Obama Administration Shirks Legal Obligation To Protect Military Voters

“Military absentee ballot requests” are “down 92% in key battleground state Virginia,” notes Cornell Law Professor William Jacobson. “The government has become quite efficient under Obama at fast walking guns to Mexico [details here] and free cell phones to Cleveland [details here], but has ignored its obligation to secure and promote absentee ballot requests from the military.” As an article he cites points out, “A 92 percent drop in absentee-ballot requests by military personnel in Virginia is raising concerns that the Pentagon is failing to carry out a federal voting law.” Only “1,746 military voters” have requested “absentee ballots so far this year,” a tiny fraction of the “126,251 service members in the state.”  This precipitous decline is mirrored “across the nation,” with only “55,510 absentee ballots” requested this year versus “166,252” in 2008, for eight states studied by the Military Voter Protection Project (states such as Ohio, Florida, Colorado, and North Carolina).

Moreover, “at least 30 Wisconsin municipalities failed to send absentee ballots to military voters before the 45 day deadline, according to former U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi . . .the failure to meet the 45 day deadline is in violation of Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voter Act. . .a study by the Military Postal Service Agency . . . found less than 45 days is not enough time to ensure service members can receive, complete and return in time,” especially when they are in remote places like Afghanistan.

We previously discussed the Obama administration’s roadblocks to military voting, and refusals to take action to ensure that military votes are counted, at this link. (Combat troops lean conservative in their voting patterns.) In prior elections, liberal localities have illegally discarded some military votes.