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Disenfranchisement of Military Personnel, again?(Vanity)
self | 11-06-2006 | self

Posted on 11/06/2006 8:18:00 PM PST by Spruce

I just finished my daily phone conversation with my daughter. She is stationed overseas in the Air Force and we talk every day when possible. During the conversation I asked her if she voted yet. She sighed and said "I was told my ballot was rejected because it was late. Again.". I asked "Were you timely?". She answered "Dad, I filled out my ballot and sent it back the day I received it. They did this to us the last time I tried to vote. WTF?"


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: 2006; disenfranchisement; military; vote
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To: Spruce; dandelion; FreedomCalls
FreedomCalls posted the following information on the previous thread. Hopefully it will be of some assistance...

Air Force Contact Center - 24 hour, 7 days a week Information on voting issues and help to contact your Installation Voting Officers for local assistance.
TOLL FREE: 1(800) 616-3775 (Select 1, then 1, then 2 from menu options)
COMM: (210) 565-5000 or DSN: 665-5000
EMAIL: Contact.Center@Randolph.af.mil

Air Force Voting Assistance Officer - The Air Force-wide Voting Assistance Officers may be contacted at
COMM: (210) 565-4351 / 4369 or DSN: 665-4351 / 4369
EMAIL: afpc/dpffofvotefund@randolph.af.mil

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1732905/posts?page=66#66
21 posted on 11/06/2006 8:46:49 PM PST by InfraRed
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To: Spruce

Big discussion of this topic last night, good info too!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1732905/posts


22 posted on 11/06/2006 8:48:13 PM PST by Uriah_lost (We've got enough youth, how about a "fountain of smart")
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To: Spruce
Rush Holt (DemoRAT New Jersey) put out a press release hoping to scare military members away from using the email and fax options of casting their votes by claiming the people would be subject to identity theft.

I called his office and gave them a workout and they admitted that they can not quantify the "risk" to military voters if they use those options.

If Holt wins this year and runs again, I'm going to be his worst nightmare, the military father doging him at every campaign stop about disenfrancising our military voters in 2006.

23 posted on 11/06/2006 8:52:05 PM PST by Doctor Raoul (Difference between the CIA and the Free Clinic is that the Free Clinic knows how to stop a leak.)
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To: InfraRed
Something MUST be done, but what?

A civil rights lawsuit?

24 posted on 11/06/2006 8:53:25 PM PST by omega4412 (Multiculturalism kills. 9/11, Beslan, Madrid, London)
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To: dandelion


ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION ALTERNATIVES FOR FLORIDA UNIFORMED SERVICE MEMBER (OR ELIGIBLE DEPENDENT)
Fax:

Send FPCA for ballot request*
Receive blank ballot*
Return voted ballot*
Email:

Receive blank ballot*
Telephone:

Request blank ballot**
*Overseas Uniformed Services voters only.

CIVILIAN OUTSIDE THE U.S. (OVERSEAS)
Fax:

Send FPCA for ballot request
Receive blank ballot
Return voted ballot
Email:

Receive blank ballot
Telephone:

Request blank ballot**

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
**If you are already registered to vote.

Use fax numbers or email address available at www.fvap.gov/services/faxing.html.

After faxing or emailing, send the FPCA and/or Ballot by mail.

Click here for the online version of the FPCA.

Use the Florida instructions available in both Adobe Acrobat (PDF) and HTML.

Return to Electronic Transmission Alternatives by State.


25 posted on 11/06/2006 8:55:14 PM PST by PghBaldy (This hominid named Kerry annoys me.)
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To: Spruce; All

I posted this on a thread a while back, but I am reposting it for you to read as maybe you might find it interesting for the thread you started.

The thread was called"


"Oops! Absentee Ballots Went Out Too Late for Aug. 8 more..."

Posted by musicman to Grendel9; All
On News/Activism 08/08/2006 6:45:47 PM EDT · 31 of 40


That's not the only problem with the "military ballots".

