NEW WEB VIDEO – Vets on Military Voting: Fix it Already!
Arlington, VA – Today, Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) released a new web video to highlight the recent House Armed Services Committee hearing on the DoD’s Federal Voting Assistance program. This hearing attempted to confront the challenges military personnel face in obtaining or submitting an absentee ballot, but unfortunately, despite direct questions from the members, no answers were forthcoming as to why reforms mandated by Congress had not taken place.
Jessie Jane Duff, Gunnery Sergeant, USMC (Ret) and member of the Concerned Veterans for America’s organizing committee said the following:
“Our military remain the most disenfranchised voting group in the United States today. Our leaders in Washington face big challenges with the $16 trillion national debt, runaway spending and a struggling economy. Compared to those problems, this one should be an easy fix (to say nothing of the right thing to do). All they have to do is set up an office and add a piece of paper to the pile when a service member checks in. If they “don’t get it” on something as straightforward as military voting, why should we be surprised that we haven’t seen progress on the dire challenges facing the nation we fought for?”
To schedule an interview with Jessie Jane Duff, please contact Kate Pomeroy
at 703-638-3927 or press@concernedveteransforamerica.org.
Concerned Veterans for America is a nonpartisan, non-profit, 501(c)(4) organization that advocates for policies that will preserve the freedom and liberty we and our families so proudly fought and sacrificed to defend.
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Roger Stock
Sep 19, 2012 @ 19:01:25
Anyone in the military can vote by absentee ballot in the elections of their domicile location. There is no trick to it, and they shouldn’t need a Voter Assistance Officer. I would predict that the military voting rate would be slightly below their civilian counterparts and at 10% that’s exactly where it is. This seems like a non-issue.
Michael mcintire
Sep 19, 2012 @ 12:41:46
As a military member I was registered to vote in Hawaii. Ballots always arrived 1 week or less prior to election this negating my vote. As a resident now living in Hawaii I still got my ballot late. Day of election. My point is states are generally incompetent when it comes to voting. I have heard that al gore tried to get military absentee ballots thrown out. I have heard that absentee ballots are not even counted unless election is in recount. The govt has done nothing to dispell rumors. Federally dod could set up computers to vote in federal elections. What’s the problem. Unfortunatly states run by democratic majority s don’t want the military to vote as its usually conservative. It’s a fix that requires leadership and action. This don’t expect anything to happen
Glen Haas
Sep 19, 2012 @ 11:13:24
True Americans should be ashamed of our current administration’s treatment of our Military, our Military personnel, and our Vets!!
sharon Kay
Sep 19, 2012 @ 11:07:40
This is terrible. I have read of instances of voter registrations being sent to dogs & dead people for crying out loud. How can it be so difficult to allow our military to vote?
Peter Wohld
Sep 17, 2012 @ 21:26:08
What is the problem?
The vast majority of active duty military service personnel should have access to a computer and the Internet. All they need is an appropriate Web site link to get started. The process to both register to vote and to request an absentee ballot online might take 10 to 20 minutes. Spouses and eligible dependents can also use the Web.
All any voting assistance officer might need to do is to provide access to a computer, the Internet, and an appropriate Web site link such as http://www.fvap.gov or http://www.heroesvote.org.
Suitable means should be adopted to promote an increased request rate for absentee ballot requests – like requiring evidence from each military member that a reasonable attempt was made. Successes and failures could be tallied and used to evaluate the ongoing, Voting Assistance Program.
This needs to be entirely free on any political party involvement. I feel the problem with a low military voting turnout is not a lack of resources but a lack of support from the Commander in Chief and the high-level military brass.
Peter Wohld
Ed Payne
Sep 17, 2012 @ 06:56:21
Understanding that the focus of the Military Vote campaign is, for political convenience, the national election, we really need to look at Military Citizenship in its entirety. I, for example, am registered to participate in not only the national but state, county, township and certain regional ballot initiatives. It is primarily the states and party responsibilities to address this issue as the complexity of determining who receives appropriate voting information would overwhelm the DOD with highly politicized information and activity. The DOD could provide the conduit for the dissemination of the information but the collection and packaging of the information really needs to be performed by the election officials at the various levels. I think slamming the DOD with all of this is unwarranted.