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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| The Soldier Voting Scandal |
| 2008-07-24 |
| By Robert Novak 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. One presidential staffer who is familiar with the situation privately dismisses the Pentagon bureaucrats as "hopeless." In a lame-duck administration counting the days before a troubled eight years finally end, American fighting men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan deprived of their right to vote constitute the least of White House worries. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #11 The dems would do well to remember that members of the military are not their personal guards or slaves. I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God. |
| Posted by: Percy Spumble4268 2008-07-24 20:34 |
| #10 Unit Voting Officer. Been there, seen it, done it. You can't make them vote, but you can certainly make sure there's nothing on the DoD side that stopping the servicemember and that he/she has all the materials and gets what they need. Ask Mr. Gore about actions at the local level to obstruct it. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-07-24 18:43 |
| #9 They don't give a shit about people who may vote republican. They're too busy trying to get convicted felons the right to vote from prison. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-07-24 12:38 |
| #8 IIRC, the Dems made a targeted effort in 2000 in Florida to challenge military adsentee ballots. The ballots were inspected for any minute blemishes or marks on the ballots and then some high priced lawyers would argue that this was a "spoiled ballot" that shouldn't be counted. Mayor Daly of Chicago was in charge of the effort. |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2008-07-24 11:27 |
| #7 If you think the Democrats give a bloody damn about the soldier vote, take a hard look at the length of time Obama spent on the ground and with troops in theater. And to top it off, he "Agrees to Disagree" with General Petreaus. Believe me, he knows the deal. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-07-24 09:48 |
| #6 Here's a potential solution. Get the groups that send care packages to the troops to enclose absentee ballots to the units from specific states. That is what I will work on here in New York and I will press for our other state coordinators to do the same in their states. If we make up some generic stamps which can be filled in by the troops with Date, APO# and location that should bypass the postmark problem in years past. After that it is just a matter of the mail getting back to the US in time. DanNY NY State Coordinator Gathering of Eagles |
| Posted by: DanNY 2008-07-24 08:07 |
| #5 That party is just plain evil. EVIL. Democrats will do anything but the right thing. It is a party of sell outs and liars. There is nothing more racist, sexist, arrogant, two faced, hysterical, stupid, ignorant, or empty than a democrat in this time. I think I will drift away from the US now. None of youse are making any sense at all anymore. That criminal media empire and their coffers are setting up the downfall. Such a shame to lose the only sane nation on the planet. hmm, what to do? hmmmmmmm. |
| Posted by: newc 2008-07-24 07:17 |
| #4 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. Bull@hit. The US military has THOUSANDS of people every election year who work their backsides off to insure the troops know when and how to vote (Believe me - it's a metric, and the Higher-ups DO keep track of this stuff.) It's the party-controlled voting agencies back home that do everything in their power to keep the people who defend freedom from enjoying it. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2008-07-24 06:34 |
| #3 And the worst thing is, they are fighting and dying so that people (here and there) can vote. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2008-07-24 06:22 |
| #2 Except for those the MSM finds to quote in their 'news' articles, Grom. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2008-07-24 06:21 |
| #1 The military votes Republican. Anything to help them vote should be avoided. |
| Posted by: gromky 2008-07-24 05:58 |