ELECTION 2000
Military missing
absentee ballots
Some Navy personnel unable to
vote for new commander in chief
By Jon E. Dougherty
© 2000 WorldNetDaily.com
Members of the military who are currently
stationed overseas have complained that the
Pentagon has not yet sent out absentee ballots
this year, meaning they will not get to vote for a
new commander in chief on Tuesday.
Specifically, members of U.S. Navy aboard ships
supporting the USS Cole -- the destroyer
recently attacked by terrorists while it was
undergoing refueling in the port of Aden,
Yemen -- have either not received ballots or
won't get them in time because of current
deployment circumstances, Pentagon officials
said yesterday.
"I've heard about this within the past week,"
said Lt. Dave Gai, a Defense Department
spokesman. "We are trying to get more
information. We don't know if they were
delayed through the mail."
He added that due to current deployment
considerations, some military members
overseas likely would not get their ballots in
time.
"The support team for the USS Cole may not get
their ballots due to intermittent mail," Gai said.
"Some ballots could very well be delayed for a
number of reasons."
A Maine resident -- who asked not to be
identified -- said her Navy daughter who is
stationed in Tokyo has received her absentee
ballot for every election except this one.
"No one at the base will be voting because all
the absentee ballots are missing," she told
WorldNetDaily.
Navy officials were also contacted but did not
return phone calls.
Critics have suggested that the Clinton
administration may have purposely delayed
sending absentee ballots to military personnel
overseas because most, according to recent
surveys, will vote Republican. The White
House has denied those charges.
According to Gai, officials with the Federal
Voting Assistance Program -- which helps
manage balloting for overseas service members
-- "was not aware of any group non-delivery."
Gai said depending on the home state of the
member, ballots can be sent via Standard Form
186, which is a write-in ballot. States have
different deadlines for such ballots, he added.
Each ballot "is unit specific and handled
individually," he said.
Gai noted that "the military has a much higher
participation [of overall voters] in the voting
process" than does the general voting public. In
the 1996 election, he said 64 percent of service
members participated; 40 percent of those were
absentee ballots. Twelve percent could not vote
for various reasons, including because ballots
were either sent late or otherwise not received
on time.
Jon E. Dougherty is a staff reporter for
WorldNetDaily.
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NEWS:
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ballots
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acres
COMMENTARY:
Those missing
military ballots
by Joseph Farah
Losing the race
by Walter E.
Williams
No banana
republic here
by Hal Lindsey |
