Jim Carey: "Whaddaya mean, I can fight and die, but I can't vote?"
Jim Carey: "Whaddaya mean, I can fight and die, but I can't vote?"
About
the Author
Rear Admiral [Ret.] Jim Carey is Chairman of the NATIONAL DEFENSE COMMITTEE and NATIONAL DEFENSE PAC. His background includes duty in cruisers and amphibs, at Naval Beach Group, and in the Pentagon, and naval service from Seaman Recruit to Rear Admiral. He also served in the Reagan and George Bush Sr. Administrations. Further details at The National Defense Committee and The National Defense Political Action Committee.
"That can't happen in America, you say?" Hold on just a minute. IT ABSOLUTELY CAN AND DOES!
Believe it or not, we still have some arcane voting rules and regulations and laws in this country that in this, the new millennium, in 2003, still in and of themselves prevent some American military personnel from being able to vote. Admittedly, the problems usually arise from state or county laws, but they still exist, and the soldiers and sailors and airmen and marines and coastguardsmen they most affect are those deployed in harms way and at the pointed end of the warrior spear.
Case in point: American nuke submarines go on 60-day patrols and with the Blue/Gold Team arrangement, half of our submarines are at sea on any given day. The maximum advance time that ANY COUNTY CLERK will mail out a military absentee voter ballot is 45 days. Figure it out. The math just doesn't work. Nuclear submarines don't come to the surface to make a mail run; thus, anyone at sea on a submarine isn't going to get their military absentee voter ballot no matter when it's mailed. You just "can't get there from here. " And even if the sailor has the ballot in hand prior to sailing, there's no post office to mail it from in time for it to arrive in time to be counted. Net result: America's submariners at sea on patrol, which is half of all our submarines, don't get to vote. Incredible, I know, but those are the facts.
Case in point # 2: A marine or soldier is deployed in hostile territory in Afghanistan and sleeping in a fox hole miles from any base camp support. Do you think the military mail clerks are going to be able to get the absentee ballot to him or her? Let's say it's mailed from East Cupcake, Wherever, how long does it take to get to Afghanistan? Then to the front lines? Then past the front lines? And then guess what----- at the bottom of some of these ballots, this front-line warrior is told his or her signature "has to be notarized". Ever try to find a notary public in East Cupcake, Afghanistan? And oh yes, it must be postmarked by a date certain? Every try to find a post office near your foxhole in Afghanistan? Incredible, I know, but those are the rules or regulations or laws in some counties in the USA.
And there are many, MANY more situations similar to those I outline above where the end result is the same -- the warriors deployed forward "at the tip of the spear" don't get to vote because those responsible for ensuring their ability to vote haven't made certain that they are afforded that right -- a right they have surely earned by putting their lives on the line for the rest of our nation.
So what's the answer? Ether. Or at least the digital flow of information that is transmitted through the ether to submarines on patrol and to the laptops of forward deployed military ground units that are not in regular touch with postal services and notary publics. Make the changes in the law, and the voting procedures for deployed military voting by absentee ballot so servicemembers can use their digital ability to communicate to cast their absentee ballots in such manner that they are assured their ballot will be counted in the final election results. All of America watched the efforts in Florida last November where some politicians even tried to disallow military absentee ballots because they lacked a notary signature or a postmark. For most Americans, that was nauseating.
So let's fix it. If we can send astronauts to the moon and cruise missiles through a given window in a building, surely we can establish a digital voting structure and laws to provide every member of America's armed forces who wishes to vote the opportunity to do so.
Come on America. This is do-able. Let's quit "blaming the system" and get on with it. To do any less is to disgracefully break faith with our sons and daughters that we send in harm's way in our behalf. Let's at least let them have a say in who our national leaders are.
[Editor's Note: For anyone having questions on this topic, The NATIONAL DEFENSE COMMITTEE's Expert on military absentee voting is Sam Wright, who can be reached at samwright50@yahoo.com]
