Military Ballot Measure Stirs Debate

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Military Ballot Measure Stirs Debate
By Jeff Johnson
CNSNews.com Congressional Bureau Chief
December 04, 2001

(CNSNews.com) - A Senate provision to protect the ballots American military personnel is drawing fire from House members who say Congress should not be tampering with states' efforts to combat election fraud.

Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) successfully attached his Military Voter Support Amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill (S. 1438).

The amendment provides that absentee ballots cast by military personnel not be disqualified solely because they lack a witness signature, return address, or postmark, as long as there is sufficient indication "that the vote was cast in a timely manner."

Allard, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, says the provision is necessary to protect the rights of service members stationed overseas.

Ballots cast by military personnel were a focal point in the Florida election dispute following the 2000 presidential campaign, with some votes by men and women in uniform disallowed.

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About time.

[PaulRevere]

I hope that the anti-military bigots in the Leftist Party find champions to fight this in Congress and try and make an issue out of this that voters will remember in '02.

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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by PaulRevere:
I hope that the anti-military bigots in the Leftist Party find champions to fight this in Congress and try and make an issue out of this that voters will remember in '02.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Don't worry, the VLWC will do everything in their power to destroy this measure. Remember that they only believe that Blacks were dinenfranchised in the last election, not the military. Since the military usually votes for `pubs why should they care!! Perhaps they forget(conviently of course) that there are minorities and women in the miltary - but who care about the military since Bubba and witchface said they were useless.

[Venus]

I agree with Sen. Allard and the House. They need to fine-tune this amendment a bit, but leave it almost completely intact.

Good luck to them. Sen. Allard's timing is excellent. 'Bout damn time congressional 'pubs made themselves useful for something.

[Warlady]

Kudos to Allard!!!!!