Protecting The Franchise Abroad While Being Precluded At Home

By Jonathan Bronstein, Talk Radio News Service

Fighting to spread democratic ideals and ensuring the right to vote abroad are two of the most important missions that the American military partakes in. But while the military performs this task abroad, members are unable to vote because of institutional barriers, like the time it takes for ballot to arrive in the mail.

“Up to 27 percent of ballots requested by military and oversees voters were not counted,” said Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY), Chairman of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, who continued to say, “Those are just the voters that were able to get their requests for ballots answered.”

An even more sobering statistic was that 63.1 percent of military votes arrived late, which was a 14 percent increase since the 2004 election. “The problem is not getting better, it is getting worse,” said Schumer.

Pat Hollarn, the Acting Under Secretary for Personnel Defense and Readiness at the Department of Defense, believes that the institutional barriers take three forms.

Firstly, the barrier of time, as it takes too long to get information from America, through the mail system, to the individual abroad, said Hollarn.

Secondly, the barrier of distance, as the mail can be sent, but the individual may be far away from a base. People who serve on submarines or special operations units that do not return to military bases for long periods of time experience this problem, Hollarn said.

Thirdly, the barrier of mobility, as soldiers located in one site may be re-deployed quickly before the ballot can arrive.

As a result, Hollarn encourages states to allow soldiers to “allow electronic transmission options for registering to vote, requesting a ballot, and returning a ballot.” She believes that using electronic options would break the institutions that bar soldiers from voting, and therefore would be able to have their voices heard.

Additionally, Hollarn wants states to unify their rules so that all soldiers from all states would be able to follow the same procedures, instead of the current situation, in which all states have disparate rules.

For example, the study of voters abroad from the 2008 election shows the difference in rules, as California sent out 102,983 ballots and had 65,836 votes cast, or 63 percent. By contrast, West Virginia sent out 4,194 ballots and had 1,554 votes cast, or only 37 percent.

The problem with under representation of military voters has plagued America since the Truman Administration. While no legislation has been enacted to solve the problem, all the speakers remained hopeful that change would come, and that America would live up to its democracy, and all peoples voices would be heard.

Supreme Court considers "coalition districts" under the Voting Rights Act

Bartlett v. Strickland

Background: North Carolina House District 18 straddles two counties. The state constitution says that counties should not be divided between districts. The District was created in 2003 and was justified as being necessary to satisfy the Voting Rights Act (VRA), since the new district contains enough black people to get black candidates elected. The state courts have in past held that the VRA trumps the state constitution on this issue. In May 2004, county officials from one of the counties sued to get the district lines redrawn.

The lawsuit arises because the district is not a "majority minority district," where a minority group makes up a majority in the district (e.g. a district where blacks account for 51% of the population). Instead, the district is a "coalition district": blacks make up 39.36% of the population, but they make up 53.7% of registered Democrats, and Democrats make up 59% of the population. Therefore blacks are able to get candidates elected. Thus, North Carolina argues, the district is justified under the VRA.

Most of the argument session focused on whether the 50% threshold generally imposed for VRA-justified districts was arbitrary or not. While a minority group, voting as a block, can get candidates elected if it constitutes 50% of the population, it can (obviously) get candidates elected with less than 50%, and it may not be able to get candidates elected even if it has over 50% if it doesn't vote in a block. Justices (especially Justice Scalia) also had concerns about getting the judiciary branch involved in every districting decision.

The Court's decision will likely rest on how willing the Justices are to look at specific cases as opposed to abstract theories, and how willing the Justices are to let the courts get involved in districting decisions. The Court's decision will likely come well after this year's election, meaning (as the county official noted) it will be enforced in a single election before 2010's census.

Absentee Voting- Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Count Too

It’s not just about getting the votes in, it’s educating the voters and telling them how to do it, said Polli Brunelli, Director of the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP), during a briefing at the Pentagon. There are anywhere between four to six million potential absentee voters in the world, and we want them to be able to vote.

The numbers include “stateside” military- military personnel stationed in states other than the one they are registered in-, civilian Government workers overseas, and overseas military members and their families. The FVAP has set up a website, www.fvap.gov, to assist in their efforts to get all those votes counted.

But what happens after their votes are cast? FVAP has assisted in setting up expedited mail delivery of ballots, and also made sure that people are aware of the existence of the “backup ballot,” a ballot that allows a registered voter to cast a vote for Federal Offices in case their regular ballot isn’t available for them to use. The ballots are sent back to the respective states utilizing green tagged transports and are marked and tracked as a priority on regular transports.

