Posted on 10/15/2008 12:21:42 AM PDT by tomymind
Election Day is just three short weeks away, yet sadly, the votes of many of our military men and women in uniform, who are serving overseas, will not be counted in this year's election.
In 1952, President Harry Truman wrote to Congress saying, “At a time when these young people are defending our countryŠthe least we at home can do is to make sure that they are able to enjoy the rights they are being asked to fight to preserve.”
Yet even today - over half a century later - the voting system for the members of our military men and women serving overseas remains broken.
According to the Election Assistance Commission and the Department of Defense Inspector General, only 59 percent of surveyed military service members knew where to obtain voting information on base, and only 40 percent had received voting information or assistance from a Voting Assistance Officer.
Additionally, only 16.5 percent of the six million eligible military and overseas voters were able to request an absentee ballot for the 2006 mid-term election.
There are some obvious problems with gathering the ballots of our deployed warfighters. These men and women are often on the move in remote locations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Oftentimes, their ballots are sent to a previous address and are never received by the men and women in the field.
The ballots that are received must still be mailed back - using antiquated delivery methods - to the local election officials, before their polling place closes.
Often there is simply not enough time for service members to receive a ballot, cast their vote, and return the ballot before the polls close.
In fact, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates it takes an average of 18 days for a ballot to travel one way to a deployed service member. This equates to 36 days for a round trip, assuming the ballot makes it into the hands of the intended service member the very day it arrives at their location.
Incredibly, out of the 992,034 military and overseas absentee ballots requested for the 2006 mid-term election, over 660,000 of these ballots never reached election officials to be counted.
Of the ones that did reach election officials, nearly 10% of these were rejected because they were received after the polls had closed.
We owe our military men and women more. We have the technology today to allow ballots to be cast from locations around the world.
I have been working with my colleagues to improve the military absentee ballot system. I am a cosponsor of H.R. 5673, the “Military Voting Protection Act of 2008” (the MVP Act), which attempts to cut the red tape that prevents so many ballots from being counted.
My staff and I work for you. If we can ever be of service, do not hesitate to call my office toll free at 1-800-288-8721.
Jo Bonner is a member of the house of representatives. He can be contacted at his website at www.bonner.house.gov.
If Obama can’t buy the election with the millions pouring in from foreigners who hate us, then ACORN will steal it for him.
WE’RE NOT TURNING THE WHITE HOUSE KEYS OVER TO BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA- NOT IF WE ON FR, RUSH, HANNITY AND FOX HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT!
CALLING OBAMA A RESPECTABLE FAMILY MAN THAT WE NEED NOT FEAR IS OUTRAGEOUS!
McCAIN TAKING THE ABUSE AND INSULTS FROM OBAMA AND REFUSING TO FIGHT BACK IS OUTRAGEOUS!
FReep McCAIN/ MSM OUT.
HOW LONG CAN THEY IGNORE A MILLION EMAILS??
.
McCain is losing this campaign because he refuses to fight Obama and his lies, and dirty tactics such as ACORN voter fraud. He’s just been rolling over (or bending over, I should say) and accepting the abuse heaped upon him- and expecially Sarah Palin.
The anemic attempts by the McCain camp to fight back within the last few days just ain’t gonna get it. He should have been hitting Obama back hard months ago. He needs to get out there every day and FIGHT BACK. Email Republican headquarters/McCain.
FReep ‘EM OUT!
CAN THEY IGNORE A MILLION EMAILS?
REMIND McCAIN THAT HE HAS AN OBLIGATION AS OUR CANDIDATE TO FIGHT BACK! To h*ll with bipartisian BS! To h*ll with PC! To h*ll with ‘conducting a respectful campaign’as McCain has said, and vowed to do.
RESPECTFUL CAMPAIGNING WENT STRAIGHT OUT THE WINDOW WITH OBAMA’S NASTY, BRUTAL COMMENTS SUCH AS; ‘lipstick on a pig’ and ‘You can wrap AN OLD FISH in a piece of paper called change. It’s still going to stink after eight years.’
Take off the gloves, McCain!
Hit the Marxist/Muslim hard with Ayers, Acorn, Violation of Logan Act, abortion, 2nd admendment, Campaigning for Odinga!!
Get off the d*mned economy issue. State that Obama/Democrats/ACORN, whatever, caused this meltdown. State McCain offered a proposal to avert the meltdown, state his solution and GET OFF IT. Obama is counting on keeping this going to take the spotlight off his sordid past and dirty dealings! NOTHING is more important than waking America up to this Marxist/Muslim!! DO IT. EXPOSE HIM!
