Background:
J. Christian Adams writes at Pajamas Media:
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 this year.
Independent candidate for US Senate in
Arkansas, Trevor Drown, is a former green beret who served in combat in Afghanistan. A release from the Drown campaign documents the potential for disenfranchisement of overseas military voters and calls on elected leaders at the state and federal level to act quickly in addressing this issue.
From the Drown campaign, sent via email:
The Department of Justice waived the law exempting five states from complying with the requirement to mail absentee ballots to overseas military voters, 45 days before Election Day.
Ten states applied for the waiver those states are Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin. In addition Washington D.C. and the Virgin Islands also applied.
Five states received the waiver today; they are Delaware, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York and Washington State.
Volunteers of the Trevor Drown for US Senate campaign have reviewed the Department of Defense list of activated National Guard and Reserve units found here. This press release provides information that as of August 25th there are more than 103,000 National Guard and Reserve personnel who are currently activated. The total number of the Guard and Reserve force by state is as follows:
Delaware 151
Massachusetts 2,232
Rhode Island 304
New York 1,410
Washington 1,072
Total 5,169
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Trevor Comments:
I am disappointed at the Department of Justice for making this decision. We ask our brave men and women of our military to give up so much in our quest to remain free. They swear an Oath to the Constitution; the least this country can do is allow them the same rights which they so proudly protect.
We ask these honorable men and woman, to give up their family life and deploy to areas around the globe. They often live under austere conditions, work long areas and are often in harm's way. The least we can do is to allow them to have the same right as those who sit in a comfortable office or protest their existence.
During our petition drive in May, Matt who is still deployed in Afghanistan, sent me a signed petition from the battlefield. He was able to download it, find a working printer, sign it and mail it to me. He was so concerned that his voice would be heard that he sent another copy to his mother to make sure he participated. He is 26 years old. There are many out there like Matt and they more than earned the right to be counted.
While not all 5,000 plus soldiers above are deployed overseas or in a combat zone, this is still a large number of possible disenfranchised voters. I call on all elected leaders of the states involved as well as those at the federal level to get actively involved to fix this. This country has resources which would easily allow for resolving this problem. It is unacceptable to thank our military for their service one day and take away their fundamental right to vote the next. Every effort should be made at all levels to ensure this does not happen.
Trevor Drown is a former green beret who served in combat in Afghanistan. In May 2010 he made Arkansas history by becoming the first US Senate Candidate in more than 30 years to be placed on the ballot as an independent. More than 14,000 people signed the petition to certify him as a candidate. This was done by spending less than $7,000. Trevor works for UPS and he and his wife own a small business in Russellville Arkansas. His website is www.drownforsenate.com.
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