Posted on 07/17/2004 7:30:07 PM PDT by notforhire
No Ballots for Those Risking Bullets: As you read this, there's a young Marine patrolling the roadside in Ramallah or Fallujah looking for IEDs. As he does, he daydreams. He thinks about his young wife in San Diego, his mom and dad, and the dog he found at the pound. He remembers that the presidential election is few short months away and he'll need to track down his unit's voting assistance officer and get an absentee ballot. He wants to vote for President Bush because he respects him, thinks he's been a good commander-in-chief. Sure, being in Iraq, several thousand miles away from home, sucks but that's what he does. He's a Marine and he's proud to do whatever he can to help these poor people find their way to freedom.
He's too young to remember that, four years ago in the last presidential election, military absentee ballots were a big deal. In the deciding battleground of Florida, Democratic candidate Al Gore and a team of lawyers went to great lengths to prevent military absentee ballots from being counted. They fought over every ballot, one by one, challenging the authenticity of signatures, noting the lack of postmarks, and contesting incomplete or, in some cases, handwritten entries. While Gore, Jesse Jackson and company were blubbering about "disenfranchised voters" in Palm Beach apparently incapable of following a line and punching out a chad, thousands of men and women serving their country abroad, some in combat zones, were having their votes systematically negated.
In heavily Republican Duval County, Florida, five Gore lawyers contested every one of hundreds of military votes during a 19-hour process running until 4:00 AM. It took the Bush campaign filing a lawsuit in five Florida counties to prevent the discarding of military ballots that didn't have a postmark. (Mail services in the military, especially in the more remote assignments, are a different animal. Not all military mail is processed through U.S. postal services). U.S. District Judge Lacey Collier ordered Florida's canvassing board to cease and desist, reminding them "their job is to accept votes, not reject them."
Apparently the liberal mantra of "supporting our troops" doesn't mean supporting their right to vote. No doubt, somewhere in a room lawyers for John Kerry are huddled in strategic anticipation, drawing up legal briefs for future military ballots cast abroad.
Why do liberals want to count votes of the seemingly incapable and exclude those serving our nation? A 1997 study published by Harvard's Olin Institute for Strategic Studies found the ratio of military members describing themselves as conservative versus liberal to be 23 to 1 -- and growing! The Triangle Institute for Strategic Studies (TISS), in research conducted during the Clinton administration, discovered that military officers define themselves as Republican by a margin of 8 to 1. In today's American military, there are approximately 2.3 million members of the active duty, guard and reserves. They have families of legal voting age as well. That's a voting block of approximately 4 million. Key battleground states Florida, Missouri and New Mexico have significantly large military populations.
So, the young Marine marches his patrol. It doesn't enter his mind that he, a young adult serving his country, could potentially not have his vote counted. In the military, people do what they say. They stand behind their word. It's black and white. Every aspect of military life is regulated.
That's what should alarm the Kerry campaign the most.
The soldier knows of self-proclaimed "war hero" Kerry's activities in the post-Vietnam years. The soldier knows Kerry's voting record over the last twenty years does not include support for a single weapon system or intelligence service upgrade. The soldier plans to repay him this November. - Posted 11:50 AM
bump
These are the same people who made up the lie in 2000 that
a) Black people were not allowed to vote
b) Not all votes were being 'counted' (actually a guise to destroy & manlipulate the chads to get a GORE vote or Destroy the Bush vote
c) Now Kerry is claiming that 1 million black votes are being lost (shit, and the votes has not even cast as yet)
d) And now they are doing their utmost to get 57,000 felons to vote for them claiming that the list is 'contaminated' and full of errors.
Did I mention that they tried to destroy the military votes (overwhelmingly Repubican) and are now doing the same?
bump!!!!
BUMP
AND BUMP AGAIN Everyone should know about this.
The 23 -to- 1 ratio of Americans to liberals in the military is why Clinton tried so hard to promote diveristy (e.g. Marxism)in the military. To a degree he succeeded, just as Stalin did, but now the pendulum is swinging the other way.
Major Bump
Ping for your ideas.
That should actually be kerry's second biggest worry. There are a lot more of us veterans than there are active duty military. We remember.
--- the military describe themselves as conservatives by a ratio of 23 to 1 --- and growing.
algore: "Count every vote!"
Bug-eyed Chad Search
The UOCAVA (Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act)
requires that the states and territories allow certain U.S. citizens, as defined below,
to register and vote absentee in elections for Federal office.
These groups include:
Members of the Uniformed Services (including Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard)
Merchant Marines
Eligible family members of the above
Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service,
and Commissioned Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
U.S. citizens employed by the Federal Government residing outside the U.S.,
and All other private U.S. citizens residing outside the U.S.
If you are eligible to register under UOCAVA, CLICK HERE and follow the instructions.
For state-by-state voting deadlines and calendar CLICK HERE
General Election Date: Tuesday, November 2, 2004
IMPORTANT DATA
Military Voting for 2004
YOUR VOTE will count!
Military Voter Registration Info
Just Click on a flag to Visit that Branch of Service Voting Info
Guard
We still wonder if our votes are going to count, though. But we're voting anyway.
BTTT!!!!!!!
bump to the top!!!!!
Every one of these votes must count!
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