Source: http://www.heritage.org/election-integrity/report/presidents-opportunity-making-military-voters-priority
Timestamp: 2017-10-23 04:33:59
Document Index: 46277809

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 577', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§ 1973', '§1973', '§ 1566', '§ 1973', '§ 15301']

A President’s Opportunity: Making Military Voters a Priority | The Heritage Foundation
July 19, 2011 19 min read Download Report
Abstract: The MOVE Act, like previous voting rights laws, was supposed to help military members exercise their right to vote. The MOVE Act, however, cannot succeed in delivering on its promise until it is fully implemented and enforced. President Obama has a clear opportunity to help deliver the promise of the MOVE Act, but his Administration must be willing to make the issue a priority. It must address the shortcomings from the 2010 election and ensure a top-down commitment from the President’s agencies to promote and protect U.S. service members’ voting rights. At a time when members of America’s military are in harm’s way in remote parts of the world, this nation should spare no expense or effort in making sure that the MOVE Act’s promise is realized.
In October 2009, Congress passed the most comprehensive military voting reform of the past 20 years. This legislation, known as the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE Act),[1] promised to revolutionize the military voting process by increasing the use of technology, removing unnecessary obstacles to absentee voting, and providing greater opportunities to register and request an absentee ballot. According to one of its primary authors, Senator Charles Schumer (D–NY), the MOVE Act was supposed to “bring[] overseas voting into the 21st century.”[2] Senator John Cornyn (R–TX), the bill’s co-sponsor, added that the “law represented the most meaningful reform in this area in decades.”[3]
With frequent deployments to war zones, constant moves between duty stations, and confusing state absentee voting laws, military members face an uphill battle trying to register and request an absentee ballot.[4] Even if a military member requests an absentee ballot, it is frequently lost or delayed in the mail or delivered too late to be returned and counted because of long overseas transit times.
In 2009, Congress amended UOCAVA by passing the MOVE Act. The MOVE Act attempted to address every facet of military voting by clarifying and expanding the state and federal obligations under UOCAVA. At the state level, the MOVE Act required states to send absentee ballots to military voters at least 45 days before a federal election, except under certain limited circumstances. The act also required each state to provide at least one form of electronic delivery (e.g., e-mail, facsimile, or Web-based system) for sending blank absentee ballots and other election materials. Finally, it prohibited states from requiring a notary’s signature as part of the absentee voting process.
Two Tales of Implementation
The implementation of the MOVE Act was both a great success and a great failure. Without question, the act accomplished a great deal. Many states, for example, expended significant resources to implement the MOVE Act. In a short period of time, many states introduced and passed a host of legislative changes to comply with the new federal law.
Another Disappointing Election
Notwithstanding the MOVE Act’s promise, the 2010 election proved to be another disappointing election for military voters. By nearly every performance measure, including the total number of absentee ballots requested by military voters, the total number returned, and the overall participation rate, it appears that military voters continue to experience significant difficulties when they request and return their absentee ballots. While there are a few bright spots in the data, they do not overcome the simple fact that military voters still appear to be the most disenfranchised group in the United States, matching rates not seen since before the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
A President’s Opportunity
Military voters, like other groups of voters that have been underrepresented in America’s electoral process, have long faced significant roadblocks to the exercise of their right to vote. Over the past 50 years, this nation has worked vigorously to remove these obstacles by enacting such laws as the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Help America Vote Act of 2002.[36] These federal laws have made significant improvements in Americans’ ability to vote and have opened the polling places to millions of citizens who in the past had been unable to vote.
1. Make registration/absentee ballot requests a priority.
When such a small percentage of eligible military voters request absentee ballots, as was the case in 2010, serious questions must be raised and addressed regarding the impediments that America’s men and women in uniform face when attempting to obtain an absentee ballot. While the MOVE Act was intended to resolve low participation rates by requiring DOD to create voter registration offices on every military base, the evidence shows that, prior to the 2010 election, DOD failed to implement this provision. Until the low absentee ballot request rate is resolved, military voters will continue to be the most disenfranchised group of voters in the United States.
2. Ensure timely and better enforcement of UOCAVA.
Military voters should not be forced to suffer through another election where the Justice Department’s Voting Section does not make protection of service members’ voting rights a priority. President Obama should direct the Attorney General to improve the Voting Section’s enforcement of UOCAVA, including requiring a detailed public plan that outlines not only how DOJ will ensure compliance with this federal law, but also how it will set up a program that allows early detection of problems. To better ensure compliance with the law in 2012, such a plan should also include clear guidelines for the states on the requirements of UOCAVA.
3. Provide effective penalties.
Congress also should consider amending UOCAVA to provide clear penalties for violations, especially when a state or local jurisdiction fails to meet the 45-day deadline for mailing absentee ballots. As noted, the Voting Section negotiated several settlement agreements that failed to provide military voters with sufficient time to vote.