“Absentee Voting Week” is October 12-18, 2008, and that is when a Department of Defense-wide email will be sent out, and comprehensive voting awareness and assistance programs will begin, to encourage voters to vote and return their state ballots as soon as possible. Express mail (via the United States Postal Service, through the military APO, FPO offices) will be used for returning cast ballots between the dates of October 29 and November 4, 2008.

There are also electronic alternatives available to receive a ballot, and some states will even allow a ballot to be returned that way. Arizona, for example, will allow a scanned ballot to be returned via a secure state server. Eleven states allow a voted ballot to be returned this way, and 26 states allow a voted ballot to be returned by fax (up from 17 states in 2000). It is up to the states to ensure via registration rolls that absentee ballots are on their lists and that no one is able to vote more than once.

The primary mission of FVAP is to inform and educated United States citizens of their right to vote, and to encourage all Uniformed and Overseas Citizens to participate in the elections.

Iraq: "Surprisingly Embracing."

The ability to influence the Iraqi people depends on being able to deliver something tangible, said Army Col. Philip Battaglia, commander of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, during a live brief from Iraq at the Pentagon. They’ve made considerable progress in using Iraqi monies for reconstruction, and the improved security throughout Iraq has made it possible to coordinate more Iraqi seizures of IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) and other weapons.

Also present was Dan Foot of PRT, who said that the Iraqi people’s appreciation of the Iraqi Security Forces and the United States’ forces was “surprisingly embracing.” He said in the marketplaces people smile and stop to chat, but that the smaller towns the people are more reserved and don’t approach them. After they say hello, however, the people display typical Arab Cordiality and are very friendly. The PRT, he said, expects to be in Iraq till through the end of next year. In the police force of Iraq, Foot said, there is “a certain amount of bribery” that is part of the culture and is to be expected.

A question raised to Col. Battaglia was if the troops were having any problems with their absentee ballots, as this is election season. Battaglia looked very pleased that the question was asked, and said that in the past week, he’s seen absentee ballots, they’ve been received, and they are voting. He hasn’t heard any complaints for his brigade.

FBI oversight ineffective; new investigation guidelines unclear

Multiple Congressmen expressed frustration at the inefficacy of FBI oversight as currently carried out by the House Judiciary Committee in a hearing today. FBI Director Robert Mueller was the sole witness. Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) opened the session complaining in an exasperated tone that the committee had not yet received a response to a September 5 letter asking about "the FBI’s anthrax investigation, disturbing revelations about the Bureau’s improper collection of information on reporters, the FBI’s approach to this country’s mortgage fraud crisis, and the expanded investigative and intelligence gathering powers resulting from the proposed Attorney General Guidelines concerning the FBI’s domestic operations."

Conyers and other congressmen elaborated in questions about why they wanted the Attorney General Guidelines (set to be made public in a few weeks), which Mueller said were still under review but which would unify the FBI's standards for starting investigations over different types of investigations. For example, the standards for when to open a criminal investigation are different from those used for national security investigations, and it is hoped that the new guidelines would make standards easier to follow. Congressman Artur Davis (D-Ala.), a former assistant U.S. Attorney, questioned Mueller about whether the new standards for opening an investigation would be lower than the standards police use for when they are allowed to stop and question a person (set out in the Terry v. Ohio Supreme Court decision of 1968). Mueller resisted the comparison, but Davis pointed out that the investigative activities carried out by the FBI are similar to those used by police. Mueller finally admitted that the standard has a lower threshold, so investigations could be opened without having reasonable suspicion based on "specific and articulable facts" that a person has committed, is committing, or is about to commit a crime.

Congressman Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.) expressed frustration at the committee's policy of allowing each congressman only 5 minutes for asking questions; "this format doesn't work," he said, pointing out that it was impossible to get deep into any issue in that time. He suggested the FBI could have experts in particular areas come testify, and on a more frequent basis than Director Mueller does. Mueller responded by saying that the committee will always be frustrated regardless of administration, as answers to questions must be vetted before being sent back. He also offered to come up to the hill at any time for briefings or discussions.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) asked Director Mueller about allegations that voters will be challenged at polling places if their homes have been foreclosed on. Mueller said he had not heard about that particular plan. He said the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division would investigate any such issue, though Mueller was unable to name the head of that division without the help of an aide. Mueller promised to follow up on making sure the Civil Rights Division knew about the problem, and Chairman Conyers assured Waters that Civil Rights Division head Grace Chung Becker would be testifying before the committee soon.