FReep ‘EM!!!! SEND THEM THESE VIDEOS:
OBAMA CAUGHT STATING ACORN AND FRIENDS WILL SHAPE HIS PRESIDENTIAL AGENDA!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vJcVgJhNaU
Obama connection with ACORNhttp://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDZiMjkwMDczZWI5ODdjOWYxZTIzZGIyNzEyMjE0ODI=
Obama goes to Kenya on the tax payer’s dollar to campaign for the murderous Islam-backed Odinga http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=S8QcpdUtxNQ&feature=related SHORT VERSION: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1P_P8lBCsE
MCCAIN/REPUBLICAN PARTY Fax: 202-228-2862
SEND A FAX FREE: https://faxzero.com/
rickdavis@johnmccain.com, ameese@mccain08hq.com, anickel@mccain08hq.com, johnmccain@gop.com, info@gop.com, RNCommunications@gop.com, Chairman@gop.com, Political@gop.com info@McCainPalinVictory2008.com
Meghan McCain http://mccainblogette.com/contact/
THE CONSERVATIVE ACTIVIST’S (all the Republican movers and shakers) GIANT E-MAIL LINKS PAGE! http://www.conservativeusa.org/megalink.htm . IMPORTANT Be sure to add your name and town and email - or they won’t read them. When emailing. they won’t read mass emails so put just one email add in the “to” line then click on BBC at the end of that line. a BCC line will open just above subject line. copy paste the rest of the addresses in there and each recipient will see ONLY their name.
.
FReep THE MSM!
SEND THEM DAMAGING INFO ON OBAMA. DEMAND THEY DO THEIR JOB AND INVESTIGATE.
CAN THEY IGNORE A MILLION EMAILS? FLOOD ‘EM OUT WITH EMAILS!
ElRushbo@eibnet.com me@glennbeck.com stu@glennbeck.com,
Hannity@foxnews.com http://www.lauraingraham.com/asklaura On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren — Ontherecord@foxnews.com letters@charleskrauthammer.com
FOX & Friends — Friends@foxnews.com FOX News Live — Feedback@foxnews.com FOX News Live w/ Jamie Colby — Jamie@foxnews.com FOX News Live Weekend — Feedback@foxnews.com FOX News Specials — Viewerservices@foxnews.com FOX News Sunday — FNS@foxnews.com FOX News Watch — Newswatch@foxnews.com FOX Report w/ Shepard Smith — Foxreport@foxnews.com
Obama connection with ACORN http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDZiMjkwMDczZWI5ODdjOWYxZTIzZGIyNzEyMjE0ODI=
Obama goes to Kenya on the tax payer’s dollar to campaign for the murderous Islam-backed Odinga! http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=S8QcpdUtxNQ&feature=related SHORT VERSION: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1P_P8lBCsE
Obama talks about Ayers giving him a job: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=D-45A6I
Fox News The Beltway Boys — Beltway@foxnews.com The Big Story w/ John Gibson — Myword@foxnews.com The Big Story Weekend — Bigstory-weekend@foxnews.com The Big Story Primetime — Bigstory-weekend@foxnews.com Bulls & Bears — Bullsandbears@foxnews.com Cashin’ In — Cash@foxnews.com Cavuto on Business — Cavuto@foxnews.com DaySide — Dayside@foxnews.com Forbes on FOX — Forbes@foxnews.com FOX & Friends — Friends@foxnews.com FOX News Live — Feedback@foxnews.com FOX News Live w/ Jamie Colby — Jamie@foxnews.com FOX News Live Weekend — Feedback@foxnews.com FOX News Specials — Viewerservices@foxnews.com FOX News Sunday — FNS@foxnews.com FOX News Watch — Newswatch@foxnews.com FOX Report w/ Shepard Smith — Foxreport@foxnews.com Hannity & Colmes — Hannity@foxnews.com or Colmes@foxnews.com Heartland w/ John Kasich — Heartland@foxnews.com The Journal Editorial Report — JER@foxnews.com The Lineup — Lineup@foxnews.com The O’Reilly Factor — Oreilly@foxnews.com Special Report w/ Brit Hume — Special@foxnews.com Studio B w/ Shepard Smith — Studiob@foxnews.com War Stories w/ Oliver North — Warstories@foxnews.com Your World w/ Neil Cavuto — Cavuto@foxnews.com
