Military Vote May Be Crucial (you say MAY, they ARE crucial)

Since President Bush and his Democratic challenger John Kerry are in a virtual dead heat, military voters and their family members in Florida could be as crucial in this election as they were in 2000 when Bush won the state and presidency by only 537 votes.

"In a state that was decided by such a narrow margin every voting group is important," Kerry campaign spokesman Matt Miller told The Associated Press.

Florida has 1.8 million veterans, about 100,000 active duty military personnel and more than 30,000 National Guard and reserve members.

First Coast military personnel are aware how important their vote will play in this election. In 2000, about 2,400 absentee ballots, most of them military, were challenged during the state's controversial vote count.

Retired Rear Adm. Tom Robertson, who lives on Amelia Island, said servicemen and women are concerned that their absentee ballot won't be counted.

"They are well aware of the aggressive attempts to have absentee ballots disqualified in Florida during the 2000 general election and assume that these tactics have migrated naturally to other key states where close races are anticipated," Robertson wrote in an e-mail. "They hope that protections have been put in place that will keep their ballots from being sidelined from arcane legal challenges related to the myriad rules differences among states/counties."

As of Wednesday, 8,149 ballots have been sent out to overseas military addresses, according to the Duval County Supervisor of Elections Office. So far 2,877 have been returned, according to the supervisor's office.

In 2000, the courts rejected a Democratic attempt to throw out 2,411 overseas ballots, most of them military, because they arrived after Election Day. Bush got 1,575 of the challenged ballots to 836 for Democrat Al Gore, a difference of 739 that changed the outcome.

It's now part of a new state law that also requires overseas voters to date their ballots. That will avoid another dispute over military ballots without dated postmarks. The new law additionally lets election officials send ballots by fax or e-mail. They can be returned by fax, but not e-mail.

Those changes could mean more military votes cast and counted, and polls show that could help Bush.

"Whether it works to our benefit, it's what we should do," Mindy Tucker Fletcher, senior adviser for the Bush campaign in Florida, told The Associated Press. "They're the ones over there protecting our right to vote."

Federal law prohibits polling the military on voting intent, but most military personnel seem to favor Bush because of his wartime role as president, according to a poll taken by the Army Times Publishing Co. of its military readership.

An August Times-Union/Sun-Sentinel poll of 400 Florida veterans showed Bush leading Kerry 56 percent to 39 percent with a 5 percent plus or minus margin of error.

Oh, and I would take Tommy Franks stumping for us any day as opposed to who the democrats have trying to save sKerry.

me tooo!!

you know what, Im gonna confess something here... my neighbor in Fayetteville for the years he was there, was Gen. Hugh Shelton.. I LOVE(d) HIM... when he came out against ole Weasel Clark I laughed and laughed....the OTHER DAY, I saw him do an ON AIR spot for Kerry....I almost fainted.....I guess that fall from the ladder has left him adled...what in the WORLD could have made him do such a thing?? ....I'll never ever, write, christmas card, whatever with him and his wife again... heart breaking!!

'Citizens' & 'Civilians'
"Johnny Rico: Someone asked me once if I knew the difference between a civilian and a citizen.
I know now. A citizen has the courage to make the safety of the human race their personal responsibility!

Some more from the book:
"Naked force has resolved more issues throughout history than any other factor.
The contrary opinion, that violence never solves anything, is wishful thinking at its worst."

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.