WASHINGTON D.C. - U.S. Congressman Dan Boren, a Member of the House Armed Services Committee, joined U.S. Congressman Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) today as the lead Democratic co-sponsor of H.R.2393, or the Military Voting Protection Act of 2009. By allowing the U.S. Postal Service to express-ship troops’ absentee ballots, the legislation would help ensure the ballots are delivered to local election offices back home in time to be counted.
“I am honored to join Congressman McCarthy’s and Senator Cornyn’s effort to make sure our soldiers’ right to vote is protected and the absentee balloting process is improved. They have shown strong leadership on this issue. The men and women of the Armed Services pledge their lives to protect the very right to vote that all Americans hold dear. We should enact this common-sense policy so they have full confidence that their vote will also be counted on Election Day,” Boren said.
“Congressman Boren has been a strong supporter of improving military voting, and I am glad to work together with him in introducing the bipartisan Military Voting Protection Act this Congress. Our troops are sacrificing overseas fighting to protect our freedoms, and shouldn’t face another round of electoral obstacles greater than any other eligible voters. We know overseas military votes go uncounted, and we know how to help fix the problem. The MVP Act is our opportunity for a bipartisan common-sense solution to protect the votes of our troops and ensure they are counted,” Congressman McCarthy said.
The bill amends the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986 (UOCAVA), and ensures that the ballots are delivered to the appropriate state election officials by the jurisdiction’s statutory deadline – while safeguarding voter privacy and ballot secrecy. It would apply to all regularly scheduled general elections for federal office, beginning with the November 2010 election.
Background:
The 2004 and 2006 elections revealed that our troops overseas continue to face substantial roadblocks to their participation in elections back home. According to the Election Assistance Commission, out of the 992,034 military and overseas absentee ballots requested for the 2006 election, more than 660,000 never reached election officials to be counted. Of the ballots that did reach election officials, many were rejected for various reasons, including 10 percent of those having been received too late to be counted.
According to findings released Wednesday at a Senate Rules and Administration Committee hearing, one out of every four ballots requested by military personnel and other Americans living overseas for the 2008 election may have gone uncounted. The information highlighted that 98,000 of the 441,000 absentee ballots requested by eligible voters living outside the U.S. were lost after being mailed to election offices. Another 13,500 were rejected due to missing notaries or signatures, and an additional 11,000 ballots were returned as undelivered.
The MVP Act attempts to reduce delays in the absentee voting system currently in place for our overseas troops, who have little control over their geographic assignments. The bill would provide for the express shipping of their completed absentee ballots, with tracking of these ballots while in transit. The aim of the bill is to ensure that the ballots of these troops overseas are delivered to the appropriate state election officials by the jurisdiction’s statutory deadline, while safeguarding voter privacy and ballot secrecy.
Joining Congressman McCarthy and Boren in offering Senate companion legislation is U.S. Senator John Cornyn (TX), a member of the Senate Republican leadership, who was also joined by U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Both Senator Cornyn and Congressman Kevin McCarthy introduced closely related measures last Congress. The Senate unanimously passed the MVP Act in October 2008, but it was never considered by the House.
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