POTUS wants mail in ballots from troops excluded?

President Trump Attacked Mail-In Ballots in Florida. Here Are the Facts

TIME
By ABIGAIL ABRAMS
November 13, 2018

Members of the U.S. military, their families and other U.S. citizens living overseas can also vote by mail thanks to the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. States are required to send ballots to these voters at least 45 days before a federal election.

Advocates for overseas voters harshly criticized President Donald Trump for arguing that some mail-in ballots shouldn’t be counted as he spread a conspiracy theory about Florida’s elections on Monday.

In a tweet on Monday, Trump called for the state to stop counting ballots and stick with the results from Election Night, a move that while circumventing state law would also disenfranchise members of the military and civilians overseas, whose ballots can arrive until Nov. 16 and still be counted.

“These overseas and military voters, the worst thing for them is to hear our country’s leaders saying don’t count these votes,” said Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, president and CEO of the U.S. Vote Foundation, a nonprofit that helps overseas voters cast their ballots. “They go to incredible lengths to send their ballots back.”

Some states also don’t require that the counting be finished immediately. In Florida, counties had until Saturday to complete their initial tallies. And in California, officials have weeks to count their votes.
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BTW: Notice this

Michael Steele to Lead U.S. Vote Foundation

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 9, 2018 --U.S. Vote Foundation's Board of Directors unanimously elected Michael Steele, Former Chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), as Chair of U.S. Vote Foundation (US Vote) and its Overseas Vote initiative. His appointment will strengthen the nonprofit, nonpartisan organization and support its work to advance its mission to make Every Citizen is a Voter, a reality.

“With the 2018 midterm election now underway, Mr. Steele's leadership and skill at driving engagement will positively augment our outreach efforts,” US Vote President and CEO Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat. “His breadth of communications experience and insight into the political and media establishment will help us keep our finger on the pulse during this important midterm election year.”

So the President of the United States does not want votes counted from the troops? Seriously? Does he understand that would include all of them? Democrats, Independents and Republicans?

Army couple told no record of them voting over last 8 years!

Some voters face registration issues at polls
FOX 23.com
11/05/2012
Reported by: Ian Silver

Thousands of Tulsa voters cast their ballots during early voting, but a small handful were turned away at the polls because they were no longer registered to vote.

Kiersten Lane wanted to teach her two young children how important it is to vote.

"We waited until they got out of school on Friday and we went and stood in line for about an hour," Lane said.

But that hour-long wait turned out to be a waste of time.

"It took them about 10 minutes to find me in the system, and they said that I had been deleted and taken out of the system due to inactivity."

According to Oklahoma law, there are five reasons a person's voter registration can be canceled:

-The death of the voter.
-The voter is convicted of a felony.
-The voter is legally determined to be incapacitated.
-The voter moved out of the area and registers elsewhere.
-The voter has not responded to correspondence from the county and has not voted for more than four year.

But none of those reasons apply to Lane and her husband.

In 2004, Lane and her husband voted absentee from Fort Hood, Texas, where her husband was on active duty in the U.S. Army. In 2008, they were stationed at Fort Sam Houston outside San Antonio, Texas, and again voted absentee.

"I am worried," Lane said. "They aren't accounted for. There isn't a record whatsoever of our votes for the last eight years."
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Military absentee voting picks up

Military absentee voting picks up
Army Times
By Karen Jowers
Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Sep 27, 2012

With little more than a month to go before the election, activity has picked up among military community voters overseas.

In the first three weeks of September, when free express military mail service became available for overseas service members and their families, 5,556 absentee ballots were sent to the U.S. with the military-only mailing service — a 65 percent increase over the same period in 2010, when the free express mail service was first authorized for the election season, according to the U.S. Postal Service.

Eric Eversole, executive director of the Military Voter Protection Project, said he is not surprised. “You would expect to see a sizeable increase in the number of absentee ballots being returned in a presidential year election as compared to a mid-term election,” he said.
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Military Absentee Voting Week Sept. 27 through Oct. 4

DoD announces Absentee Voting Week for service members, families
Camp Pendleton Public Affairs
Story by Cpl. Jovane Henry
9/18/2012

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – In the last election cycle, only 63 percent of military ballots were returned to their local election officials on time, according to a study conducted by the Federal Voting Assistance Program.

In an effort to encourage timely voting among service members and their families this election year, the Department of Defense has designated the week of Sept. 27 through Oct. 4 as Absentee Voting Week.

Absentee Voting Week was established in 2002 with a goal to promote military and overseas voting awareness and encourage voters to request and receive absentee ballots from the Federal Voting Assistance Program website, www.fvap.gov.

During the week, “all eligible voters including Marines, sailors, civilian Marines and their eligible family members, are encouraged to return their completed absentee ballots, which will allow sufficient time for the ballots to be mailed and counted in their state,” according to Marine Administrative Message 470/12.