4. Eliminate the waiver process.
The post-election evidence raises serious questions about the manner in which the waiver process was implemented and whether the provision continues to serve a useful purpose. In large part, the waiver provision was intended to be a short-term bridge to allow certain states—especially those that needed to make wholesale changes in their election codes—additional time to implement the 45-day deadline for mailing absentee ballots.
—M. Eric Eversole is Executive Director of the Military Voter Protection Project, a program of Military Families United, and a former Justice Department lawyer. Hans A. von Spakovsky is a Senior Legal Fellow in the Center for Legal & Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation and a former member of the Federal Election Commission and Justice Department official.
[1]Pub. L. No. 111-84 §§ 577 to 582, 583(a), 584 to 587, 123 Stat. 2190 (2009).
[2]Cong. Rec. S10682 (daily ed. Oct. 22, 2009) (statement of Sen. Charles Schumer).
[3]Letter from Sen. John Cornyn to Attorney General Eric Holder, Sept. 17, 2010, available at http://www.tesaxgopvote.com/elections/2010/cornyn-disenfranchisement-military-voters-must-end-001849.
[4] See Hans A. von Spakovsky and M. Eric Eversole, America’s Military Voters: Re-enfranchising the Disenfranchised, Heritage Foundation Legal Memorandum No. 45 (2009), available at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2009/07/Americas-Military-Voters-Re-enfranchising-the-Disenfranchised.
[5]42 U.S.C. § 1973ff et seq. The predecessor statutes were the Overseas Citizens Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1973dd, and the Federal Voting Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1973cc.
[6]UOCAVA provides that the “Presidential Designee” shall be responsible for carrying out the federal obligations under the statute. By executive order, President Reagan designated the Secretary of Defense as the Presidential Designee in 1988. See Exec. Order No. 12,642, 53 Fed. Reg. 21,975 (June 8, 1988).
[7] See U.S. Election Assistance Comm’n, Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act Survey Report Findings Table 15 (2009).
[8] See, e.g., U.S. Election Assistance Comm’n, Best Practices for Facilitating Voting by U.S. Citizens Covered by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (2004).
[9]H. Res. 388, 110th Cong. (2008); Evaluation of the Voting Assistance Program, Inspector General, Department of Defense, Report No. IE-2005-001 (2005), page 26.
[10]M. Eric Eversole, Military Voting in 2010: A Step Forward, But A Long Way to Go, Military Voter Protection Project & AMVETS Clinic at the Chapman University School of Law, at 2 (2011).
[11]As one of the MOVE Act’s lead authors, Senator Charles Schumer, stated after seeing preliminary data from the 2008 election, “This data provides only a snapshot of the problem, but it is enough to show that the balloting process for service members is clearly in need of an overhaul.” See Schumer Releases Survey Suggesting Ballots of One in Four Overseas Military Voters Went Uncounted in ’08 Election, Senator Charles E. Schumer, May 13, 2009, http://schumer.senate.gov/new_website/record.cfm?id=312970.
[12]Unfortunately, due to pressure from United States Postal Service (USPS) unions, the USPS was made the exclusive carrier for this expedited international mail service, rather than DOD opening it up to competitive bids from private carriers such as Federal Express. Because the USPS could not meet the three-day international service guaranteed by most private carriers, the statute also allows USPS seven days to return completed ballots to election officials in the United States. 42 U.S.C. § 1973ff-2A(b)(3).
[13]42 U.S.C. § 1973gg et seq. Once a state agency is designated as a voter registration agency, it must distribute mail-in voter registration forms to individuals it services, as well as provide assistance in completing the form, and then accept and transmit the completed forms to the appropriate state election officials. 42 U.S.C. § 1973gg-5(a)(4)(A).
[14]Press Release, Schumer, Cornyn Announce Pentagon Heeds Call to Provide Unprecedented Voting Assistance to Every Single Service Member and Family Member (Dec. 18, 2009), available at http://schumer.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=321033&.
[15]The states that had violations included Arkansas, Alabama, California, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
[16]Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez, Address at the MOVE Act Pen-and-Pad Briefing (Oct. 27, 2010), available at http://www.justice.gov/crt/opa/pr/speeches/2010/crt-speech-101027.html.
[17]As one example of foot dragging, the Voting Section waited more than nine months (i.e., three months before the election) to post the new law and update its UOCAVA Web page. And the Voting Section bothered to update its Web site only after a story critical of its efforts appeared on Fox News. See Jana Winter, DOJ Accused of Stalling on MOVE Act for Voters in Military, FOX News, July 28, 2010, http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/28/exclusive-doj-stalls-voter-registration-law-military/.
