officials failed to send them ballots for last year's presidential election on time.

U.S. District Judge Richard Williams also ordered the Virginia Board of Elections to count and certify valid absentee ballots for the election after it reaches an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice on how the process will be conducted. The count won't change the outcome of the election, which President Obama won in Virginia by nearly 233,000 votes.

The ballots from military service members and others living outside Virginia were the focus of a lawsuit filed by Republican candidate John McCain's campaign, which alleged that they weren't mailed in time for voters to cast their ballots before the polls closed on Nov. 4, 2008. The Justice Department replaced the campaign as the plaintiff after Judge Williams ruled that the Republican ticket lacked standing to sue.

Judge Williams said in an opinion Thursday that Virginia's failure to mail more than 2,100 absentee ballots at least 30 days before the election violated the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. At least 96 of the ballots were received by local registrars after the polls closed and were not counted.

Military Personnel Should Be First On the List

Virginia argues that they don’t need to send out military absentee ballots in time to vote

Tim Kaine's appointee makes the call
Posted by Soren Dayton (Profile)

Saturday, October 3rd at 12:46PM EDT 37 Comments

Last year, we covered some of the problems in the counting of military absentee ballots in Virginia, as did others. This problem has not gone away. It has just moved. The day before election day 2008, the McCain campaign filed a complaint in the Eastern District of Virginia to force Virginia to count military absentee ballots that came in after election day. McCain lost Virginia by more than enough votes, but the case went on with the Department of Justice replacing the McCain campaign.There were filings last month and will likely be a hearing this month.

So what?

The Virginia State Board of Elections argued in their most recent filing that they have no legal obligation to send out military absentee ballots in a timely manner. Restated, the State of Virginia has argued in a federal court filing that they can legally send out absentee ballots to active duty soldiers the day before an election. Restated again, the Democratic Chairwoman of the Virginia State Board of Election (appointed by the Democratic National Committee Chair Tim Kaine, in his capacity as Virginia Governor) Jean Cunningham just claimed a legal basis for massively raising the barrier to voting for soldiers at war.

Really. Read on for details.

The details of the legal proceedings are at the invaluable http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/litigation/mccain-palinv.cunningham.php. Let’s start with the most recent filing on behalf of the defendant. There is no federal statute that requires States to mail absentee ballots to UOCAVA voters a minimum number of days before an election. The Complaint in Intervention is based entirely on a “determination” by the Federal Voting Assistance Program of the Department of Defense that such ballots be mailed at least 30 days before an election, and a “recommendation” that States allow 45 days for round-trip mailing of absentee ballots.

This is remarkable, and the implications of this should be understood. First of all, some counties in both Virginia and New Jersey haven’t sent out absentee ballots yet in violation of their own laws. Whether due to maliciousness or simply being overburdened and understaffed is always up for debate. If Virginia prevails, there would be a legal argument for putting the ballots of active duty military at the back of the bus, as it were.

Second, this whole debate concerns only federal elections. States have to pass laws that allow for military voting in non-federal elections. I do not believe that either state has done that. Virginia’s filing notes that many of these questions are irrelevant in many ways because of the Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot, but their flier on military voting notes “Virginia allows you use the FWAB as an absentee ballot for Federal Offices only”. In other words, not state and local elections. In fact, state laws have to do more to let active duty military vote in state elections.

Third, if ballots were even to be sent out in a reasonable time, a question is them getting back in time. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, Rep. Dan Boren, Sen. John Cornyn, and Sen. Mark Begich have a proposal to have DoD pay for ballots to be returned by express mail, but Steny Hoyer and Nancy Pelosi are blocking consideration in the House, even though it passed the Senate last year.

In discussing last year’s issues, Marc Ambinder noted, “Democrats insist they’re biased towards access… so will they try to intervene on behalf of these voters?”
Good question.

(cross-posted from The Next Right)

Michael Barone Wants To Know...

Is Virginia blocking military personnel from voting?
By: Michael BaroneSenior Political Analyst
10/04/09 12:24 PM EDT

Is Virginia denying military voters the chance to vote in its state election this November? That’s what I gather from this post from the Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder and this post from Republican blogger Soren Dayton. There’s some shabby history here. In 1944 Republicans and Southern Democrats in Congress ganged up to make it difficult for military personnel—about 12 million men at the time—to vote; Republicans believed that most G.I.s would vote for Franklin Roosevelt, and Southern Democrats feared that black G.I.s would vote and get into the habit of voting. In 2000 some Democrats in Florida tried to prevent military votes from being counted. They feared most would vote for George W. Bush. But what’s going on in Virginia is unclear. The 2002 Virginia law which allegedly makes it difficult for military personnel to cast absentee votes was passed by a Republican legislature and signed by a Democratic governor. Isn’t there something that can be done about this?

Absentee Military Ballots

HEADS UP!!! If you have a deployed relative or know someone who does, the deadline is fast approaching.

Va. candidates step up courting of military votes
By: William C. Flook Examiner Staff Writer

October 2, 2009

Virginia's gubernatorial candidates jockeyed for a wealth of active-duty and veterans votes, as political groups stepped up efforts this week to help overseas military voters navigate a vexing absentee ballot process.

