Posted on 10/17/2012 8:00:11 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Jurisdictions in at least four states - Vermont, Michigan, Mississippi and Wisconsin - failed to send absentee ballots to members of the military by the required September 22 deadline, Breitbart.com reported Monday.
Republican lawmakers sent a letter to the Departments of Justice and Defense demanding assurances that the rights of military personnel and overseas citizens who vote absentee will be protected in the November elections after learning the states failed to mail the ballots by the deadline, the Army Times said.
“We are concerned that, absent prompt and effective remedial action, some men and women in uniform will be deprived of the 45-day window to vote guaranteed by the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act," wrote Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Daniel E. Lungren (R-CA), chairman of the House Administration Committee and Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
"While implementation and enforcement of the MOVE Act appear on course as an improvement over the poor performance we saw in the 2010 elections, we are concerned about the currently reported shortcomings. If any element of local, state or federal government does not abide by the MOVE Act, the result should not ever be the disenfranchisement of any member of the armed services,” they wrote.
According to the Times, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the state of Vermont, alleging the state violated the law.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
I contacted the County Clerk before boot camp and signed up for an absentee ballot. I kept them informed of my whereabouts every time I moved.
I never missed an electrion in six years, but then I took persoanl responsibility for assuring my ballot could find me.
The guy here in my township was in the process of shipping out of Afghanistan and headed for Fort Hood. Apparently during his last month he wasn’t firmly attached to any particular unit and was floating. He showed up at the township office while he had 5 days leave before reporting to Texas.
Sounds like they just let him vote absentee rather than try to fix things.
That was smart of him to show up at the township office. Hopefully the township has procedures on keeping in touch with residents in the military, or the lead clerk is personally involved.
My home county in Oregon kept in contact by occasionally sending me postcards I could send in whenever my duty station changed. Since I was at one duty station for 51-months there wasn’t much need for the postcards.
It was a small county, and everyone knew everyone else. Our county clerk had a son who was a Marine.
I’m not familiar with how the military ballots are mailed. Is it from some entitey in the state [statewide] or is it from the local county? The article doesn’t indicate one way or the other.
One problem is that like many of the little towns in Michigan is that military ballots aren’t at all common. My township of 1800 people usually has 2 or 3 military ballots to mail out. Other smaller townships might not see a military ballot for 10 years.
Mosherville Michigan is taking heat for 1 ballot that a service member got 4 days late. The ballot apparently got held up somewhere in transit. Nobody did anything wrong and the soldier has probably voted and got the ballot back home by now.
Sadly, looks like most FReepers want it to be fraud and will ignore any other explanations.
I don’t know about other states but here in Michigan they’re taken care of at the township level. However it should be pointed out that the soldier has some responsibility of his own.
Personally I think the military should conduct their own balloting and count them as votes where the service member is based.
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