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The crack Department of Justice unit set up to protect military voters is beginning to resemble the Keystone Kops operation of 2008. The latest: DOJ's complete failure to ensure that military voters get their 2010 ballots on time. The crack Department of Justice unit set up to protect military voters is beginning to resemble the Keystone Kops operation of 2008.  It turns out that after they concluded that all the military ballots in Illinois went out on time, they were wrong. In fact, ballots in one of the largest counties in the state, St. Clair County, did not go out...

The Justice Department is living down to its reputation for not caring about protecting voting rights of military personnel. With 20 full-time attorneys supposedly on the task, it has failed to do as much for military voters as a ragtag team of volunteer law students has accomplished. The department's inaction is suspicious.For months, critics have charged Justice with being reluctant to enforce the 2009 Military and Overseas Voter Enforcement Act (MOVE Act), probably because the Obama political team suspects that soldiers tend to vote Republican. The MOVE Act requires states to mail ballots at least 45 days before Election...

Election '10: The Department of Justice is failing to enforce a law that protects the voting rights of soldiers overseas. They're allowed to fight and die for their country, but they can't vote for its leaders? Last Saturday was the deadline under the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE) for states to have sent unmarked absentee ballots to soldiers overseas so they can exercise the same right to vote as those they risk their lives to protect, including Afghans and Iraqis. The MOVE Act, passed with overwhelming bipartisan support last year, says states must provide overseas ballots 45 days...

.... Now Pavel understood. He’d seen something in the papers about it, but hadn’t paid much attention. It was the scandal of the military vote; a scandal that the press has either unconsciously, or perhaps consciously, denied any coverage to speak of. Pockets looked back up, and seemed more composed, so he could go on. “See, over the years, forever really, there’s been a problem with overseas votes. Absentee ballots go out, and people fill ‘em in, and they mail ‘em back. It takes time; airmail is slow, ya know? And sometimes the voters themselves don’t hurry, so they push...

Complete title: Justice Department Reaches Agreement to Protect Rights of Military and Overseas Voters in Alaska WASHINGTON – The Justice Department today announced that it has reached an agreement with Alaska officials to help ensure that military service members and other U.S. citizens living overseas have an opportunity to participate fully in the Nov. 2, 2010, federal general election. The agreement was necessary to ensure Alaska’s compliance with the 2009 Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE Act). The agreement provides Alaska will expedite the candidate certification procedures for its Aug. 24, 2010, primary election so that it is able...

Attorney General Holder should badger Wisconsin for full compliance The U.S. Justice Department's Voting Rights Section has reached an agreement with the state of Wisconsin that is too weak to adequately protect military voters stationed overseas. The department should not get away with letting other states give short shrift to the voting rights of our armed forces.In 2008, a disturbing 38 percent - 2,125 out of 5,562 - of ballots requested by Wisconsin's overseas military personnel were either not returned on time, returned as undeliverable or rejected for reasons such as a lack of proper witness signature. It's possible that...

This is a disgrace, plain and simple. Military voters, their families, and veterans organizations should be outraged at the Holder DOJ. It is 2008 all over again. Today the Department of Justice effectively rewrote the 2009 MOVE Act designed to protect military voters. In a settlement reached with the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, the Holder Justice Department allowed Wisconsin to mail ballots to overseas military voters only 32 days before the election, instead of the statutorily mandated 45 days. Once again, it is no accident this embarrassing settlement is being released on a Friday, so fewer might notice.The Pentagon had...

Protecting the rights of active duty military to have their vote counted is apparently not a priority for this administration. In Washington, politicians always like to release bad news on a Friday, as fewer people notice. Today, the Pentagon announced that it had granted the waiver requests of five states seeking to escape requirements to protect military voters. I have written previously here at PJM that all waiver requests should be denied. Unfortunately, if you are an overseas servicemember from Delaware, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, or Washington, the protections in the MOVE Act aren’t going to apply to you...

Sens. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Michael Bennet of Colorado are just two incumbents locked in tight re-election races in states where local officials have warned they will likely not be able to ship out general election ballots to overseas military voters by the Sept. 18 deadline. Both Democrats' race are listed as "toss-ups" by RealClearPolitics.com, and military ballots could make the difference. But Wisconsin and Colorado are among 10 states where local officials say they may not be able to comply with Move Act provisions that call for ballots to be mailed out at least 45 days before the...

TULSA, Okla. — We may be in Oklahoma, but here in the American heartland, it's not "OK" anymore. Though thousands of fans — here for the fifth of eight Sean Hannity Freedom Concerts — are fired up to support our troops serving in harm's way, they are anything but enthusiastic about what's happening in Washington. Perhaps that's because so many of us — including the millions of Americans now unemployed, underemployed and struggling to keep their homes out of foreclosure — remember President Barack Obama's promise in February that "jobs will be our No. 1 focus in 2010." Pollsters and...

Twelve states want waivers from having to send ballots to overseas military on time. Call the Pentagon and the DOJ today, and demand they say no. Decisions by Washington bureaucrats over the next four weeks will have a profound impact on the upcoming November elections. These bureaucrats will decide whether or not those serving in the military from twelve states will have a full and effective opportunity to participate. If they choose to do anything other than aggressively enforce federal laws protecting military voters, many of those serving our nation won’t have a voice.Every American can do something about it.As...

Ballots often do not arrive overseas for troops to get their votes back to their precincts. The MOVE Act was passed to correct this. Seems the DOJ is letting state's opt-out of MOVE and sending timely ballots. The only legal way to opt out is to have an "undue hardship" which is not defined in the legislation. Our troops know about hardship. I doubt the election boards in these lazy states can honestly qualify, nevertheless, as of today there are 13 states who will not meet the requirements of MOVE, with more sure to follow.

The Department of Justice denied accusations by former voting section attorneys who say states are being encouraged to use waivers to bypass the new federal Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act. The accusations prompted Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) to write a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, dated July 26, demanding answers and requesting specific information about how the agency was going to enforce the MOVE Act provision that requires states to send military and overseas voters absentee ballots 45 days prior to elections. Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich responded with a letter dated July 30. "The Department of...

The Department of Justice is ignoring a new law aimed at protecting the right of American soldiers to vote, according to two former DOJ attorneys who say states are being encouraged to use waivers to bypass the new federal Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act. The MOVE Act, enacted last October, ensures that servicemen and women serving overseas have ample time to get in their absentee ballots. The result of the DOJ's alleged inaction in enforcing the act, say Eric Eversole and J. Christian Adams — both former litigation attorneys for the DOJ’s Voting Section — could be that...