Obama’s Dept. Of Justice Suppresses Military Voting Rights

Remember the MOVE Act of 2009? It was signed by President Barack Obama in the fall of 2009. The intention was to “ensure that absent uniformed services voters and overseas voters are aware of their voting rights and have a genuine opportunity to register to vote and have their absentee ballots cast and counted.”

It required every state to send military voters their requested ballots no later than 45 days before an election, so that the time it takes to return a “snail mail” ballot would be received before the election was over. MOVE also required every military installation to have a voter registration office.

Sound good? Before the MOVE Act of 2009, only 5.5% of eligible military voters cast an absentee ballot that counted. In 2010, it was 4.6%. The disenfranchisement of our overseas military only got worse.

How did that happen?

By selective enforcement of Voting Rights laws under the Obama Administration and the Department of Justice. And by the Pentagon and the DOJ to be allowed to simply drag its feet.

It took the DOJ nine months after the MOVE Act became law to update its website with the new standard. As the 2010 election approached, the DOJ allowed states to widely ignore the MOVE act, so absentee ballots were not mailed out 45 days before the election. Many ballots weren’t counted, because they arrived after the election was over. Political appointees waited until three weeks after the 2010 election to issue the order to establish the voter registration offices.

Budget slashes of the Pentagon unit tasked with helping service members vote (FVAP) don’t help either.

The voting rights of the military men and women who fight and die for our country are “not a priority” of the Obama Administration. They mostly vote Republican. Do you think that has anything to do with it?

Contrast this with unlimited resources to integrate gays into the armed services, forcing every service member to sit through hours of sensitivity training.

Contrast this with the higher priority of helping felons to vote.

Contrast this with the higher priority of Sect. 7 of the “Motor Voter” law which requires all state “public assistance” agencies and any state office offering “disability services” to serve as a proxy voter registration office.

Contrast this with the higher priority of defeating Arizona’s SB1070 law aimed at reducing illegal immigration.

Contrast this with the higher priority of blocking South Carolina’s right to require voters to have photo ID.

There are many ways that Barack Obama could win the 2012 election.

References:

MOVE Act Assures Less Military Vote Disenfranchisement.

INJUSTICE: Exposing the Racial Agenda of the Obama Administration. a book by J. Christian Adams, former attorney for the Voting Rights Section of the Department of Justice. (You can order this book from Gilbert Watch’s Home page. Simply use the "click-through" feature provided by Amazon.com.)

Obama’s Bumblers Damage Military Voting Rights.

South Carolina to Sue Obama Administration over Voter ID Law.