Obama Campaign Sues to Restrict Military Voting: (lower than Low).

Yeah unfortunately the part they don't tell you is that this is again brought on by Republican voter suppression tactics. The only reason they chose to cut those last three days off is because those are the days most early voters are voting. The Obama Administration isn't doing this because he hates the military, he is doing it because it is one of the few options he has to get our three early voting days back for everyone in the State of Ohio. We already have fairly strict but fair voter ID laws, so the only option for the war on voting machine is to attack early voting which tends to vote Democrat.

The military tends to vote GOP. One simply has to put two and two together to figure out the motives of thsi lawsuit.

reply to post by SpeachM1litant


You have no idea what it is really about, and clearly just assumed and moved on. This isn't hard it has nothing to do with the military voting at all and everything to do with changes to the early voting rules in Ohio.

typical politician ... send the military to kill so the politicians can profit ... but dont want the troops to vote ... maybe the troops should uphold the oath of service they took and round up all the corrupt old bastards in dizzy city and put them on trial for their crimes ...

I'm all for voting early ... so shame on the republicans for taking it away.
I'm all for extra time for the military to vote ... so shame on the dems for taking that away.
Shame shame shame all around!

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
reply to post by jibeho

 

Originally posted by jibeho
We still have absentee ballots in Ohio to submit an early vote.

So, the military people can use that option.

That would be a great idea if the delivery and handling of absentee military ballots didn't have a long and shameful history of getting screwed up. If the military member can be there to physically vote, absolutely let them. They may never get the chance or be so late it's totally irrelevant if left to mail in ballots from Kabul, Afghanistan or Ballad, Iraq.

From where I've been sitting the last few elections, there really HAS been a legitmate problem to solve on the military side of things. I do not see that same issue for local folks. Aside from my years in trucking, when I couldn't physically be in the state (I absentee'ed of course) I have personally been to and at every election for where I've lived. That's been in a few different states over my life, so it's not like I just have this special corner of simplicity here in Missouri and so that makes the difference.

If people who aren't physically ABLE to get to the ballot box cannot then understand how to use an absentee, I don't particularly want them voting anyway. Stupidity doesn't help and there really CAN be too much voting going on.

That applies as much to the Welfare Queens of Atlanta or Chicago as it does for Bubba and the Cowboy Mafia types in the area I live in here. Stupidity knows no race or creed...and I wish it couldn't find the voting instructions at all.

edit on 2-8-2012 by Wrabbit2000 because: (no reason given)

Thank you for mentioning that little problem

But more than a dozen states and territories had trouble mailing absentee ballots to service members after holding late primaries.

Overseas troops who said they never voted in last year’s election cited difficulties receiving or returning their absentee ballots, according to a review by the Overseas Vote Foundation. The problem was worse in 2008, when about half of overseas troops reported problems, according to the panel’s chairman, Rep. Daniel Lungren, R-Calif.

“It is not good enough,” Lungren said. “We must do better.”

Delays in mailing absentee ballots to voters also affect civilians voting abroad, but lawmakers typically focus on troops because they’re serving to defend American citizens’ right to vote.

Ninety percent of civilians who vote by absentee ballot in the U.S. return those ballots, but only two-thirds of military and civilian overseas voters do, according to Rick Jones, co-chairman of the Alliance for Military and Overseas Voting Rights. Jones said 370,000 military voters “may face real problems” with mail delivery and other issues.

www.armytimes.com...

We need to make a better effort for our military who have already made their fair share of sacrifices.

Then of course those votes actually have to be counted

Thousands of absentee ballots cast by military service personnel often go uncounted, according to election experts who say the problem has always existed but is even more of an issue in presidential election years.

“The problem has always existed, given the high degree of mobility of our fighting forces,” Eric Eversole, founder and executive director of the Military Voter Protection Project, told the Dayton Daily News Tuesday.

The project, which tracks military votes, found in 2010 that only 4.5 percent of the 2 million military and overseas voters reported to the Election Assistance Commission were able to cast absentee ballots that were actually counted. Meanwhile, the overall national voter participation rate for the 2010 election was 41.6 percent.

Eversole said the problem exists because state election officials have difficulty keeping track of military voters because they are frequently deployed or move from base to base. That means that ballots are often sent to the wrong addresses, lost in the mail, or arrive at state election offices too late to be counted.

The problem is worse in presidential elections years when more people vote.

www.newsmax.com...

It seems that the DNC could care less about the military in this case they are just part of the equation. They just want the 3 day cushion back to get out the vote early and often and God forbid anyone in the process has to provide an ID.

