House refuses improvement for overseas absentee ballots

It is simply mind-boggling how the audacity of these illiterate, power-hungry, beasts of burden who claim to support our troops in actuality treat our troops. It appears they do not wish to have their votes counted, and only 5.5 PERCENT of 6 MILLION Military votes were ever counted in the 2006 elections. Maybe the Republicans would still be in the majority if those votes had been counted! This is WRONG!

A measure that sought to better enable members of the military serving overseas to cast their votes failed miserably in the House this week. [House Concurrent Resolution 388.*] Not surprisingly, nary a Democrat volunteered to back the proposal introduced by House Republican Whip Roy Blunt [Rep. Blunt's press release*], which urged the Department of Defense to make positive changes in the process for military-absentee voting.

Earlier this week, the federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC) urged overseas voters to begin the voting process, one that is “lengthy,” said EAC chair Rosemary Rodriguez. “[T]hey must first request a ballot and return it to cast their vote. This lengthy process leaves little room for error or clarification.” For men and women in uniform who are in the field, such processes are not always realistic. The EAC estimates that only 5.5 percent of the roughly six million voters that fall under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act were counted for the 2006 general election. More disturbingly, “The ballots returned account for just under one-third of the ballots requested,” an EAC report shows.

Last year, a Defense Department Inspector General reportedly sought to appoint “voting assistance officers” to aid military members in placing their votes, but the Pentagon turned down the proposal. Now that a Democrat-controlled Congress has flatly refused Blunt’s measure, there seems little hope that EAC statistics will improve this election season.

Everyone who is in touch with someone overseas, please urge them to fill out the papers to vote and turn them in to the proper person. Even if they do not want to vote, it will come in handy if they change their mind. It is better to have it and not use it, than it is to want to vote and not be able. They are urging everyone to get their paperwork done, so please help us by reminding your friends and loved ones. Thank you.

Hat tip: Patriot Post Digest.

Update: It has been brought to my attention by Bubblehead that many of the 6 million votes were not military. He is correct. D'oh! We do not have 6 million members in our military. However please do remind anyone who is overseas to get their paperwork done early. Thank you.

He also provided a link for me, which I read, and it appears that only 5.5 percent of the military voted. This is where I have a dispute with Bubblehead. While 5.5 percent of the vote was counted, I know the tricks that happen with those absentee voters. See, I remember Florida and the lawyers just as much as the next political news junkie. There are many problems with getting to many of these Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, Airmen, etc, because they are IN A WAR which everyone seems to have forgotten about. But this is a different issue to be discussed at a different time.

Update II: Upon waking from a slumber I did not choose, I have found (and it was pointed out to me by a very nice man), here is the resolution: House Concurrent Resolution 388*, and here is the to Rep. Blunt's press release*. Thank you, Bubblehead, for the links. This is one of those articles which I would have taken the appropriate time to do more research. I almost pulled it, because I could not find the House Resolution myself, but NOOOO. I had to make an arse of myself.

Let me introduce you to some more errors. First, it is very difficult to know how many absentee ballots were actually returned:

UOCAVA turnout remains low. At least 992,034 UOCAVA-related absentee ballots were requested for the 2006 general election. There is no way of knowing how many of these were actually requests for ballots for the 2006 election or were the automatic generation of ballots through the use of the "Federal Post Card Application" form. Less than 16.5 percent of the estimated 6 million potentially eligible UOCAVA voters sought to participate in the 2006 election.

States report slightly more than 330,000 UOCAVA ballots were cast or counted, for an estimated eligible turnout rate of approximately 5.5 percent. The ballots returned account for just under one-third of the ballots requested. [Robert Novak: Military voting woes: Official apathy abounds*.

This can also be found using the first link that Bubblehead sent me.

Secondly, I only had one source. I could not verify this information, even though I tried. I trusted my source and I still do, but I should never write an article based on one e-mail. Sometimes others may get carried away (like I do) when it comes to our Military. I want the best for them. After all, they deserve it! They also deserve to have the truth. I hope these links will better allow you to understand the totality of this issue. If not, I will make more corrections and go cry. :(

Cross-posted @ Rosemary's News and Ideas and Adam's Blog.
Digg!
May you walk with the LORD always, and when you cannot take another step, may He carry you the rest of the way until you can walk along side Him again.