[18] See M. Eric Eversole, Military Voting in 2010: A Step Forward, But A Long Way to Go, Military Voter Protection Project & AMVETS Clinic at the Chapman University School of Law (2011).
[19]There is evidence that at least three jurisdictions received this advice, including Maryland, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands (V.I.). See Letter from Linda H. Lamone, State Administrator, Maryland State Board of Elections, to Robert Carey, Director of the Federal Voting Assistance Program (Aug. 25, 2010), available at http://www.fvap.gov/resources/media/md_waiver_withdrawal.pdf; see also Letter from Carol Thomas-Jacobs, Chief, Civil Division, Virgin Islands, U.S. Department of Justice, to Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice (Sept. 2, 2010), available at http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/misc/vi_uocava_letter.pdf; see also http://www.youtube.com/overseasvote#p/c/3A63B59A550D845D/13/x5VALB712o8 (Webcast of Rokey Suleman, the Elections Director for the District of Columbia, saying that the Voting Section offered the District a federal-only solution).
[20]In explaining why the District of Columbia did not accept the federal-only solution, Rokey Suleman noted that such a solution was unacceptable because it was an offer to disenfranchise military voters in local races. Suleman’s Webcast is available at http://www.youtube.com/overseasvote#p/c/3A63B59A550D845D/13/x5VALB712o8.
[21]Doe v. Walker, No. 10cv2646, at 13–25 (D.Md. Oct. 29, 2010).
[22]The challenges associated with mail delivery to a war zone were documented in 2004 by the Government Accountability Office, which found that 25 percent of military mail took more than 18 days to make the one-way trip to Iraq. U.S. Gov’t Accountability Office, GAO 04-484, Operation Iraqi Freedom: Long-standing Problems Hampering Mail Delivery Need to Be Resolved, pp. 9–13 (2004), available at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04484.pdf. The Military Postal Service Agency recommends that absentee ballots be sent at least 30 days before the election. See Federal Voting Information, Military Postal Service Agency, http://hqdainet.army.mil/mpsa/vote.htm (last visited July 17, 2011).
[23]The Voting Section had negotiated at least two agreements—one with Hawaii and one with Nevada—requiring the use of expedited mail delivery services. See, e.g., Memorandum of Agreement Between the United States of America and Hawaii Regarding Compliance with the Uniform and Overseas Citizen Absentee Voting Act for the November 2010 Federal General Election (Sept. 16 2010), available at http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/misc/hi_uocava_moa.pdf; Letter from T. Christian Herren, Chief, Voting Section, to Ross Miller, Secretary of State, Nevada (Oct. 4, 2010), available at http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/misc/nv_uocava_ltr.pdf.
[24]The 14 states or local jurisdictions do not include four states that had their waiver applications granted by DOD (Delaware, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Washington). However, they do include New York because New York violated the terms of its waiver and, thus, violated the mailing deadlines under UOCAVA.
[25]Of the 14 cases mentioned above, eight cases were discovered by third parties including violations in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, New Mexico, and Virginia. In fact, six cases were identified in a September 27, 2010, letter from the MVP Project. See Letter from M. Eric Eversole, Executive Director of the Military Voter Protection Project, to Hon. Eric Holder, U.S. Attorney General (Sept. 27, 2010), available at http://www.mvpproject.org/documents/2010.09.27HolderLetter.pdf. The Voting Section sent a single e-mail in response to the letter but provided no further information regarding the results of its investigations or how the violations were resolved.
[26]42 U.S.C. §1973ff-1(8)(A).
[27]Consent Decree, United States v. The State of Illinois, No. 10-cv-06800 (D. Ill., Oct. 22, 2010).
[28]As the Supreme Court emphasized, “Having once granted the right to vote on equal terms, the state may not, by later arbitrary and disparate treatment, value one person’s vote over another.” Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98, 104 (2000).
[29]10 U.S.C. § 1566a(a). While the MOVE Act did not require the Secretary of Defense to make the NVRA designation, Secretary Gates promised to make such a designation in December 2010. See Press Release, supra note 14.
[30] See Press Release, supra note 14.
[33] See Letter from Clifford L. Stanley, Under Secretary of Defense, Personnel and Readiness, to President Barack Obama and Congress, Mar. 17, 2011, at 11–14, available at http://www.fvap.gov/resources/media/2010_180_day_report.pdf.
[34]Eversole, supra note 10.
[35]Because service members move so often, absentee ballot requests from prior elections will often result in absentee ballots being sent by election officials for a subsequent election to an address that is no longer valid.
[36]42 U.S.C. § 1973 et seq. and 42 U.S.C. § 15301 et seq.
[37]Senator John Barasso (R–WY) has introduced such a bill, S. 331, which would provide a private right of action as well as attorneys’ fees to the prevailing party.