Campaign officials hope for a smoother time than last year's presidential election, when a dispute over how to fill out absentee forms nearly invalidated dozens of military absentee ballots in Fairfax County. While far from tipping the election, the episode shone a harsh light on the confusing, technicality-fraught process by which members of the military cast their ballots.

Virginia is using a different ballot this year that officials don't expect to cause the same confusion. Overseas military personnel and their families are now able to receive a ballot by e-mail, and many members of the armed forces are already registered after intense efforts last year.

The changes are expected to benefit Republican nominee Bob McDonnell, a former Army officer who spent much of his life in Hampton Roads, a region heavy in military votes.

"Our biggest [goal] is to make sure that all those servicemen and women, regardless of where they're stationed, are given the opportunity to have their ballot counted, which obviously was an issue last time," said deputy McDonnell campaign manager Dave Rexrode.

McDonnell's Democratic opponent -- Creigh Deeds -- is far from conceding the military vote. Democrats have mounted a broad outreach to veterans especially, with a Veterans for Deeds committee headed by Sen. Jim Webb.

"If you look at the legislation that's come out of not only the [Virginia] General Assembly but Congress as well, and the support for veterans and military families specifically, a lot of that legislation has started on the Democratic side," said Joe Harmon, chairman of the Virginia Democratic Party's Veterans and Military Families Caucus.

Despite the changes, military personnel serving abroad still face numerous procedural hurdles when trying to send a ballot, said Ford O'Connell, president of ProjectVirginia Inc., a Republican-affiliated political action committee helping sign up military voters.

"The folks that protect us should not face a lot of roadblocks when they are exercising their right to vote," he said.

Monday is the deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 3 election, although the State Board of Elections allows overseas members of the armed forces in some cases to register up until Oct. 27.

Thank You DCExaminer for publishing this timely information.

Thank You veterans for defending our right to exercise our voting privileges.

Military Absentee Ballots Being Rejected?

From our friends at Vets for Freedom

Fairfax County Virginia Rejection of Military Absentee Ballots

· The Fairfax County Registrar—and possibly other Registrars in Virginia—is rejecting most Federal Write-in Absentee Ballots (FWAB) cast by our men and women in uniform.

· The FWAB is a federally mandated write-in ballot that allows military servicemembers and their dependents to cast an absentee ballot when they have not received a ballot before the election. It is a safety net that allows a servicemember to vote even if the mail truck hasn't reached his or her remote base in Iraq or Afghanistan in time to cast a regular absentee ballot.

· Why is the Fairfax Registrar rejecting these ballots? The Registrar states that the witness who signs the envelope containing the FWAB must include his or her address—but most of the ballots don't include the witness' address.

· Virginia law does not require a witness address for any other type of absentee ballot. So, for example, a Virginia resident attending college out of state does not need to include her witness' address on her absentee ballot envelope. But the Fairfax County Registrar is holding servicemembers, including those currently defending their country in war zones, to a much more exacting standard, requiring the witnesses who sign their FWABs to include their address.

· To make matters worse, the Federal form (SF-186A) that is used for the FWAB does not have a space for witnesses to include their address. And the Department of Defense's official Voting Assistance Guide, which it provides to servicemembers as an instruction manual for casting votes while overseas, does not tell servicemembers that they must include an address for their witness. The servicemember would thus have no way of knowing of this requirement.

· Federal law does not allow this type of disparate treatment of servicemembers. The Uniform and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voter Act (UOCAVA), 42 U.S.C. § 1973ff-2, requires states to process FWABs "in the manner provided by law for absentee ballots in the State involved." (emphasis added). In other words, the FWAB must be treated like any other absentee ballot under state law and may not be subject to more restrictive requirements. Yet that is precisely what is being done here.

Absentee Military Ballots

Voting is one of our democracy’s highest privileges.

Register/Request Absentee Ballot
U.S. Senator John Cornyn, Texas

See Also:
Video: How to Register & Request an Absentee Ballot

Voting is a privilege guaranteed by our Constitution and ensured by our men and women in uniform. Yet, for far too many military personnel stationed away from home, it is difficult or even impossible to exercise their right to vote.

Nearly 1,000,000 military and overseas absentee ballots were requested for the 2006 election, but only one-third of them were actually counted. That means that more than 660,000 interested military voters were ultimately not able to have their voices heard. This is unacceptable.

We must protect the rights of our soldiers—and their families—to vote and have that vote counted. Help a loved one or friend make sure they are registered, their ballot application is processed, and their vote is delivered and counted. Democrat, Republican, Independent…party affiliation or personal views are irrelevant. We ought to make certain they are able to vote.

This web site is a portal to great information that will make it easier for our men and women in uniform to do that which they have worked so hard to make so simple for the rest of us. They often put their lives on the line to guarantee the freedoms that make this country exceptional, and they deserve every opportunity to exercise the basic right to vote themselves. Let’s make certain they have exactly that.

God Bless our troops and the United States of America,

John Cornyn
U.S. Senator from Texas