The Scandal of Military Voter Disenfranchisement
In a speech to the House of Commons on August 20, 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill said:
The gratitude of every home in our island, in our empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge of mortal danger, are turning the tide of world war by their prowess and their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
These eloquent words about the Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain could apply equally to the men and women of the United States Armed Forces today. The entire U.S. military establishment, including the National Guard and Reserve, amounts to less than three-fourths of 1 percent of the U.S. population. It is these few who, by their prowess and their devotion, have protected all Americans from a repeat of the horrors of September 11, 2001.
What do these few ask of our country in exchange for their valiant service? They have every right to ask, and indeed to demand, that they be given the opportunity to cast ballots in elections that get counted. In a 1952 letter to Congress, President Harry S. Truman wrote:
About 2,500,000 men and women in the Armed Forces are of voting age at the present time. Many of those in uniform are serving overseas, or in parts of the country distant from their homes. They are unable to return to their States either to register or to vote. Yet these men and women, who are serving their country and in many cases risking their lives, deserve above all others to exercise the right to vote in this election year. At a time when these young people are defending our country and its free institutions, 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.
President Truman’s letter is included in a 1952 report of the Subcommittee on Elections, Committee on House Administration, U.S. House of Representatives, concerning voting rights for military personnel fighting the Korean War. The Honorable C.G. Hall, secretary of state of Arkansas and president of the National Association of Secretaries of State, testified that military personnel in Korea and elsewhere were likely to be disenfranchised because late primaries, ballot access lawsuits, and other problems made it impossible for local election officials (LEOs) to print and mail absentee ballots until just a few days before Election Day.
In his 1952 letter, President Truman called upon the states to fix this problem, and he called upon Congress to enact temporary federal legislation for the 1952 presidential election. He wrote,
Any such legislation by Congress should be temporary, since it should be possible to make all the necessary changes in State laws before the congressional elections of 1954.
Well, it did not work out that way. The Korean War ground to an inconclusive halt in 1952, the issue dropped off our national radar screen, and the states did not fix the problem. Finally, in 2009, Congress enacted the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE Act). This new law requires every state to mail out absentee ballots to military personnel and family members by the 45th day before Election Day (e.g., September 18, 2010). Several sstates with late primaries applied for and received waivers for 2010, and agreed to extend the deadline for the return of ballots mailed in from overseas.
How about an amendment to the MOVE Act, so that military members who don’t get their absentee ballots on time are allowed to skip paying state and local income taxes for the year?
Good idea but two flaws. Some states have no income taxes and the period should extend through the term of whomever is on the ballot. Six years for Senate and four for President or Governor. Include federal taxes and this will be an incentive to get votes to them.
Sign on Marine Barracks outside of Baghdad:
“America is not at war, We are at war. America is at the Mall.”
How do you think this vote travesty impacts our troops.
Raise Hell, America.
American Leftists declared war on the US armed forces after WW II. As well as on American civilians, for that matter. The question on the table is: what are we gonna do about it? My best guess is — nothing. Maybe some Marines ought to come back and pick up some ballots on their own from these Dem politicians. Even better if they refuse to hand ‘em over.
I do not see why the military just doesn’t conduct it’s own election right where they are stationed and then add the vote to the state totals.
It is a national disgrace that illegal aliens have their vote more protected than our military members.
On Tuesday evening, as I was preparing to vote, I noted with pride that my daughter (registered in the same precinct) had already voted. Immediately above my name on the list of registered voters was the name of my youngest son, who is a Marine currently deployed on a Navy ship. I was saddened to see that he had not voted, and then realized that it was nearly impossible to get/receive mail from him, which is understandable given his location. Why can’t we, as a country, make it easy for those who put their lives on the line defending us to cast a ballot? Why is it easier to come here from a foreign country and obtain social services than it is for our troops to vote? Shame on us!
I suspect that the Justice Dept will have plenty of explaining to do with the new Congress. If any of the issues see the light of day is the problem.
The disenfranchisement of our military personnel smacks of Stalinist era leadership. Its against the law right now to ask an individual for identification or proof of citizenship. Where as, our military is intentionally left out on purpose. Now that we have a Republican Congress, its first job should be to guarantee the military the right to vote. It should also call for the use of identification at each voting precinct and/or proof of citizenship. Without such guarantees we are only setting ourselves up to have the 2012 election hijacked. If we press the point via Congress and the Bill is rejected by the Senate or the President, it will prove our point.
This is an absolute outrage and has been reported in the media for at least 3weeks, yet no resolution. Its disgusting, the calculated incompetence and disenfranchisement was purposeful b/c they know the military overwhelmingly goes R. No ballots to those who put their lives on the line for this country, but votes were taken personally to the convicts in IL. Since when do the convicts get to vote????? Did nay reporter ever ask Obama about this failure???? He’s supposed to be the commander-in-chief and he would actually have garnered some respect had he acted to rectify this problem.
Left/liberals love illegal aliens and piss on our military.
And yet again, “Law Enforcement” is the Great Enabler for this. Be sure to thank them appropriately for the OUTSTANDING job they have done.
Perhaps disenfranchised soldiers could bring a lawsuit demanding that Illinois and other states forfeit some of their representation in Congress, according to section 2 of the 14th Amendment:
“Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age,* and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.”
We certainly can complain about the DOJ not doing their job, but we conservatives didn’t do much to make sure this outrage from the 2000 election was remedied and we did have the majority to accomplish it. That said, it does not fall on deaf ears that the Dems seems to be those most prone to disenfranchise the public with scores of groups who’s aim is to commit voter fraud in every way possible, Acorn is a great example. What is it about liberals that honor seems to be something they don’t recognize or understand?
