Evening star., 1944-01-26

Inc men ana women WHO are u
the armed forces are rightfully In
dignant about it. They have lef
their homes and jobs and schools T.
meet and defeat the enemies VIII
would destroy all our democratic in
stitutions, including our right t
vote. Our men cannot understan'
why the fact that they are fightin
should disqualify them from voting
1t has been clear for some tim
that practical difficulties and tn
element of time make 1t virtual,
impossible for soldiers and sailor
and marines spread all over tn
world to comply with the differen
voting laws of 48 States and tha
unless something is done about !
they will be denied the right to vote
For example, the statutes of fou
Of the States permit no absentee
voting at all in general elections
Eleven other States require regis
tration in person in order to De abl'
to vote. Others pearmit absentee
registration; but in some instance
the procedure is so complicated ant
the time is so limited that soldier
and sailors in distant parts cf TIN
world cannot practically compl.
with the State requirements.
Cites Innumerablc Difficulties.
But even if the registration re
quirements were met, there are still
innumerable difficulties involved
For example, Pvt. John Smith il
Australia and his brother Joe. VIII
is on destroyer of the coast o
Italy, who think they are entities
to vote as we'll as to fight. find tina
they have to write in and ask tn
appropriate public official in thei
own State for absentee ballots.
In every State those ballots can
not even be printed until after tn
primary elections-and in II State
the primaries do not take plac
until September. In due time tn
ballots are printed-but they can
not always be sent out Immediately
since in about hall the States tn,
absentee ballots cannot be mailed
until 80 days or less before the cleo
ton.
Weeks after they are mailed ou
they reach John Smith in Australia
and Joe aboard his destroyer. Ever
assuming that John and Joe in thu
meantime have not been trans
ferred to another station or ship, OF
have not been wounded and sen
to a hospital, it is doubtful whethe
the ballots will get back in time t.
be counted. II they have beer
moved, is is very likely, the ballot
may not even, reach them befor
election day.
In IA States the procedure is ever
more time consuming and cumber
some-for instead of writing for al
official ballot John, and Joe mus
first obtain special application form
I for official ballots, which must b,
received and filled out and returned
before the ballots themselves ar
even mailed to them.
!. ,IntolefabIe Situation.
The Congress in September. 1942
4 took cognizance Of this intolerabl'
situation, facing millions of our. citi
zens, and passed a Federal absente,
balloting statute Public Law 712)
That law did three things: 1t pro
vided for a Federal ballot to be pre-
pared by the States; it abrogatet
State requirements for registration
and poll tax payments, insofar Al
they apply to members of tn
armed forces, and it required tn
War and Navy Departments to dis
tribute postal cards to members o
the armed forces with which the,
might request Federal absentee bal
lots from their State election Off
cials.
The Federal law was a slight i'm
provement, in that it provided alb
sentee voting procedures in thos,
cases where there had been no &C.
ton by the States. 1t also elm
mated some of the strict procedure
requirements contained in many O.
the State laws.
The great defect in that statute
however, was that it still involved
time lag, so that the voter nigh
not receive his ballot in time tt
return it to be counted. This de.
feet is inherent and cannot b.
avoided in any statute under which
the forwarding of ballots for dis
tribution must wait until the can
didates have been selected in tn
primaries, or which requires cor
respondence between the local cleo
ton officials and soldiers and sail
ors who may be transferred O
moved at any minute.
If any proof were necessary t.
show how ineffective this Fedora
statute was-the fact Is that out O
5,700, 900 men in our armed force
at the time of the general election
of 1912, only $4,000 servicemen'
votes were counted under the Fed
eral statute.
The need for new legislation
evident If we are really sincere
and not merely rendering lip service
to our soldiers and sailors.
Five Million Outside u. S.
BY the 1914 elections there will b.
more than 5000 900 Americans out
side the limits of the United State
In our armed forces and merchan
marine. They, and the million
more who will be stationed within
the United States waiting the da,
to join their comrades on the battle
fronts, will all be subject to fre
quent, rapid and unpredictabl,
transfer to other points outside ant
inside the United States. This i
particularly true in the case of tn,
Navy and merchant marine. com
ponents of which are at sea fo
weeks at time and are CONSTANT,
changing their ports of entry an,
debarkation.
Some people, am sure with thei
tongues in their cheeks-say tina
the solution to this problem i
simply that the respective State,
improve their own absentee ballo
machinery. In fact. there is nov