This is OUTRAGEOUS!
Votes have got to count no matter where a citizen lives and the Department of Defense needs to make damn sure that the armed forces have every opportunity along with clear, concise instructions on doing so with accelerated mail service, preferably FedEx overnight!
Senator John Cornyn and Congressmen Roy Blunt are leading the charge to correct this outrageous injustice with Minority Whip Blunt saying “The right to vote is one of the most vital and inalienable rights in our great nation. For our Armed Forces, however, carrying out that right is too often marred in bureaucratic hurdles and complications,’ Blunt said. ‘The fact that less than 17 percent of the 6 million citizens serving our nation overseas eligible to vote participated in the 2006 election demonstrates the overwhelming need to address this problem. That is why I have introduced this resolution today - to urge the Department of Defense to take every step to educate our Armed Forces about participating in this year’s historic election.”
Senate Bill Aimed at Making Absentee Ballots from Overseas Count
Although roughly 6 million U.S. citizens are eligible to vote oversees using absentee ballots — many of whom are serving in the military — only a fraction of their ballots are being counted.
The bipartisan Election Assistance Commission found that of the nearly 1 million absentee ballots sent out for the 2006 election, only 300,000 actually were counted. Some estimate the low return of absentee ballots meant 400,000 service members’ votes overseas weren’t counted.
The problem seems to be the mail. It takes 18 days for the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail to Iraq and 18 days for it to be returned.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, has introduced legislation that would allow absentee ballots to be sent via Federal Express to those serving in the military, although there reportedly is resistance from the postal union.
“It should be a national scandal that, here, our men and women in uniform who are protecting our freedom who are exposing themselves to harm are being denied the most basic civil right, and that is the right to vote,” Cornyn said.
Cornyn has 29 co-sponsors to his Military Voting Protection Act, all of them Republican.
Make sure to call or write your Representatives in both Houses in support of this effort!
by the fact that little has ever been said about the deliberate suppression of the Military ballots during the Florida fiasco of 2000. THAT to me, the deliberate Democrat attack on the voting rights of our military, was the REAL story of Election Fraud in 2000 -- and it was swept under the rug.