Why is it that no one seems to ever go to jail for the kind of voter fraud we see on a regular basis.
The problem will not be cleaned up until such time as we have the political will to put some teeth in the law. That means STRINGENT criminal penalties for election tampering, including prison sentences for such things as voter intimidation, vote theft, and failing to provide military voters the opportunity to vote. That also means that we must require that a NEW ELECTION BE HELD whenever there has been any significant amount of election tampering.
Someone who knows law please speak to this: Could members of the military bring a lawsuit so that election results cannot be certified until the military has had a chance to vote? I’m talking specifically about THIS election.
If Al Franken could drag out the Minnesota senator election for six months, shouldn’t our servicemembers be able to delay the installment of the senators and congressmen from those states that have not counted votes from their overseas servicemen until such time as they do? Am I missing something here?
What must not be forgotten is that this year’s disenfranchisement of the military was in VIOLATION of the law. We need criminal penalties for officials fail to get military ballots out as per the deadline.
The disenfranchisement of military personnel is only part of a larger problem of election fraud. Unfortunately, Americans accept voter fraud and in many cases wink at it. But election fraud is the theft of democracy and attacks the very core of Representative government and the Consent of the Governed in our Declaration of Independence.
Those failing to mail ballots to our brave men and women on the front lines well knew how our defenders would vote; that’s why they were cheated.
Commenter Bill Lawrence suggested criminal penalties for officials who fail to get military ballots out on time; I agree, but make those penalties, and all penalties for voter fraud severe. Not a few months in a minimum security “white collar” penitentury, knowing they’ll be “taken care of” when they gey out, but long years at hard labor at some remote prison camp.
The new Congress needs to address this corruption…and take steps to ensure that those who attempt to “rig” elections in any way get the punishment they deserve.
God Bless our military!
This Justice department should be purged and Attorney General Holder removed from his position and tried for malfeasance or whatever the legal term for reckless incompetence and dereliction of duty. Their racist attitude on voter intimidation ignored for white voters, suing the sovereign state of Arizona, ignoring the open border problem with Mexico, ignoring the corruption evident within it’s ranks, calling Americans cowards; Holder is yet another example of the Obama administrations anti American bent and ineptitude.
Holder is anything BUT inept or incompetent. He is doing EXACTLY what The One wants him to do. And his minions in the DoJ are also following right along. As I said before, “Law Enforcement” is the enabler for all this. Be sure to thank them appropriately for the OUTSTANDING job they have done, over and over and over again. The stench is overwhelming.
Congress should pass a law authorizing overseas military commanders to send any service member, who does not get a ballot on time, home and back by the fastest means (most expensive) available and to bill the offending county Supervisor of Elections or State Secretary of State and authorizing the county or State to hold the official personally financially liable.
Maybe a few thousand recent war veterans should pay a visit to their home towns and hold their public officials accountable. The demoncratic operatives, and “Attornies General Project,” funded by George Sorass, goes to great lengths to ensure illegal aliens have their (illegal) votes count, but they deliberately sabotage those who risk their lives to protect our right to vote.
Such conduct is no different then treason. Both are a direct threat to our way of life, freedom and liberty. Both deserve punishment.
I just saw a video of a speech by the great Lt. Col. Allen West, soon to be seated in the 112th Congress representing Florida’s 22nd District. That man takes no shit from ANYbody, and is not afraid to be called politically incorrect. He FIGHTS BACK. I’m going to hope that he gets a seat on the Government Oversight Committee!
Give ‘em hell, Col. West!
If the military can get thousands of soldiers over there, why don’t they bring the ballots back to the US? Cant the military expedite delivery?
The MOVE statute says that the AG can enforce it, but it silent on whether the victim has a private action under Section 1983. Maryland DC seems to have just said that the victim does. Indiana LJ has just published an article on this. If anybody is interested, email me at erasmuse@Indiana.edu. If the election is close enough in Illinois and Alaska, private lawsuits should be tried.
Nonetheless, it would be good to clearly specify a private right of action in the MOVE statute itself— one giving attorney fees in case of victory, and the right to craft an equitable remedy that counts the votes of all those victimized, not just the named plaintiffs. Stiff statutory damages would be helpful too– perhaps 1 million dollars per voter, since the state inaction is so unpardonable?
I believe a solution to the problem would be that there be a delay in counting all the ballots of those states who refuse to include the arm services ballots
in their count. That would stop the total discounting the military ballots for purposefully not sending ballots out in time. I understand that the federal gov. is just as much a culprit as the Pentagon did not send them out in time on the previous election either. Where is the protection of equal rights voting rights to our service men and women who our serving our country. Why should they be disinfranchised? I’m a very angry voter since my state was one of the states that didn’t bother to send out ballots to our military personnel overseas on time. Maybe the Tea Party needs to get into this situation as well. Who and where are they being prevented. It’s probably some bureaucrat. A very unhappy voter!
In 2006, at the order of the military, military absentee ballots were held at the JMMT (Joint Military Mail Terminal) on Victory Base Complex, Iraq as low priority mail until they were no longer valid.
Our military is systemically disenfranchised, possibly due to their tradition conservative orientation.
I wrote an article (http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/10/end_the_military_voting_scanda.html ) that explored the same topic and offered a possible solution to fix the problem once and for all by the 2012 election.
I can not understand why this problem continues 60 years after President Truman first identified this as a critical issue.