Evening star., 1944-08-21
War Department Held
Get Out Vote Club
Biz Pro.Roosevelt Ballot Seen
From Army Posts by Writer
By David Laurence

Big PrO.KOOSevelt Ballot Seen
From Army Posts by Writer
By David laurence
With the Political Action Committee
Of the C1o getting out the vote among
civilians at home and the United States
Army getting out the vote overseas and
in the military camps in this country It
may be taken for granted that the pro-
Roosevelt vote will be polled to much
larger extent than the Republican STRAIT
egists have hitherto believed.
There was q curious assumption when
the soldier-vote bill was before Congress
that the Republicans didn't want it
passed because they thought the soldiers
and sailors were predominantly for Mr..
Roosevelt. The Democrats pressed hard
for the bill which, as 1t turns out, was
not as disappointing to the administra-
ton as 1t was claimed at the time.
For the truth is the War Department
has become a get-out-the-vote club.
With all the discipline and potential
discipline behind it that comes from
appointing a get-out-the-votc ofiicer in
every single company Of troops in the
camps in this country and overseas, the
chances are the administrations wish
will be fulfilled and the vote will be
gotten out by the millions
Indeed President Roosevelt may sit
back and chuckle over what has hap
pened, for notwithstanding his desire
for a Federal ballot to take the place
Of State ballots so as to simplify" vot-
ing, the net result is that the Army will
see to it that every soldier votes any
how
The lawyers in the Pentagon Build
their difficulty in constituting the section
Of the law dealing with magazines and
newspapers and movies and insisted that
even private funds collected by q COM
pany officer from the troops for Incl
dentals and sales by newsboys at post
exchanges constituted purchases with
Government money and hence any
thing bought, from toothpaste to pub
lications, was sponsored article
now have no difficulty at all constituting
the following ambiguous paragraph in
the law which reads:
1T shall be unlawful for any commits
stoned, noncommissioned, warrant or
petty officer in the armed forces of the
United States to attempt to influence
any member Of the armed forces to vote
or not to vote for any particular candi-
date, or to require any member of the
armed forces to march to any polling
place or place of voting but nothing in
this act shall be deemed to prohibit free
discussion regarding political issues or
candidates for public ofice"
Does that mean that voting officer
is merely prohibited from influencing a
soldier to vote for or against a par
ticular candidate or does it mean that
he is prohibited from influencing the
soldier to cast any ballot If he chooses
not to wish to vote? Even II the soldier
doesn't march to any polling place"
what pressure can be put on him to
cast his ballot in his barracks?
The War Department, Of course, has
| construed the law to mean that 1t can
| get out the vote, claiming authority
from the following sentence In the stat
ute which says:
wherever practicable and compatible
with military operations, the appropri-
ate commanding ofncer shall be required
to use his best efforts to assure that
every person in or attached to and serv-
ing with his unit, who is entitled and
desires to vote under this title, has an
opportunity to mark his ballot in secret
before the latest date, which should
afford reasonable opportunity for the
return of the executed ballots
Does this impose on the voting on
GERS In each company an obligation to
urge that the soldier cast a ballot?
Plainly the law does not imply any such
mandate. II the soldier wants to re-
frain from voting he is entitled to do
so and no voting officer should be per-
mitted to high pressure him into casting
a ballot on the ground that the law
compels such a course
While 1t is, broadly speaking desir-
able that citizens vote it should not be
accomplished by any system of military
coercion. Fair play requires that every
Army officer who is charged with the
explanation Of voting procedure should
tell the soldier, also, that he Is Just as
good an American when he withholds
his vote as when he casts it.
There are millions of Republicans,
for example, who do not like Gov. Dewey
and yet do not want to vote the Dem
ocratic ticket. There are millions of
Democrats who do not approve of the
New Deal administration yet who will
not wish to vote the Republican ticket.
This form Of protest, through the stay
away vote, is . legitimate means Of ex.
preston, indeed. of dissent from 4 sys-
tenn which offers the citizen only a
choice sometimes between two insult
able candidates.
The idea that the War Department
must get out the vote is erroneous. It
must assist in furnishing voting faciu-
ties, but it has no right to urge the
voter to vote or refrain from voting.
The Army regulations just issued indi.
cate that the War Department has
made itself into get-out-the-vote club,
which Is a political activity in itself
and a dangerous precedent for a de-
mocracy to tolerate among its military
forces.
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