Military Voting Accountability Starts Today
Tom Perez is tasked today with the unenviable job of putting lipstick on the DOJ’s military voting pig. No doubt he’ll talk about the Department’s “aggressive enforcement” and multiple lawsuits. He’ll leave out the part about it taking weeks to file the lawsuits after the violations were discovered by Pajamas Media. He’ll omit the part about tedious delays, talk, and negotiations instead of action in the precious days leading up to the election.
I doubt he will mention Maryland and the unconstitutional plan the DOJ greenlighted there which resulted in wholesale disenfranchisement of military voters. Thankfully, we can count on Eric Eversole to tell Congress how the Justice Department blessed a plan for Maryland to send ballots overseas that omitted state contests, like the one between Governor Martin O’Malley and Republican challenger Bob Ehrlich.
I have learned through multiple sources with direct knowledge that the Perez- and Julie Fernandes-run Voting Section advised states that it would be acceptable under federal law to omit down-ballot state contests and only give servicemembers overseas the right to vote in federal contests.
Congress should ask Tom Perez today if Voting Section staff advised states that they could avoid Justice lawsuits by simply erasing or omitting the state contests from the ballots mailed overseas. If he doesn’t answer straight, ask him if such advice was given to Maryland and Rokey Suleman of the District of Columbia Board of Elections, or any other state.
If Perez answers truthfully — which he will have to because documents prove it — he will have to admit such guidance was given. He might deflect the question and say there is nothing wrong with it, except there is. Omitting state contests have been found by a federal court to be an unconstitutional deprivation of the soldier’s right to vote: Eversole’s Military Voter Protection Project sued Maryland because it treated military voters differently than regular voters by omitting state contests in ballots sent overseas, and Eversole won. Maryland servicemembers could vote for everyone running, despite DOJ’s efforts to the contrary. Simply, DOJ blessed a plan for military voters in Maryland that a federal court found to be unconstitutional. More lipstick please, for Mr. Perez’s pig.
Recall that Tom Perez is the same Obama appointee who provided accuracy-challenged testimony about the New Black Panther dismissal and the Department’s unwillingness to enforce civil rights laws in a race-neutral fashion. Committee members should proceed cautiously.
I also suspect Tom Perez won’t tell the whole story about Illinois. The DOJ entered a settlement agreement with Illinois that plainly flouted the express command of Congress. Federal law required ballots to mail 45 days in advance. Early mailing is important for many reasons, including the ability to enjoy essentially an express mail “wormhole” a few days before the election that rockets ballots stateside for counting. Illinois allows overseas ballots to be counted 15 days after the election. Fail to follow federal law? No problem, Perez’s DOJ simply entered a settlement that ignored the 45 day law and artificially tacked on the 15 extra days under state law to count towards reaching 45 days. Problem was, only 30 of those 45 days were before the election. Congress explicitly rejected such a fix.
Illinois, Maryland, and D.C. were not the only places where the DOJ blew it.
The saga of 2010 military voting is a loud warning to House Republicans that Perez’s shop is not to be trusted heading into 2012, even if there are wholesale attitude and personnel adjustments. He might start the adjustments with the person responsible for telling Maryland and other states they could unconstitutionally disenfranchise our soldiers and sailors. If Perez won’t conduct a housecleaning, Senator Barrasso has the answer.
IF military members are effectively denied the right to vote-for any reason/machination-then suffice it to say that no one is safe to vote.
Why?Because NO one has more of a right to vote than those who protect the nation’s liberties, thereby enjpying the right to vote to begin with!
Simple as that.
The voting section manager mostly responsible for this disaster is Rebecca J Wertz. She takes months to read memos. She can’t decide matters. She jumps at her own shadow and fears lawsuits and ever taking a chance. In the past other voting section chiefs and front office managers could force her to act, but the current manager couldn’t manage his way out of a paper bag and his boss is the partisan hack mentioned in the article. It is much worse than the author let’s on.
Here is how to express opinions to Ms. Wertz:
U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division, Voting Section
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Room NWB-7254
Washington, DC 20530
Phone: (202) 305-1291
Fax: (202) 307-3961
E-Mail: rebecca.j.wertz@usdoj.gov
“It is much worse than the author let’s on.” There should be no apostrophe in “lets;” an apostrophe denotes a contraction between “let us.”
Thatisall.
thankyouforthebull$hitalertongrammeeeeeerrr\
It could cause a ripple in the force…
This is such basic basic basic grammar, with a very easy to understand rule, that criticizing policing of it is like criticizing catching burglars.
“The DOJ entered a settlement agreement with Illinois that plainly flaunted the express command of Congress.”
No. It flouted Congress’s command. The DoJ may have flaunted their contempt for Congress by entering that settlement. Please learn the difference.
