Montana labor news., 1944-06-22

In New York, stronghold Of Republic
can presidential favorite Thomas E.
Dewey, the legislature passed a regular
soldiers can't vote law refusing to rec
ognize federal ballots and providing state
ballots only upon formal application
from the soldier or presentation of a re-
quest in his handwriting from his family.
Under the Dewey-finagled law only 65, 900
Of million men and women in the
armed services have returned applica-
tons for a ballot to date.
But even this measly figure-61z% Of
the states servicemen-is just about
twice as muSh as the politicians x
pected. The board of elections of New
York city has appealed to the city budget
director for an additional appropriation
of $22,5OO for temporary clerks to handle
the war ballot applications which, they
SAID, are swapping them in amounts
roughly double Of the estimate of the
probable number Of %servicemen who
would seek to vote"
Reason that business from the boys in
uniform is so much greater than they
figured on boils down to their admission
that "all of the ballot requests received
so far are on cards and forms provided
by labor and other civic organizations
interested in getting out a large soldier
vote" It happens that the Greater New
York CLIO Council through a city-wide
shop and neighborhood campaign has
distributed $4,000 postcards for soldiers
to use to apply for ballots.
Civic and religious organizations and
thousands of individuals have come to
the CLIO for aid in getting their service
men a vote, although the Wal Ballot
Commission is the official state agency
for handing out applications.
The CLOS campaign has been going
on more than six weeks, along with a
campaign to get the law changed so
federal ballots will be honored. Dozens
Of letters from every battlefront come to
union offices every day from CTS whose
families or union sent them the CIO
application, asking for more to hand out
to their troop mates.
Thirteen states so far have agreed to
honor the simplified federal ballot, for
which soldiers need make no applica-
ton. It will be distributed to them
wherever they are. Twenty-Five states
require state absentee ballots like New
York's, and 10 have still not decided on
either system.
In Ohio, domain Of the other COP
presidential possibility, Gov. John Brick
er, a united labor front representing
more than a million union members in
GLIDING every branch of the labor move
ment succeeded in cutting through some
Of the red tape in the state soldier vote
bill but the COP faction controlling the
legislature still refused to honor the fed
eral ballot-and is letting labor take the
responsibility Of getting applications to
the soldiers.
The polltax state Of Texas has pro
vided no machinery for handling SOL
diers' applications, which must so to
county clerks. This is also true of Geor-
gia. Minnesota has received applications
from $4,000, about 1919 of its soldier
population.
A few states are cutting out the red
tape to make sure CTS can really vote.
New Jersey and Pennsylvania do not re-
quire a signed ballot application and
expect to send a ballot to every Of
their servicemen. In Illinois labor and
Democratic party forces are pressuring
Gov. Dwight H. Green CR) to call a
special legislative session to amend the
law he recently framed to keep GIs
from voting.