Montgomery County sentinel., 1944-07-13
| Might Be
Wrong But
P. G. STROMBERG

responsible for running weekly
newspapers is the steady receipt
of letters from men in the serv-
ice expressing appreciation for
the many items of news they
otherwise would not get. And
/ want to give
A Message all boys who
From read this col
Out There umn the assur-
ance that their
letters are important mail to US.
Among the recent letters was
one from a service man some
where in the South Pacific" who
states that this paper brings
him more news than any of his
letters. His only. objection is
that the paper is delayed in de-
livery, he having received the
issue of May IL at the end of
June. However this sailor goes
on to express opposition to one
of my recent articles. The arti-
Gle referred to is the one wherein
l pointed out that only a very
small percentage of men in the
service availed themselves of the
opportunity to vote in the re-
cent Presidential primary. To
this he replied, as follows: Il
made application, according to
instructions given US, to the Sec
retary of State for which l re-
ceived receipt stating that l
had my name on the mailing list
and would receive my ballot in
time for marking and returning
for our past primary election
which was May L. To date /
am still waiting to receive that
ballot. Evidently either no bal
lot was mailed or it was lost in
the mail and might yet arrive"
If this young mans experience
has been duplicated by great
many others in the service then
the privilege Of the men in the
service voting becomes almost a
travesty. With the primary
election results of May 1, 1914
tucked away as so much history
and men desiring to cast a vote
receiving a ballot as late as
July what possible part can he
have in the result of that cleo
ton? / give service men assur-
ance that, like
Sailor Tells so many others,
Why He Did / should like to
Not Vote see it possible
for EVERY man
and woman in the service to
have his or her ballot IN THE
HANDS of election officials be-
fore the polls close. And / also
give them assurance that the
figures quoted in the article re-
ferred to were actual. There
was a most disappointing per-
centage Of requests for ballots
and despite that fact there was
only a percentage Of the re-
quested hallots returned.
A word or suggestion to those
boys interested is that they con-
slider themselves self-appointed
disciples Of democracy and urge
all their comrades to send in for
their ballot and to be sure to
vote it and mail on time. Fed
eral officials have given assur-
ance that ballot mail will be
given speedy handling. Also 1
shall make it point to write a
letter to each of the boards of
election supervisors in the coun-
ties where our papers circulate
montgomery, Howard and Bal
time) as well as to our U. S.
Senator'S enclosing a copy of this
article and asking whether or
not they have found like situa-
tions.
The boy who wrote the above
letter will receive a personal
acknowledgment and I trust
that his prompt and clearcut
statement might lead to better
handling Of soldier ballots in the
Presidential election. Men and
women in the service have within
their power the actual election of
the President of the United States.
But they must do two things: