HRC sends largest AKO e-mail to date (To Troops: *Register to vote.*)

Army News Service ^ | May 20, 2004 | Annie Shippen

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

HRC sends largest AKO e-mail to date

By Annie Shippen

May 20, 2004

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, May 20, 2004) -- The Army’s top adjutant general e-mailed all Soldiers through AKO accounts on May 11, telling them to register to vote.

Brig. Gen. Gina S. Farrisee, the adjutant general, wanted to contact the Soldiers to ensure that they were aware of their ability to vote while overseas and saw the importance of registering to vote.

The e-mail was sent to 1.3 million Soldiers.

“Hopefully the e-mail will effect the Soldiers and they will think, ‘Gee, I am overseas, or getting ready to be sent overseas, and I need to register,’” said Col. John Karch, chief of Personnel Services Support Division, Human Resources Command.

The e-mail was sent over a several day period to avoid complications, and as of May 18 they have received 40,000 responses, which they are sorting through in order to distinguish the rate of failure.

Karch said he is confident the e-mail reached 96% of the Army.

The Department of Defense has done some work on a military voting initiative-- Secure Election Registration Voting Experiment, more commonly referred to as SERVE. SERVE has not yet progressed as far as some officials had hoped.

“This program was initiated to experiment with online voting,” Karch said. “There were concerns with security in the system, so the project was suspended in early Feb. and is not going to be used this year. But hopefully the system will be improved and available in the next few years.”

If a Soldier registered in time and has not received the absentee ballot by Oct. 11, a Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot should be filled out. This is a ballot on which the Soldier writes his or her vote and sends to his election official in his home state. If the Soldier should receive the ballot after he sent in the FWAB, the regular ballot should be filled out as well and sent in.

The e-mail directs Soldiers to see their voting assistance officer, or to download the Federal Post Card Application for an absentee ballot from http://www.fvap.gov.

Two more mass e-mails are planned for future months. One in July and one in September will serve as reminders and contain important dates for registration. The first rule of thumb is to be safe, so the suggested mailing date for registration is Aug. 15. The second date, especially for those in Iraq and Afghanistan, is the completion of the ballot, due by Oct. 11.

The last presidential election was a close one, with many votes in Florida thrown out and a controversy erupting over foul play. Due to the slim difference in the number of votes, those who were eligible to vote via absentee ballot may have had an effect on the outcome of the election. The importance of the e-mail brings forth a message that each vote counts and those who are unaware of their opportunity to vote should voice their opinion via casting a ballot.

(Editor's note: Annie Shippen is an intern with Army News Service.)

[pookie18]

Geez, when I saw HRC I thought Hillary Rodham Clinton, but knew that wasn't possible ;-)

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

 

 

Every vote counts. 

 

~ ~

[Old Sarge]

Troops Voting PING!

The last presidential election was a close one, with many votes in Florida thrown out

Mine was one of them.

I will NEVER vote Socialist.

I will be deployed in CONUS during the November time frame, and the AKO mass-email was a Godsend. I've already updated my voter registration, and an absentee ballot is with my laptop. I will make dammsure my vote's counted this time.

[wgeorge2001]

Many of the votes of the soldiers for Bush were found stashed away and thrown out by the democrats who controlled the liberal and dumbed down districts of Florica. I forget her name but though she was charged, I'm willing to bet she was never prosecuted or fired for her part in trying to change the election results in Florida. Only conservatives are held to the law, democrats believe ,and many times right, that their will be no justice for their violations.

[2banana]

Has Brig. Gen. Gina S. Farrisee studied how the democrats targeted voiding and nullifying the military votes in the last election?

[Redbob]

Yeah, some people, when they see "HRC," don't just automatically think "Human Resources Command"...

And does anyone else see irony in the Army's top lawyer being named "Farrisee."

[Socratic]

"Geez, when I saw HRC I thought Hillary Rodham Clinton, but knew that wasn't possible ;-)"

I thought the same thing, but I always read those initials as "Her Royal C*nt." Crude yes, but it's like a bad tune I just can't get out of my head!

[Redbob]

Yeah, some people, when they see "HRC," don't just automatically think "Human Resources Command"...

And does anyone else see irony in the Army's top lawyer being named "Farrisee?"

[Redbob]

Oooops, sorry for the double-post!

I'll go sit in the corner for a while...

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

IMPORTANT DATA
Military Voting for 2004
YOUR VOTE will count!

Military Voter Registration Info

Just Click on a flag to Visit that Branch of Service Voting Info

Army	Navy	Air Force	Marines	Coast Guard

[Mo1]

BUMP TO THE TOP!!!

[Hat-Trick]

And does anyone else see irony in the Army's top lawyer being named "Farrisee?"

I've been told there is no such thing as coincidence in God's economy.

[ride the whirlwind]

I'm glad to see someone taking this seriously. There was a story on FNC over a month ago about how many military ballots would probably not arrive on time to count in the election. This because the powers that be had not yet fixed the problem from the previous election.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!!

[sauropod]

That's what I thought too.

AM, I thought we couldn't post stuff from the Army News on FR.

[Soaring Feather]

bump to the top

[cookcounty]

" Yeah, some people, when they see "HRC," don't just automatically think "Human Resources Command"...

LOL. I clicked because I wanted to see what Hillary Rodham Clinton was emailing the troops about.

[aft_lizard]

Why couldnt we post news from AR News? Its our taxpayer money and it belongs to the public domain upon release.

[aft_lizard]

Why couldnt we post news from AR News? Its our taxpayer money and it belongs to the public domain upon release.