Mark, pardon me for injecting myself into the conversation, but there seems to be considerable misunderstanding about how the military absentee ballots work.
First, a serviceman must register, just like anyone else. Then, not later than about three weeks before the election, he must make a written request for a ballot. That request is checked for signature against the registration card on file in the county offices (usually a county clerk). If it checks out, a ballot is mailed AT THE CONVENIENCE OF THE COUNTY CLERK. Assuming the serviceman gets the ballot before the date of the election, he completes it, and puts it into a special envelope, and seals that envelope. The outside of this envelope requires a signature, and sometimes the signature of another person, which could be a commissioned officer, a notary, or other witness. Then, the signed envelope goes into a second envelope that has the address and required postage.
At this point, it is as if you went into your precinct, voted, and stepped out of the booth with your ballot in hand.
What's happening with the military ballots is that qualified completed ballots are being refused to even be accepted by the clerk.
How would YOU feel if the people at the clerk's office let you vote, but refused to accept the ballot you handed them? Especially if the reason for them refusing you your right to vote was for some excuse that was completly beyond your control? For the GIs, that reason could be the fact that some military postal services simply don't cancel and postmark mail? Or that the voter's signature was mistakenly put on a witness line? Or that the ship didn't have a notary? Even worse, some of the Florida ballots are being refused because the port of entry post offices (inside the US) cancelled and postmarked ballots that were not otherwise postmarked. (In this case, Florida refuses overseas ballots that are postmarked after Nov 7). Some military post offices smeared postmarks, and I even saw one on TV that showed a "December 7" postmark.
As you can see, the system already puts a military voter through hurdles that civilians wouldn't tolerate. Then, after all that hassle, the Demos want to spit on the GI ballots. At the same time, they hire people from the Psychic Hotline to divine the "intent" of people too stupid to punch a ballot correctly.
There is no comparison between refusing the military ballots and expecting a voter to clearly indicate his choice on a ballot.
jim |
