Need to Improve Military Voting
Resolution No. 11-05
WHEREAS, military personnel, overseas citizens and their families residing outside their election districts deserve every reasonable opportunity to participate in the electoral process;
WHEREAS, in every federal election tens of thousands of military and family members are being deprived of the right to vote by ballots not delivered, received or counted by States and local jurisdictions; and
WHEREAS, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, of one million ballots distributed in accordance with the 1986 Uniformed and Overseas Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) just one third were cast or counted in the 2006 election; and
WHEREAS, of military personnel who did not vote in 2004, 30 percent said they couldn’t because their ballots never arrived or arrived too late; and
WHEREAS, Executive Order 12642, dated June 8, 1988, designated the Secretary of Defense or his designee as responsible for carrying out the federal functions under UOCAVA; and
WHEREAS, despite DoD’s Federal Voting Assistance Program’s outreach efforts, the military absentee voting process often leaves overseas voters with insufficient time to complete and return ballots; and
WHEREAS, at least twenty states and the District of Columbia need to improve their absentee voting process for military absentee voters by allowing enough time to meet all deadlines.
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Reserve Officers Association of the United States, chartered by Congress, urge Congress to direct the Government Accountability Office to report on the effectiveness of absentee voting assistance to Military and Overseas Citizens for the 2008 General Election and determine how Federal Voting Assistance Program’s efforts to facilitate absentee voting by military personnel and overseas citizens differed between the 2004 and 2008 national elections; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Reserve Officers Association of the United States urge the Secretary of Defense, in conjunction with States and local jurisdictions, to gather and publish national data about the 2008 election on disqualified military and overseas absentee ballots and reasons for disqualification; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Reserve Officers Association of the United States urge ROA Departments to work within their States to improve the absentee voting process for absentee and overseas voters.
Source: Staff MH
Renewed by National Convention, February 2, 2011
Adopted by the National Council, February 4, 2009 as 09-03