Installation and unit voting assistance officers are working double-time to get the word out to 100 percent of eligible voters through various methods of promotion, said Dora Rodriguez, the deputy adjutant and assistant installation voting officer for Marine Corps Installations- West, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.
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Overseas absentee votes double 2004 totals

Overseas absentee votes double 2004 totals

By Karen Jowers - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Nov 10, 2008 9:27:15 EST

The Military Postal Service Agency returned 519,032 overseas absentee ballots to local election offices as of Nov. 4, more than 2½ times the total of 203,233 returned in the 2004 election, officials said.

MPSA reported that 415,428 absentee ballots went by mail to APO and FPO addresses between Sept. 8 and Nov. 4 of this year, said Shari Lawrence, Army Human Resources Command spokeswoman, more than twice the total of 205,418 sent out in the same time period in 2004.

Some people were able to get ballots electronically, depending on the state. That’s why nearly 105,000 more ballots were received by local election officials this year than were mailed through the military postal system to APO/FPO addresses.

Also, an estimated 10,000 overseas voters sent ballots by FedEx under a partnership with the Overseas Vote Foundation and the express shipper, which offered free or discounted delivery of ballots from 89 countries.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/military_absenteevotes_111008w/

War, not voting, focus of soldiers in Iraq

A few things bother me with this. The first is, if the military does not know how they vote, then why do they keep saying that the majority vote Republican? Next, the percentage. "In the last federal election, only about 30 percent of overseas military ballots were tallied" which seems really, really low considering they make the claim the military votes Republican. Up until this election, there was the assumption that the vast majority of the US troops overseas were voting Republican but now that I think of it, they really have no way of knowing how anyone voted. All this means is that for all these years we've been told the troops vote GOP, we've been had.

It also makes sense that the bulk of contributions from members of the military have gone to Obama and Paul, not McCain. As you read down, you'll see that one of the complaints the troops have is that McCain has been tied to Bush and they see Bush for what he did to Iraq and to the country. This also shows that the statistical data is right and troops are a reflection of the nation as a whole. They are Democrats and Republicans and Independents along with the minor parties just like the rest of us. The biggest difference is, they the ones risking their lives doing what the nation sent them to do without having the benefit of deciding who takes over next. The soldiers who do want to vote are not getting what they need as fast as they need it to do it. I wonder if they know how badly McCain has done on his votes for when they become veterans?

War, not voting, focus of soldiers in Iraq
Antiquated, flawed process impedes voting for some combat troops

MOSUL, Iraq - Car bombs rather than Obama, making it home rather than McCain dominate the talk among many U.S. soldiers in Iraq's deadliest city during the final countdown to America's presidential election.

Dangers, distance from home and the dawn-to-dark effort in an alien environment push U.S. politics into a corner for many soldiers — especially in combat outposts where television and the Internet are not readily available.

"Regardless of who wins the election, we are going to be here 15 months. And our mission is not going to be fundamentally affected, at least in the short term," said Capt. Justin Davis Harper after returning from a patrol into the northern city of Mosul's most violent zone.

No public voting data
How soldiers in Iraq or anywhere else vote will not be accurately known since government agencies do not make such data public.

"My guess is that the military will continue to vote Republican but less so in that direction because this time there are conflicting impulses at work," said Richard H. Kohn at the University of North Carolina.

McCain, a former Navy pilot and Vietnam War POW, is attractive to service members and "adept at its language," Kohn said. "But at the same time, I detect a disappointment and even anger at the way Bush has managed, ranging from treatment of the wounded to gross errors in waging the war in Iraq."

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27476586/

Deployed soldiers are paying attention to election, but wish someone paid attention to them

Is the economy important in this election? Absolutely! But imagine being in Iraq or Afghanistan right now and noticing how little coverage there is in either place. Would you feel as if anyone cared anymore? It keeps getting forgotten that everything that happens here affects them just as much as it does us because they have family here dealing with it and know they will have to return to it as well. They just have the extra burden on their shoulders trying to do their duty and stay alive. Why have the politicians forgotten them?

McCain, well he still wants to use them to sell his "I know how to win wars" but never addresses the simple fact the surge of troops had little to do with it and it was the rest that went on to reduce the violence and our troops dying as well as the Iraqis. Obama is focused on the economy and says that he wants to bring the troops home from Iraq and build up forces in Afghanistan. Aside from that, they are hardly mentioned.

