This article has been posted to DoctorZin’s New News Blog!
Posted on 08/04/2004 5:31:23 AM PDT by presidio9
Thousands of votes from U.S. troops overseas could go uncounted again in November without emergency legislation extending deadlines for the ballots, a Chicago election official warned President Bush in a letter Tuesday.
Nearly 30 percent of military voters who requested ballots in 2000 didn't get them in time to vote. Theresa M. Petrone, a Democratic member of Chicago's three-person Board of Election Commissioners, told Bush the problem could be solved if he proposed emergency legislation giving election officials up to 14 days after Election Day to collect and count ballots.
Deadlines vary, but most states, including Illinois, require that ballots be received by Election Day. Other states, including Ohio and Florida, count them for up to 10 or more days later, as long as they were signed by Election Day.
"Every election cycle, election authorities such as Chicago receive military absentee ballots days or even weeks after the deadline, thus disqualifying these votes from being included in the election tally," Petrone wrote. "With hundreds of thousands of military personnel serving overseas, the voting bloc obviously could determine the outcome of our next presidential election."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Since there is a high rate of poor minority soldiers, I'm sure the NAACP will back this proposal...
This falls under the category of no-brainer. COunt the military votes, be they dem or right.
We should trust the Dems in Chicago and Palm Beach with 14 extra days to count votes? No way. Send the military their absentee ballots by Sept. 15 and require them to be returned by Oct. 1. No matter where they are stationed, they ought to be able to get them back home in a month...and then GOP poll officials should guard them like gold until everyone else's absentee votes are counted.
Seems to me any voting clerk who refused to count an absentee ballot on the basis that the USPS had not postmarked it should be taken before a firing squad and treated like any other insurrectionist.
It is, after all, a time of war, and harsh measures are sometimes required.
Send the ballots 2 weeks sooner. Why make the rest of the country wait? The dems will do enough to screw up the election here without having to wait longer for absentee ballots.
Yeah, right. 14 extra days to get those chads to line up the way you want them to. Mail the ballots 14 days earlier.
i am new here,and I really enjoy it. my husband is in the military, overseas in Korea, and he says it is very depressing becuz his chain of command is predominatly lib/ democrats.the atmosphere is very anti Bush, pro Kerry. i try to tell him that the race is very close, and not to listen to the kerry-lovers that surround him that are making the 2004 election seem hopeless for Bush. i think many overseas, isolated and with few news sources, are at risk for not voting in the election. and yes, his chain of command is all minority. does that sound racist? not meant to be...just factual.
Bump and Ping
Military vote story
My blood is coming to a slow boil again....
I posted a link to this story in the Canteen as well....
*HUGS!*
Please tell us if there's anything we can do from here -- if you hear anything that you need done in the States, we are on it!
I am sending an email to my Senators and Representatives today, both at the State and Federal level.
REALLY??? That's strange in a military environment.
I'm working as a contractor for the military mission in Iraq and over here, the sentiments are very heavily pro-Bush among the military and civilians alike.
Our votes HAVE to count.
Here is the email I am sending. (Feel free to copy and use ad nauseum.)
Dear Sir:
I am writing to you as a citizen living in your district in Missouri. It has come to my attention that there is a possibility that our military members may once again have their ballots disregarded this November due to ineptness on many fronts. (I refer to an article from the AP which can be found at this url: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1184726/posts?page=1) This, should it occur, is thoroughly unacceptable. To ignore the votes of the very people who are fighting to protect our country from the scourge of terrorism is morally incomprehensible. I am writing to ask you to do everything in your power to see that this does not happen.
Thank you,
Star
(address)
here we go again already with "more time to count the votes" and it's only August. geez.
Historical Note - In July 1945 the election for the House of Commons in Britain took place on July 5. The ballots from those serving in the armed forces had to be sent back to Britain, so ALL of the votes were not counted until July 26, when Churchill and the Conservatives were defeated. Evidently they placed a higher value on the right of their troops to vote than we do on ours.
Rep. Culberson from my district in Houston and both of my senators will be hearing from me.
Do I detect a hint of sarcasm? :-)
Sheets Byrd of W.VA should be all in favor of this, right? right? Large military pop there right?
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