phil.griffin@nbc.com, steve.capus@nbc.com, Steve.Capus@nbcuni.com, gary.sheffer@ge.com, renata.hopkins@ge.com, lisa.lanspery@ge.com, brian.williams@msnbc.com, chris.matthews@msnbc.com, countdown@msnbc.com, hardball@msnbc.com, Today@NBC.com, viewerservices@msnbc.com, nightly@nbc.com, World@MSNBC.com, Dateline@NBC.com, world@msnbc.com, atc@npr.org, morning@npr.org, Letters@msnbc.com, totn@npr.org, newshour@pbs.org, joe@msnbc.com, abrams@msnbc.com, byork@nationalreview.com, comments@mclaughlin.com, ElRushbo@eibnet.com, evening@cbsnews.com, Foxreport@foxnews.com, gretawire@fox.com, Hannity@foxnews.com, hemmer@foxnews.com, hume@foxnews.com, ElRushbo@eibnet.com, me@glennbeck.com,oreilly@foxnews.com,Joe@msnbc.com, letters@charleskrauthammer.com, lindamuller@buchanan.org,me@glennbeck.com,netaudr@abc.com, Ontherecord@foxnews.com, oreilly@foxnews.com, race08@msnbc.com, Special@foxnews.com, stu@glennbeck.com, ureport@foxnews.com, weekendlive@foxnews.com, LouDobbs@cnn.com, jake.tapper@abc.com, 360@cnn.com, a.latour@wsj.com, a.murray@wsj.com, am@cnn.com, amhotshots@cnn.com, caffertyfile@cnn.com, campbellbrown@cnn.com, cnn.feedback@cnn.com, cnn.onair@cnn.com, cnn@cnn.com, crossfire@cnn.com, darren.mcdermott@wsj.com, daybreak@cnn.com, elrushbo@eibnet.com, foxreport@foxnews.com, hannity@foxnews.com, headlinenews@cnn.com, insidepoliticts@cnn.com, inthemoney@cnn.com, j.fry@wsj.com, jeff.greenfield@cnn.com, je@msnbc.com, dlow@cnbc.com, late.edition@cnn.com, letters@msnbc.com, live@cnn.com, livefrom@cnn.com, livetoday@cnn.com, lookingout@cnn.com, loudobbs@cnn.com, moneyline@cnn.com, newsnight@cnn.com, newstips@cnn.com, paulazahn@cnn.com, podcast@cnn.com, primenews@cnn.com, question@cnn.com, special@foxnews.com, t.cullen@wsj.com, tina.cowles@cnn.com, tom.hannon@cnn.com, wam@cnn.com, wolf@cnn.com, wsj.ltrs@wsj.com
IMPORTANT Be sure to add your name and town and email - or they won’t read them. When emailing. they won’t read mass emails so put just one email add in the “to” line then click on BBC at the end of that line. a BCC line will open just above subject line. copy paste the rest of the addresses in there and each recipient will see ONLY their name
phil.griffin@nbc.com, steve.capus@nbc.com, Steve.Capus@nbcuni.com, gary.sheffer@ge.com, renata.hopkins@ge.com, lisa.lanspery@ge.com, brian.williams@msnbc.com, chris.matthews@msnbc.com, countdown@msnbc.com, hardball@msnbc.com, Today@NBC.com, viewerservices@msnbc.com, nightly@nbc.com, World@MSNBC.com, Dateline@NBC.com, world@msnbc.com, atc@npr.org, morning@npr.org, Letters@msnbc.com, totn@npr.org, newshour@pbs.org, joe@msnbc.com, abrams@msnbc.com, byork@nationalreview.com, comments@mclaughlin.com, ElRushbo@eibnet.com, evening@cbsnews.com, Foxreport@foxnews.com, gretawire@fox.com, Hannity@foxnews.com, hemmer@foxnews.com, hume@foxnews.com, ElRushbo@eibnet.com, me@glennbeck.com,oreilly@foxnews.com,Joe@msnbc.com, letters@charleskrauthammer.com, lindamuller@buchanan.org,me@glennbeck.com,netaudr@abc.com, Ontherecord@foxnews.com, oreilly@foxnews.com, race08@msnbc.com, Special@foxnews.com, stu@glennbeck.com, ureport@foxnews.com, weekendlive@foxnews.com, LouDobbs@cnn.com, jake.tapper@abc.com, 360@cnn.com, a.latour@wsj.com, a.murray@wsj.com, am@cnn.com, amhotshots@cnn.com, caffertyfile@cnn.com, campbellbrown@cnn.com, cnn.feedback@cnn.com, cnn.onair@cnn.com, cnn@cnn.com, crossfire@cnn.com, darren.mcdermott@wsj.com, daybreak@cnn.com, elrushbo@eibnet.com, foxreport@foxnews.com, hannity@foxnews.com, headlinenews@cnn.com, insidepoliticts@cnn.com, inthemoney@cnn.com, j.fry@wsj.com, jeff.greenfield@cnn.com, je@msnbc.com, dlow@cnbc.com, late.edition@cnn.com, letters@msnbc.com, live@cnn.com, livefrom@cnn.com, livetoday@cnn.com, lookingout@cnn.com, loudobbs@cnn.com, moneyline@cnn.com, newsnight@cnn.com, newstips@cnn.com, paulazahn@cnn.com, podcast@cnn.com, primenews@cnn.com, question@cnn.com, special@foxnews.com, t.cullen@wsj.com, tina.cowles@cnn.com, tom.hannon@cnn.com, wam@cnn.com, wolf@cnn.com, wsj.ltrs@wsj.com
When you post a massive amount of info, we just skim over it.
