VETERANS:
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WESTSIDE REPUBLICANS SUPPORT OUR VETERANS!
WESTSIDE REPUBLICANS SUPPORT VETERANS RIGHTS!
WE SUPPORT THE MILITARY VOTING RIGHTS BILL!
TODAY'S TROOPS ARE TOMORROW'S VETERANS
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Left to Right: Mark Reed, U.S. Congressional candidate - 27th District; Karen Bonadio, Vice-Chairwoman of the Westside Republicans; Rob Pedersen, Chairman of the Westside Republicans; Ari David, U.S. Congressional candidate - 30th District.
Thanks for all your support! Removing Waxman and Sherman from office will be the greatest victory for America's Veterans, as well as for the greater good of our nation.
As you may know, we are also battling to save Veterans land and medical buildings at the Sepulveda VA in the San Fernando Valley. We are opposed to a "non-profit developer" getting a 75-year lease for two medical buildings to convert to low-cost housing at the Sepulveda VA; one does not necessarily have to be a Veteran to live there. We're opposed to the $40 million of taxpayers HUD money for 149 studio apartments. It's a scam!
Here is a great article by the president of a homeowner's group giving his support. We need to unite more and more Veterans and Friends of Veterans to challenge Waxman and Sherman who support taking Veterans land and giving it to their cronies.
Thank you,
Robert Rosebrock,
Director, The Veterans Revoluton
Sepulveda VA - Government Giveaway of Veterans Land
see additional Materials on our: PROTECT V.A. LAND PAGE
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SUPPORT THE MILITARY VOTING RIGHTS BILL!
WESTSIDE REPUBLICANS SUPPORT
OUR DEPLOYED TROOPS' RIGHT TO VOTE!
US SENATE BILL: Introduction of the Military Voting Protection Act of 2009
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas)
Mr. President, today I am re-introducing the Military Voting Protection Act – a bipartisan bill to support our troops and protect their right to vote. In every federal election in recent memory, American Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines have encountered substantial roadblocks in the voting process, especially those who are deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. This is a national disgrace.
Our military service members put their lives on the line to protect the rights and freedoms of all Americans. In return, it is our responsibility to do everything we can to support them. The nature of the Global War on Terror and the high tempo of U.S. military operations—including our surge into Afghanistan—will necessitate overseas service by our troops for the foreseeable future. It is imperative that we put in place a system to ensure that American service members serving abroad can participate in the democratic process even as they simultaneously fight to defend our democracy, its institutions, and the American way of life. Surely, these brave men and women have earned at least that much through their blood, sweat, and tears.
Yet the country they defend has repeatedly denied our troops one of our most sacred rights – the right to vote. The U.S. Election Assistance Commission, in studying the 2006 election, found that only 47.6 percent of the military voters who requested absentee ballots were actually successful in casting those ballots. That means that less than half of those troops who wanted to vote were able to do so, which is appalling. Overall participation rates among military and overseas voters in the November 2006 election were also extremely low. Looking at the big picture, there were roughly six million eligible military and overseas U.S. voters at that time, but only 16.5 percent of them were able to request an absentee ballot for the election. According to a 2006 DoD Inspector General report, only 59 percent of surveyed service members even knew where to obtain voting information on their installation, and only 40 percent had actually received assistance from their designated Voting Assistance Officer. Though the official data from the 2008 election is not yet available, the preliminary evidence indicates that our military voters faced the same array of problems in trying to cast their ballots as in previous elections.
Our troops report many procedural hurdles when trying to participate in federal, state, and local elections. States have inadequate processes and unreasonable timelines in place for transmitting blank absentee ballots to our troops,and the methods available to these service members for returning completed ballots to local election officials are both slow and antiquated. Moreover, there are a myriad of absentee voting rules and regulations that are extremely confusing and vary widely with each state. The process is clearly broken, and there is no excuse for not stepping up to challenge the status quo and streamline the process. We ask so much of our troops, and in return we have given them a voting system that is perplexing, frustrating, slow, and often dysfunctional. They deserve better.
The bill I introduce today can help address some of these procedural hurdles. The Military Voting Protection (MVP) Act will give our troops a louder and clearer voice at the polls by ensuring their absentee ballots are delivered back home in time to be counted and do not get lost on the way. It will reduce delays in the absentee voting process by requiring the Department of Defense (DoD) to take a more active role in the process. The MVP Act will require the DoD to be responsible for collecting completed absentee ballots from overseas troops and then express-shipping them back to the United States in time to be counted, allowing troops to track their ballots while they are in transit and confirm their delivery after they arrive at local election offices.
I am pleased that Senators Wyden and Inhofe have joined me in this effort; it is a testament to their unwavering support for the members of our Armed Forces.
We should pass this bipartisan bill quickly so that elections officials have time to prepare for the 2010 election cycle. Meaningful reform will not come overnight, but now is the time to take up the cause of military voters. There are 18 months until the next election, which is enough time to implement significant improvements. If we fail, further disenfranchisement of military voters will likely result. We must avoid a repeat of 2004, 2006, and 2008.
This bill does not solve all the problems with our current military voting system, but it’s an important first step. The Americans who answer the call to serve are a national treasure, and I remain in awe of their selfless sacrifice and commitment to the defense of freedom. In what is now the eighth year of the Global War on Terror, they continue to voluntarily step forward to defend our nation and our freedom – often requiring immeasurable personal sacrifice by them and their loved ones. The members of this next “greatest generation” deserve nothing less than the same constitutional rights and individual liberties that they safeguard for their fellow citizens back home. It is the responsibility of Congress to ensure that they get them.
I yield the floor.
NEVER FORGET:
