PENTAGON DISFRANCHISES THOUSANDS OF DEPLOYED TROOPS WITH FAILURE TO DELIVER BALLOTS
Awr Hawkins
Just one day before America's presidential election, it became evident that the Pentagon has dropped the ball and thousands of military voters will not receive ballots in time to participate in the election.
In other words -- thousands of the troops who fight to keep us free will be rewarded for their service by being disenfranchised.
I noted last month it was already apparent Pentagon red tape was making it extremely difficult for our deployed troops to register to vote in the first place. Even then, the Military Voter Protection Project (MVPP) claimed "bureaucratic inertia" within the Pentagon threatened to effectively disenfranchise thousands upon thousands of military voters.
It now appears the MVPP's fear has been realized, as thousands of military voters will not even receive ballots in time to participate in the election.
Senators John Cornyn (R-TX), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), John McCain (R-AZ), Rob Portman (R-OH), and Marco Rubio (R-FL), sent a letter to Defense Sec. Leon Panetta to express their concern over this matter. The Senators said they are "perplexed as to why DOD [has not done] everything its power" to fix the system of delivering and receiving overseas ballots.
Among military voters, Gov. Mitt Romney leads Barack Obama by 40 points.