A long true story that I posted back in 2000 here on FR concerning the "military ballots", I will shorten the version as best I can and still try to tell it.

In 2000, I operated a business in Florida two doors from small, but very busy US Post Office. One guy named Dave worked there, and was working there in 1993 when my business opened. Dave was also in the US Naval Reserve. We talked almost every day about almost everything EXCEPT politics, and he was always smiling and fun to talk to.

In September of 2000, I was out in back of the plaza walking the doggies, and Dave had just finished loading a USPS truck with the non-local mail to go to the Daytona Station, and then to Jacksonville and beyond. Dave saw me and walked over and started a conversation.....about politics.

He asked me who I thought was going to win the 2000 national election.

I replied George Bush.

Dave's face turned Al Gore - Howard Dean - Ted Kennedy raving rant red as he loudly replied:

"Well, I can tell ya this, I don't know of a SINGLE USPS UNION WORKER who is gonna vote for him!! He wants to PRIVATIZE the USPS !!! We all got that in our last union letter, and discussed it at our last union meeting !! I don't think he'll take Florida, or the national election !!"

I was totally shocked by the tone and his reply, but I replied to him as calmly as I could:

"Well, there are a lot of people who live up north, and that are in the military, that will be voting absentee, and a lot of those folks will probably vote for Bush."

Dave angrily replied: " Yeah?? Well you'd be surprized how many of THOSE absentee ballots can get "misplaced" !!


I have never forgotten that conversation. The USPS IS a VERY large NATIONAL union that, like most unions, seem to mostly lean Dem, and THEY get to sort and handle ALL the absentee ballots FIRST !! They can make them "disappear", or maybe arrive "just-a-little-too-late" to count.

IMHO,I truly believe the USPS workers could have and might have influenced more than ONE election, and could do it very easily "under the radar", with a majority of their co-workers working together to accomplish it......

Sorry for the rant...





26 posted on 11/06/2006 8:57:09 PM PST by musicman
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To: musicman

Sadly from what I know and other stories over the years your story rings 100% true.


27 posted on 11/06/2006 9:04:42 PM PST by Hillarys Gate Cult (The man who said "there's no such thing as a stupid question" has never talked to Helen Thomas.)
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To: Spruce

http://www.fvap.gov/pubs/vag/textvag/mn.html

E. Electronic Transmission of FPCAs and Ballots
Minnesota allows you to send the FPCA for absentee ballot request by fax. After faxing, submit the FPCA by mail
Minnesota does not allow you to receive the blank ballot by fax.
Minnesota does not allow you to return the voted ballot by fax.
Please refer to Appendix B for specific instructions when transmitting election materials electronically. Use the following numbers: DSN 223-5527, (703) 693-5527, 1-800-368-8683 (from U.S., Canada, Guam, Washington, Virgin Islands only). International toll-free fax numbers (See http://www.fvap.gov/services/tollfree.html ).


28 posted on 11/06/2006 9:06:30 PM PST by PghBaldy (This hominid named Kerry annoys me.)
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To: PghBaldy

Thank you!!


29 posted on 11/06/2006 9:10:09 PM PST by dandelion
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To: Spruce

Of course, they are not definably minorities. They are fair game.


30 posted on 11/06/2006 9:11:10 PM PST by scannell
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To: omega4412
A civil rights lawsuit?

Against each state in which individual troops are registered? That sounds awfully messy. Especially when you consider that the monkey-wrenched gears are likely to be a different part of the machinery in each state.

It would probably be more efficient to bypass the attorneys/courts, and implement policy across all branches of the service by which absentee ballots are expedited to the troops in plenty of time. If DoD can't get the job done, due to problems caused by the state governments or USPS, then perhaps Congress should get involved.

Whatever the case may be, something must be done. We have dead people, felons, and most likely a bunch of illegal immigrants voting multiple times stateside, but we can't get ballots to our troops? BS.

