Posted on 10/01/2004 9:51:47 PM PDT by Former Military Chick
CAMP TAJI, Iraq - As the legal debate continues over Ralph Nader's inclusion on Arkansas' November ballot, leaders of the state's 39th Infantry Brigade are searching for ways that will allow the brigade's 3,200 soldiers to successfully vote.
The Nader lawsuit has delayed printing of ballots in Arkansas. If ballots are not printed in time to be mailed to Iraq - where the 39th is stationed - and returned in time to each county clerk's office, the soldiers' votes will not be counted in the November election.
And while the brigade's votes are unlikely to affect the presidential election, military votes have decided local-level races in recent years.
In 1998, the race for Lonoke County prosecutor between Lona McCastlain and Barbara Elmore was decided by an absentee ballot cast by an airman deployed to England. Even in that race, the question was raised as to whether the ballot was cast in a timely fashion.
Problems with the overseas military vote also played heavily in the 2000 presidential election, causing the U.S. Department of Defense to look at ways to correct the problems.
Several lawsuits filed to pull Nader off the ballot raised early attention to military voting in Iraq.
"It got the attention of the Army because they called us about it," said Lt. Col. John Edwards, staff judge advocate for the brigade.
Nader lawsuits have popped up across the country. Supreme courts in California and New Mexico - two states with soldiers serving with the 39th - have resolved their lawsuits.
However, the challenge in Arkansas landed on the steps of the state Supreme Court just this week and is delaying the printing of absentee ballots. The Department of Defense had asked that ballots be available to it by Sept. 28 for shipment overseas. "The last election proved every vote counts. I can guarantee you, we want our voice heard," said Maj. Greg Pelts, operations officer for the brigade's 3rd Battalion. "It's kind of scary because it's up to each individual county on how fast they are and how efficient they are. Some guys could get to vote, and some may not."
As the Nader lawsuit works its way through the legal system, time is running out for the brigade. Ballots can't be printed until the matter is decided, and mail takes about two weeks each way to and from Iraq.
With 33 days until the Nov. 2 election, time is running short. Absentee ballots from overseas have until 10 days after the general election to arrive at county clerks' offices.
This gives the brigade's soldiers 43 days to receive ballots, vote and return them in time to be counted.
"I'm not ready to call red alert on this issue yet," Edwards said. Soldiers are just now beginning to wonder about their ballots. Several have already successfully voted in recent school board and millage elections, but the general election is nearing without a ballot in sight.
"We talk to people, we tell them about democracy," Pelts said. "And then we end up having more to do with Iraqi elections than U.S. elections back home."
Brig. Gen. Ron Chastain, brigade commander, directed Edwards last week to work with election officials in Arkansas to find a solution to the growing time crunch.
"As soldiers, we gave up our rights to have political bumper stickers on our vehicles and the right to wear campaign buttons on our uniforms. But we did not give up our right to vote," Edwards said. "Voting is fundamental to a democracy, and one of our greatest concerns since being deployed is making sure our soldiers in the 39th Brigade Combat Team can vote and those votes count."
A video teleconference on the ballot issue between Arkansas Secretary of State Charlie Daniels and brigade officials in Iraq is scheduled for Friday.
In an e-mail between Edwards and Janet Miller, deputy secretary of state for elections and public affairs, three options were considered and likely will be discussed Friday.
First, the U.S. Postal Service has been working to expedite delivery of ballots to soldiers and the ballots' return to county clerks.
"Four years ago, there were highly publicized reports of delayed and uncounted military absentee ballot mail," Patrick Donahoe, chief operating officer of the U.S. Postal Service, wrote in an Aug. 10 memo to postal operations managers. "Our goal is to assist [the military postal service] in speeding up the handling of this mail so that all absentee ballots from military service members overseas are counted in this election."
The U.S. Postal Service is coordinating the daily pickup and delivery of ballots from county clerks, then the ballots are being consolidated at the Army Post Office sorting centers in New York, Miami and San Francisco to improve their flow through the system.
"We have instructed our county clerks to participate by contacting their local postmaster," Miller said Tuesday in an email to Edwards.
Another option for the brigade - one that has been all but discounted by Arkansas and military officials - is using the Interim Voting Assistance System, an experimental Department of Defense program that allows deployed service personnel to download a ballot from a secure Web site, mark it and then return it to their county clerk.
The program has gotten off to a slow start in the few states that have tried it because of a lack of equipment. Two Arkansas counties are participating in the program, according to Miller, but "limited participation is due to the time and resources involved in scanning all the ballot styles and creating PDF files."
Miller suggested a third option as "more expeditious."
The secretary of state's office is looking at transporting ballots to soldiers in Iraq with the help of Little Rock Air Force Base.
That plan, although still in its early stages, calls for the secretary of state's office to collect absentee ballots from each of Arkansas' 75 counties and deliver them to the air base.
The ballots would be flown to Iraq on a scheduled flight and distributed to the appropriate soldiers by a specially designated Federal Voting Assistance officer. That officer would also collect the ballots after they've been cast and prepare them for return. "Our staff can collect them from [Little Rock Air Force Base] on return and take them back to the counties to be tabulated," Miller said in her e-mail to Edwards.
"We're ready to work overtime on our end to accomplish this, but we may need some help with security, access, etc., at the [air base], and we will need to know who to contact on your end as well. Charlie [Daniels] is 100 percent committed to making this option work if we can get everyone to participate, and we all think this may be the fastest way to deliver your ballots to you."
The timetable is very tight, and some deadlines have already passed. State law requires certification of the ballots to be given to the counties 50 days before a general election to allow counties to print absentee ballots in time.
"The lawsuit delayed ballot preparation by about seven days," Miller said. The Nader appeal could delay it even further. "An informal survey conducted by our Elections Division [Monday] found that about half the counties have information ready to go to the printer and should have the ballots ready well in advance of the 25-day deadline prior to the election.
"But as you know, even without legal obstacles, having ballots ready to mail overseas 25 days before an election is not timely enough."
Arkansas has one of the tightest election schedules in the nation, only providing 25 days for absentee voting. Other states allow absentee ballots to be distributed as early as mid-September.
If county ballots do not reach Iraq in time, however, soldiers will still be able to vote in the presidential race. Federal ballots will be made available to any soldier who wants to vote.
"People care who the president is," Edwards said. "But they also care about who their county sheriff is."
bttt
It is pure bunk. The military could find a way to get these ballots to the soldier and back to the states in well a nick of time.
How can that be done???
Needless to say, I am Outraged.
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