Nicely done.
OMG Oliver, learn the difference between sticking to subject and just being a grammar twit…always looking for something off subject to spout off about. we know what he meant and we realize the fact that you are just trying to belittle someone for silly reasons. Makes you feel big in the morning does it..
“The simple message: Eric Holder’s Justice Department is no longer trusted to empower men and women in arms to vote, especially in 2012.”
Why was Eric Holder’s Justice Department ever trusted to empower men and women in arms to vote? With his track record, it’s a wonder they even got ballots. This is the worst form of Chicago politics. Try to disenfranchise people you think are going to vote againt your party. It really is disgusting. To me, this is an even bigger crime than the Black Panther’s case. This man actually prevented people from voting, and not just a few of them. We’re talking thousands of them who live throughout the country. For this alone Holder should be impeached, not that Obama would even say anything about it.
You are right, there will not be anything done about Holder.
Nothing done about anything that Obama and cronies want, against the law or not..
In the past two years, members of the military have learned that their Commander in Chief is clearly anti-military, as is most of his Cabinet, despite what they all may say. They have also learned that he is in general a big liar.
Obama knows that the military vote is most likely anti-Democrat, as it certainly should be, so it is a matter of self-preservation that he delay, subvert, and combat any move to speed up the delivery of absentee ballots in both directions. There will be no improvement until substantial penalties are imposed. This is what must happen if any of the many violations of the law and decency that the present administration regularly commits are to be defeated. Parents of military members should also realize this and, if they don’t already do so, vote out all Democrats from whatever office they may hold. Let’s have a clean sweep in 2012!
Impeachment is too light a punishment for Holder and his accomplices.
In my opinion, actions like voter fraud and intimidation threaten the very legitimacy of our government. Lock these men in jail and throw away the key. Fine them most of their earthly possessions. Punish them so severely that they bitterly regret their decisions for the rest of their lives and others are strongly discouraged from following their lead.
To put it simply, the Democrat party believes in cheating, to win elections. Why else would they be opposed to positive voter ID. Why this has gone on for years, ad naseum, without people going to jail, is the question.
We cannot protect the right to vote for those who die for us. American Politics are evil. This government is no different than Mubarak was in Egypt and it is time for Americans to take our country back. Politicians are nothing but blood sucking leeches.
Much as I loathe the Obama administration and Eric Holder, this problem is not of their making. Remember 1976? My absentee ballot arrived three days after the election. It’s not like there was a war on, or that Japan was a combat zone.
Congress has always ignored the problem. This is nothing new.
I still favor mandatory waivers of all (Federal, State, and Local) taxes for any member of the military whose ballot fails to reach him in time to vote in an election. The problem will be solved when it’s too expensive to ignore.
I like the way you think, but let’s take it a step further. IMO congress should enact a law requiring each properly “noticed” US voter registrar to “confirmed delivery mail” standard absentee ballots appropriate to the precincts in which overseas serving military members normally reside [when stateside] so as to be in their hands at least 15 days prior to each election. Failure to do so would subject such registrar to a $1K fine and one day in jail per each voter so disenfranchised, any multiple sentences to NOT be allowed concurrency.
Further, upon filing proper notice, said miss-served voter would receive a five year exemption from payment of property. motor vehicle, use [sales] and income taxes for each jurisdiction served by said election. I like that idea. When it fails, hit government in the pocketbook. And put a few political hacks behind bars.
It’s sickening. The insidious stench of the “progressives” has fouled the air at the last bastion of law and order – the Department of Justice. The DOJ is now an arm of the Democrat party and the White House to further its own interests, consolidate power and selectively enforce laws that would adversely affect its list of “enemies” and political opponents. Very scary indeed. Perhaps this Congress will take bold steps to expose the corruption and maybe even unload Eric Holder, who seems to be at best, an amiable dunce and at worst, a politically driven, “progressive” hack.
Thanks for this powerful essay, J. Christian. This time, may the righteous prevail.
The corrupt DOJ goes out of its way to enable prisoners and non-citizens to vote. For my money, our military should be the first to vote and their votes should be counted at least twice.
And how was it that Rahm Emanuel was able, on the one hand, to utilize an exception to Illinois law to claim residency in Chicago, intended for military voters, for his race for mayor, and on the other deny voting rights to those same Illinois military personnel???
The Chicago way lives on. I remember my dad telling me “If you have any doubts about the Resurrection, just go to Chicago on election day… the numbers of dead people who managed to vote is proof positive that ‘The dead shall rise’.” The DOJ/ Democrats have no desire to enforce a rule that will have an adverse effect upon their well oiled machinations. Every effort will be made to continue their foot dragging.
This will just keep on going until someone gets some balls.
Republicans need to wake up and stop playing softball … go after the prosecute the SOBs.