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Many overseas troops unable to participate in elections

 


ocalhoun
source: http://ebird.osd.mil/ebfiles/e20090107648584.html
I apologize for the source being on a military-only network. If you are in the US military, you can view it yourself, but if not, you don't have access to it.

Quote:
The states along with the District that Pew said did not provide enough time to cast ballots are: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.


Quote:
Residents of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii and Rhode Island must return their ballots by fax or e-mail to meet voting deadlines, the study found.

(Returning the ballot by fax or e-mail means that your vote is no longer anonymous or private, like it is supposed to be.)
Quote:
Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Vermont only give overseas service members five days to fill out their ballots, the study found.


The study found that 68% of the absentee ballots that were requested were either never returned or did not get back in time to be counted. This is mainly because many state's policies on absentee ballots don't allow enough time for slow foreign postal services.

One example was a soldier in Afghanistan. It took him 86 days to receive, process, and mail back the ballot (with no delays on his part), but his home state only allows 65 days, so his vote wasn't counted.

Given that the military is somewhere around 75% conservative, this could be expected to change the outcomes of close-call races.

Its a shame that those who's fate often depends on the election more than anyone else's don't get their votes counted. So now they'll be ordered around in combat zones by politicians who they were wrongly deprived of the right to vote for or against.

Please defend the rights of those who defend your rights, and do anything you can to fix this situation.
deanhills
ocalhoun wrote:
Its a shame that those who's fate often depends on the election more than anyone else's don't get their votes counted. So now they'll be ordered around in combat zones by politicians who they were wrongly deprived of the right to vote for or against.

Please defend the rights of those who defend your rights, and do anything you can to fix this situation.


Very sad and shocking. And also hearing about this so late after the election. Can't be good for the morale! I am sure everyone must have known this was happening even before the deadline was approached and questions probably need to be asked why this had not been a priority for sorting out. One wonders about all the other groups who did voting by ballot. And how they managed. Probably something that needs to be completely overhauled. One would have thought after the terrible experience at the end of Bush's first election that they would be extra vigilant.
LimpFish
this sucks, and seems to me it could've made quite a difference in the election, considering all the close races in many states.
handfleisch
Here's a version of the article for poor civilians: http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE5055H920090106

It's not just soldiers: Had a friend overseas who gave her absentee ballot to the US embassy and was told it would go in diplomatic pouch to the USA. It came back to her after the election Return To Sender.

It's all part of the big mess that has got to be fixed -- to get America back to "Can Do", not "What happened?".
ocalhoun
handfleisch wrote:
Here's a version of the article for poor civilians: http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE5055H920090106

I just want to thank you for being helpful and contributive to the discussion! A very nice change of pace... there's hope for you yet.
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