31 posted on 11/06/2006 9:14:59 PM PST by InfraRed
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To: GitmoSailor; Spruce


PING


32 posted on 11/06/2006 9:16:06 PM PST by onyx (We have two political parties: the American Party and the Anti-American Party.)
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To: onyx

http://www.fvap.gov/pubs/vag/vagchapter3.html


33 posted on 11/06/2006 9:24:49 PM PST by PghBaldy (This hominid named Kerry annoys me.)
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To: Spruce

We need to know precisely who the "they" are who screw things up for military voters. We need to fire them from any positions they hold. We need to hunt them down and...(you know).


34 posted on 11/06/2006 9:26:43 PM PST by mathurine (ua)
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To: Spruce
My daughter's absentee ballot took a while to catch up with her latest address. (She's a Marine Lt stationed on the East Coast).

As with so vary many fine folks in the military, she's a highly motivated voter. In fact, she is overniting her absent voter ballot to me to deliver to the polling station here in CA.

(I don't suspect any military voter suppression in this case.)

.

35 posted on 11/06/2006 9:35:07 PM PST by Seaplaner (Never give in. Never give in. Never...except to convictions of honour and good sense. W. Churchill)
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To: FreedomCalls
In every state that I know of the ballot will still be counted as long as it is postmarked prior to the polls closing on election day even if received at the election commission several weeks later.

IIRC, the military postal system postmarks don't have a date stamp, that being the issue in the Florida vote in 2000.

36 posted on 11/06/2006 10:27:32 PM PST by El Gato
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To: SandRat
ping
37 posted on 11/06/2006 10:42:11 PM PST by vigilante2 (Thank You Veterans)
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To: El Gato
IIRC, the military postal system postmarks don't have a date stamp, that being the issue in the Florida vote in 2000.

They have one, it's just that they didn't always use them especially on ships where all the mail is placed in a bundle before being shipped to the USPS. Indeed, "MPS" mail franked with ZIP codes of now-defunct military bases are somewhat valuable to stamp collectors. I think they are now supposed to date stamp all election ballots.

Besides, for the date stamp to come into play, the ballot would have had to have been received after midnight of the 6th at the earliest for it to be rejected as arriving "too late." At the time of the initial posting, it was not yet midnight anywhere in the United States at any polling place, so how could it be "rejected as too late"?

38 posted on 11/06/2006 10:43:45 PM PST by FreedomCalls (It's the "Statue of Liberty," not the "Statue of Security.")
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To: PghBaldy
Minnesota allows you to send the FPCA for absentee ballot request by fax.
After faxing, submit the FPCA by mail Minnesota does not allow you to receive the blank ballot by fax.
Minnesota does not allow you to return the voted ballot by fax.

So there you go. Some states, MN being one, do not allow the ballots to be sent by FAX nor returned by FAX, only the application for the ballot can be by FAX (and in some cases by email or direct application through a state website). However if they, the state, and actually the local, usually county, authorities don't send out the ballots in time for them to make the round trip, or if they get "delayed" in the mail on the outbound leg, the military member is SOL. The law, IIRC says they, the states, have to accept ballots postmarked by the election, but IIRC, the military system does not provide date stamps on their postmarks, or at least they didn't in 2000, because that was an issue in the Florida vote then.

39 posted on 11/06/2006 10:54:09 PM PST by El Gato
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To: FreedomCalls
In every state that I know of the ballot will still be counted as long as it is postmarked prior to the polls closing on election day even if received at the election commission several weeks later.

Just looked at the requirement for my previous state, Nebraska. They don't allow the ballot to be faxed (or email to fax) and require the ballot to arrive by the close of the polls on election day. Nothing in their rules about the postmark being sufficient. So that's two states where one could receive the ballot, either by mail or fax, too late to get it back in time to be counted. I suspect there are more.

40 posted on 11/06/2006 11:00:34 PM PST by El Gato
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