Generally the absentee ballot process is designed to be somewhat cumbersome. In the days when there were still honorable people in both major parties the rules were written so as to contrain voter fraud.
Please accept my next comment understanding that I’m retired military and one of my sons is currently a US Army Sergeant Major. He’s been in harm’s way four times and came through unscathed—thank God.
He has been voting in elections for the past 12 years—whether on CONUS (Continental US) or overseas assignments. My home in New Jersey is his home of record. NJ is not exactly a Red State. My point: He has made it his business to become acquainted with the person responsible for absentee ballots in my town. And if an issue developes—timeliness or whatever—my wife or I personally visit that person and straighten it out. I have to say the absentee ballot person has facilitated his ability to vote whatever the problem may have been. Actually I think we had only one problem and that was that my son was late due combat zone responsibilities.
Soldiers, if they want to participate in the political life of the country they have sworn to protect and defend, must take responsibilty for obtaining an absentee ballot. Then they must forward it back to their town in time—with all the blocks checked and complete info—in the time prescribed.
It’s as simple as that.
I can understand young soldiers not caring or knowing about the absentee ballot process. But any soldier E-5 and above has no excuse.
Thank God that you have such a wonderful son and that he came through his service in the combat zone unharmed.
I understand and agree that soldiers also need to take responsibility to do everything they can, to get and return their absentee ballots. And it sounds like you live in a small town, where there is one person you can go to, if there are problems.
But in many/most cases the soldier is NOT the problem. I suggest you read the entire article. I’ve read anecdotal horror stories, but this was a study conducted by Pew research and found that in half the states there are significant problems with the delays. If states don’t send out the absentee ballots early enough, there is no way to get it back in time.
States should make it easy for soldiers to vote, not harder.