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July 24, 2008
Silence From Left On Military Voting
The Soldier Voting Scandal
by Robert D. Novak
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Rep. Roy Blunt, the House Republican whip, on July 8 introduced a resolution demanding that the Defense Department better enable U.S. military personnel overseas to vote in the November elections.
That act was followed by silence.
Democrats normally leap on an opportunity to find fault with the Bush Pentagon. But not a single Democrat joined Blunt as a co-sponsor, and an all-Republican proposal cannot pass in the Democratic-controlled House.
Analysis by the federal Election Assistance Commission, rejecting inflated Defense Department voting claims, estimated overseas and absentee military voting for the 2006 midterm elections at a disgracefully low 5.5 percent. The quality of voting statistics is so poor that there is no way to tell how many of the slightly over 330,000 votes actually were sent in by the absentee military voters and their dependents and how many by civilian Americans living abroad -- 6 million all total.
Nobody who has studied the question objectively sees any improvement since 2006, and that is a scandal. Retired U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Charles Henry wrote in the July issue of the U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings: "While virtually everyone involved seems to agree that military people deserve at least equal opportunity when it comes to having their votes counted, indications are that in November 2008, many thousands of service members who try to vote will do so in vain."
Henry, now an independent broadcast journalist, has personal experience with this enduring scandal. While serving as a Marine at sea off Iran, he received his 1980 presidential ballot too late to count. President Harry Truman said of troops fighting in Korea, "The least we at home can do is to make sure that they are able to enjoy the rights they are being asked to fight to preserve." But the U.S. military that has so perfected the art of war over the past half-century is at a loss to enable soldiers to vote.
A combat officer has enough to do without handling the votes of troopers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. A Defense Department Inspector General's report in March last year recommended "appointment of civilian personnel" as "voting assistance officers." The Pentagon brass rejected the idea.
I reported four years ago that the problems of 2000 overseas military voting had not been corrected for the 2004 presidential election. At that time, Under Secretary of Defense David Chu was put in charge of the problem. During massive turnover at the Pentagon, Chu remains in place -- best known among critics of the military vote problem for his chronic failure to return telephone calls.
Congressional attention to the problem has been scattered and limited mostly to Republicans such as Sen. John Cornyn, who earlier this year decried "a lack of will" at the Pentagon to solve the voting problem. Democratic interest about tackling the problem might be tempered by apprehension that soldiers will cast too many Republican votes.
Nevertheless, at least one prominent Democrat -- House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer -- described himself to me as eager to deal with this problem. (Hoyer's home state of Maryland is one of the worst offenders, with ballots of only 4.1 percent of overseas voters counted in 2006.) Hoyer and Blunt, who have become friendly adversaries in a bitterly partisan Congress, conferred several weeks ago and agreed in principle on co-sponsoring a resolution aimed at getting the Defense Department moving.
Hoyer wanted the resolution to cover expatriate Americans as well as the military, and Blunt did not object. They turned the issue over to their staffers and went about the business of major legislation. Blunt had instructed his staff to seek agreement with Democrats but, if not, to introduce a resolution applying only to the military, which was the outcome.
Wild Thing's comment.........
This is really disheartening, complete disgrace!!!!!! The Military ballots should count two times.
The Dems in general prevent the military vote. This time won’t be any different... it’ll probably be worse.
I remember how Gore worked to prevent the military vote from being counted in the 2000 election. And he pulled it off too, with the help of the Chicago political machine he succeeded in disallowing the vast majority of overseas military votes. That same Chicago machine now has a horse in the race.
This would be a GREAT campaign issue for McCain to take the lead on.
No excuses, Republicans Senators and Congressman should be screaming from the housetops.
Posted by Wild Thing at July 24, 2008 04:45 AM
Comments
Don't ask plus don't tell plus don't count the US Military Absentee Ballots = CHANGE!
Posted by: darthcrUSAderworldtour07 at July 24, 2008 06:13 AM
I say we must contact our Represenatives to insure that they absolutely get to vote and have that vote counted!! I will be contacting my Senators again- !!
Sen. John Cornyn represents my district- HE may be Republican - but he is just picking up a big paycheck far as I can tell!- I contacted Kay Bailey Hutchinson - reminding her that her DEM Senate position was in JEOPARDY if she did not vote for medicare- she sent back an email that she got the message-! People need to speak up- IT DOES HELP!
Posted by: Cheryl Zee at July 24, 2008 09:03 AM
I don't hold out much hope that anything will change, back in '68 it was, "your ballot didn't get counted because it was received too late" which was nonsense. There is absolutely no excuse for any legitimate absentee ballot not being counted from the battlefield to the local level, especially when the deadline for they're being sent is two to three weeks prior to the election from the combat zones. 40 years ago it took about 7 days for a letter to be delivered to or from a soldier in the field even in a remote location. Remember what Democrat FDR's Uncle Joe said.
"Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything..."
~~ Josef Stalin
With two states being disenfranchised by the Democrats, this primary has proved Stalin right.
Posted by: Jack at July 24, 2008 12:17 PM
Darth, yesssss the way they treat our military is unforgivable. Their vote should be extremely important they have earned it more then anyone. Our troops and our Veterans!!!!
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 24, 2008 07:40 PM
Cheryl, that is fantastic that you did that. I will too, we can at least try to remind them we are watching this and how important it is.
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 24, 2008 07:43 PM
Jack, oh man I didn't know they were doing this same bs back then too. This is disgusting beyond anything. Unforgivable!!
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 24, 2008 07:45 PM
They know the military don't vote dummycrap. They vote republican because voting for a dummy goes against what they get paid for--against themselves.
Plus, who wants to vote for a dummy anyway?
Posted by: Lynn at July 24, 2008 07:53 PM
