Military Voting Assistance Officer (VAO)

[maxrandb]

Just got some info from a friend. Seems there is a huge push on to get the military to vote in this election. Never have seen anything like this with VAO's required to register, submit progress reports, and complete surveys. Sep 3 - 11 has been declared Armed Forces Voters Week. As a 20 year veteran, I have never seen such a push to get the military to vote.

Look, I highly encourage everyone to exercise their right to vote. I think it is great to get as many folks involved as we can, but military votes do not count anymore than the votes of teachers, police, clerks, or union members. I cringe whenever I hear someone say "we are free because of our strong military", or "if it were not for men and women in uniform, we wouldn't have the right to vote". It's ludicrous to me to think that I contribute more to our freedom than someone like Martin Luther King, or the guy diligently working at the Security's and Exchange Commission, or a lawyer who represents common folks against corporate interests, or a policeman, or a DA enforcing the rule of law. My point is that there are a "helluva" lot of people besides our military that make us free.

I have no problem with doing all we can to encourage our military members to vote. My problem is with an attachment to an e-mail that was sent with one of the voting updates. I don't have a link, but it is a story from the Pensacola News Journal of July 11, 2004 titled "Military Ballots Get Special Notice". Most of the story is innocent enough and talks about steps being taken to fix some of the problems with military ballots during 2000. But here is where it gets interesting. Remember, this e-mail is coming from someone with oversight of Military VAO's.. These paragraphs are near the end of the story that is included in the e-mail:

"The Bush administration and others hope to avoid the uncertainty and legal bedlam that accompanied the 2000 presidential vote recount in Florida.

With just hundreds of votes separating George Bush and Al Gore, the campaigns briefly turned to ballots from overseas military personnel to help settle the outcome. Those ballots were still trickling in after Election Day.

Knowing many of the military votes would go for Bush, GOP lawyers pressed county canvassing boards to count as many of the ballots as possible.

Democrats sought to have the ballots declared invalid for any number of reasons, including lack of a required witness signature and date or the absence of a cancellation mark to prove the ballot was mailed no later than Election Day."

I will let others decide how appropriate it is for an O6 Officer to attach an article in an email to Military Voting Assistance Officers that accuses Democrats of trying to suppress or invalidate military votes. The simple fact of the matter is that military members do not get special consideration, or special rules for their votes. If that were the case, then everyone that complained about military votes not being counted in 2000, should also raise a fuss about the Supreme Court stopping the recount of votes in Florida.