One other missing subject in this election is the veterans, especially the wounded veterans needing care. McCain says he cares about them but his votes have proven he really doesn't. Obama serves on the Veterans Affairs Committee and has been part of the changes for the better in the VA, but we are left to wonder why it is Obama never really brings any of this up. Why wouldn't he be proud of his record on veterans issues compared to McCain? While they will say there are only so many hours in the day, it would be a wonderful thing if some reporter interviewing them would at least bring the subject of the troops deployed and the veterans who have been wounded at least once in a while. They noticed.

Soldiers see wars, economy as key election concerns
European edition, Friday, October 31, 2008



For Staff Sgt. Derek Detherow, based in Baghdad’s Sadr City district, the Iraq war is by far the biggest issue in the upcoming U.S. elections.

After all, the decisions that the future president will make on the war will directly affect him.

"The biggest thing in my life is here in Iraq," Detherow, who is with 1st Battalion, 35th Armor Regiment, said recently. "I can’t see too much beyond that."

Detherow said he doesn’t like how little attention is paid to his soldiers who are out working every single day. Yet he also acknowledged that there was some good in not being such a hot topic this year.

"The way I look at it, there are pros and cons of both the Republicans and the Democrats, and I don’t really favor either side," said Pvt. Gabriel Esquero, 25, of Alamogordo, N.M. "I’m just for whatever presidential candidate is ready to build the economy back up."

Esquero added that he believed both candidates had failed to talk enough to voters about what is at stake in Afghanistan.

"I think a lot of people fail to know what the issues are here," he said. "A lot of people think this is a wasted effort here."
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Obama wants all military votes to count, even though most will go to McCain

Obama has been part of all the changes for the better in the VA and sits on the Veterans Affairs Committee. He has a higher rating from the service organizations for supporting veterans spending bills and legislation. He wants the military honored for their service and used as if they were of value to this nation instead of simply expendable and he wants the veterans taken care of. Now this. Yet with all of this what does he receive in return? Too many in the military are still supporting McCain just because he says he support them and veterans but his record proves he does not when it comes to actually doing it. Compare his record to Obama and you'll know who really supports the military and the veterans.

Obama camp wants every military vote counted

By Rick Maze - Staff writ
Posted : Wednesday Oct 29, 2008 12:06:36 EDT

The Barack Obama campaign is urging state election officials to make an extra effort to count all military absentee votes, even though most of those votes might be expected to support the Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

In an Oct. 27 letter to the top election officials in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, Robert Bauer, general counsel for the Obama for America organization, asks states to make an extra effort to count absentee ballots cast by service members.

The letters come despite recognition by senior Obama campaign officials that many military voters —possibly a majority of military voters — are more likely to vote for Republican presidential candidate Arizona Sen. John McCain rather than Obama, the Democratic senator from Illinois.

“A military voter who is timely registered with the state and has submitted his or her federal write-in absentee ballot by the state’s deadline should be in no doubt that their vote will be counted,” Bauer says in the letters.

One state already has had a legal battle over military ballots. Virginia election officials initially balked at accepting federal write-in ballots because the federal form omits one piece of information required under state election laws — the address of the people witnessing the voter signing the ballot.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/10/military_obama_militaryvoters_102908w/

22 percent of military members voted in the 2006 election

Former Marine: DOD voting system ‘broken’
By Charlie Coon, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, September 11, 2008



WASHINGTON — A former Marine who was a voting assistance officer told a Senate committee on Tuesday that he recommends troops living overseas look at online voting alternatives rather than use their military-organized programs.

Bryan O’Leary, a former F-18 pilot who works for a Washington law firm, noted that many servicemembers are on the move or based in remote areas. Those troops, O’Leary said, would be better off using an online registration site — www.overseasvotefoundation.org — rather than the "broken" system devised by the Department of Defense for its members.

"This is your best recourse if you haven’t gotten a ballot yet," O’Leary told the Senate Judiciary Committee during a hearing on ways the Justice Department is trying to ensure voting access.

O’Leary, citing statistics from the Defense Manpower Data Center, said that only 22 percent of military members voted in the 2006 election, including only 17 percent of those stationed overseas, compared with 40 percent of eligible voters in the general population.

He also told the committee that more than 48,000 ballots from overseas were rejected after being challenged by various candidates from both major political parties.
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http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=57336

Of 119,000 absentee ballots sent to troops, only 57,000 were counted last year

About 119,000 absentee ballots for overseas military were requested in 2006, about 10 percent of overseas military. Of those 119,000 ballots, only about 57,000 were actually cast and counted, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Government officials are unable to explain that discrepancy.

In war zone, voting is not the top priority
By Geoff Ziezulewicz, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, August 25, 2008

(Second in a three-part series)

The voting assistance officers assigned to help their comrades vote sometimes face challenges in convincing a deployed soldier that casting a ballot should be a priority.

Add the breakneck tempo of military life as two wars are waged and the difficulty assigning and keeping voting assistance officers, and helping troops vote is further complicated.

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http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=56969