“When you post a massive amount of info, we just skim over it.”
Ditto
AFN is blasting the airways with information on voting. Bases here in Germany are covered with signs on how to vote. I would say if someone wants to vote, there are no obstacles.
The problem isn’t with service members being able to vote, or knowing how to do so, it’s with getting their votes counted. Washington state finds a way to get the large military vote here thrown out every election cycle. This time around they are claiming that Rossi’s (runninf for Governor) wording on the ballot, which reads “prefers GOP” for his party affiliation (Dems used similar terminology in accordance with state law), is unfair and confuses people. So far, a judge has sided with the Dems, agreeing that some people might not know what GOP means. If that ruling stands, the military ballots that can’t be replace in time may ONCE AGAIN be thrown out. There are similar stories all over the country every time we elect a president. My husband was in the Air Force, and while it was easy enough to vote, far too often those votes either didn’t arrive in time, or were thrown out on some stupid technicality. They did the same thing in Florida in 2000. In a close election, they first get the military vote thrown out. Democrats always cheat and lie to win. It’s nothing new.
According to the Election Assistance Commission and the Department of Defense Inspector General, only 59 percent of surveyed military service members knew where to obtain voting information on base, and only 40 percent had received voting information or assistance from a Voting Assistance Officer.
Big fat BS. We have always been told where and who the voting officer is...in fact, it is on the check-in sheet on most bases. I love how they make it seem the military members are stupid. Ugh!!!
Understood.
But early in the thread that was the first statement made. I quit reading at that point.
However, many statistics show us that soldiers abroad were not allowed to vote in 2004 and 2006 and that a lot of votes were NOT counted in the last elections. Could you explain me why?
The numbers make me wonder where the poll was taken. Maybe Afghanistan?
I understand the problem with using the mail - it looks like it hasn’t changed in over 40 years. When I was in Viet Nam (working on boats) mail was picked up and delivered once a week - to out normal berth in Vung Tau. If we were out on mission it would still be delivered to our normal berth. One time we had mail delivered by helicopter after we were out over a month working an operation out of Qui Nhon. Our next mail call was when we returned to Vung Tau two weeks later.
When working tugboats out of Okinawa it was even worse. Tugs made tows from Korea to Japan to Viet Nam to Thailand and back. Mail would be forwarded to their next port of call. Sometimes it made it, sometimes it didn’t.
> The problem isn’t with service members being able to
> vote, or knowing how to do so, it’s with getting their
> votes counted.
Yes, and the pampered college students, most of whome “loathe the military,” get to vote twice; once in their college town, and again in their home town by absentee ballot.
The same is probably true of “snowbirds” who typically vote DemonRAT. They get to vote in two places.
I really miss not being able to vote in person. Haven't been able to do it since 2004, when I was still a civilian.
I believe the military members received their ballots and perhaps did not get them mailed out in time. For example, today a Sailor received his ballot from West Virginia, but he will not be back from TAD until the 24th of October. I am sure that he will immediately send it back to the states that day, but will that be enough time. I think with all the traveling military folks do this is not something rare.
That’s the same reason of concern I got. Please, my friend, help him to send his vote soon!
I got my ballot and returned it 2 weeks ago.
That may be of some use to you.
Love your tagline.
I am very concerned that the military vote would/will be largely discounted. I’m in Pa. Any suggestions on where to start? I recognize that it is getting down to the wire but this issue should be front page.
My son is the VAO for his post and he has spent much time informing the troops on registering and how to obtain absentee ballots.
Many have registered and applied for ballots. Who knows if they will vote and return them in time.
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