People should instead be outraged that many states could not even get ballots mailed to our troops. There's the flippin voter suppression that everyone is crying about. Everyone should do their civic duty, report to the polls on Tuesday and shut their flippin mouths. Your boss can't fire you for voting!

reply to post by FlyersFan


They aren't trying to take it away from the military. They are using the fact that the military continues to have the three days as legal grounds to challenge the changes so that everyone gets the three days back. All partisanship aside what they are doing in this case is the right thing. It is just part of legal process and the best way to go about legally making their case. People still have to man those Board of Election offices so the military can vote early on those days, there is no tangible reason to not allow anyone else from voting on those days, other than to keep people from the polls. If I had it my way the Monday before and election day would both be national holiday's so the greatest amount of people had the opportunity to vote.

Originally posted by buster2010
This isn't taking anyone's right to vote away. The military has many ways that they can vote so this trying to restrict their vote is BS. There is no logical reason for a soldier who isn't serving in the field to have an extra three days to vote. They will still be able to vote early an extra three days aren't necessary.

Spoken by someone that has never served.
You truly have no clue.


All this is, is an attempt by **Obama** and company to restrict a voting base that he sees as a threat.

Republicans in Ohio changed voting laws removing early voting for some Ohio citizens, but allows it for others. The two versions passed by the Ohio legislature (HB 194 and HB 224) don't even apply the new restrictions equally. One removes early voting in the three days prior to the election and the other applies to all early voting with some exceptions (including the military). How are people who work jobs like hospital workers, EMT workers, certain construction and emergency workers or people with handicaps, supposed to slip away from their workplace to vote on election day? They can't, and the new Republican law goes above and beyond to cut them off. To accommodate workers like these is the reason early-voting laws were created in the first place. If the GOP could clearly see that the military needed early voting laws to accommodate their schedule, then why can't they see that a handicapped person or hospital worker also need it?

Republicans have been doing this in the swing states - Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania - because fewer voters and more restrictive voting laws - favor them at the polls.

Obama and the DNC sued to overturn the new law. The lawsuit doesn't even mention "restricting military voting" as per the OP's claim. Just the opposite - it seeks to restore the early voting law equally to all.

Ohio Republicans want to deny you the chance to vote. They want to place hurdles between you and the polls. The first version of the new Republican voter-restriction law (HB 194) was found UNCONSTITUTIONAL (on the grounds of the 14th amendment) so the Ohio legislature superseded it with SB 295, rather than allowing the Dems to fight it.

Obama and the DNC filed suit against the new law that it violates the Fourteenth Amendment, which says no state can curtail privileges granted by citizenship.

The Breitbart piece does a disservice by mixing up absentee ballot issues with voting in person.

Please explain why/how military voting IN PERSON in Ohio need the extra three days, beyond the extra days already given.

reply to post by buster2010


But according to the post it is still restricting their vote.. if you understand what the word restrict means.
Also.. what do you know? I am sure there were reasons they were given extra days in the first place and what does it hurt for them to have a few extra days?

It shows more agenda to remove the extra days than it does to leave them be. Especially when the people voting in those extra three days WONT be voting for Obama.

reply to post by anon72


Military or no, denying our armed forces the right to vote is denying american citizens the right to vote because they are citizens and is in violation of the Constitution the Founders wrote.

Classic case of Obama taqiyya, say one thing, do something else. "Yes we can"? More like "No we can't". I hope the african american community wakes up this time and boot's him out of office, and add Bill Clinton to that same list since he is backing him now (wonder how much Obama paid him?). I'm sick of corruption.

For all you who think he's taking away time... the length of time for military votes is still intact.

The OP was inaccurate and inflammatory in his post. go back and look.

The time is being made fair for everyone. Like me. I work six am to five every day. I vote early on my day off because i am ALWAYS working on election day.

So, you can take your inaccurate, misguided malice for making voting fair to everyone and park it somewhere where the sun doesn't shine. Real deep.

Yes, the military still gets its extra time. No, it doesn't take time away. It gives everyone else the same amount of time.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer

How are people who work jobs like hospital workers, EMT workers, certain construction and emergency workers or people with handicaps, supposed to slip away from their workplace to vote on election day? They can't,

What a cop out argument (plus they are all protected by unions which push voting anyways). At least 31 states have laws governing time off to vote!! Employers risk fines, jail, and more for violations related to prohibiting workers from voting. Employers are obligated to schedule accordingly. I understand the difficulties that the disabled may encounter. For them, we have absentee and provisional ballots for those who are unable to leave home. Aside from that they are able to vote in person because all polling places are fully accessible.

In 24 states, employees must be paid for their time at the polling place. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia do not have time-off-to-vote laws. Those states are: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia. Note that Ohio is not on this list. Why is the DNC not filing suit against these states including the District of Columbia in their own backyard? WHY??? WHY?? These folks need the most help eh.....

Perhaps the main motive behind this lawsuit is because Ohio is a key battleground state!! No one wins the White House without winning Ohio. Obama's travel schedule in Ohio is proof of that. The lawsuit is garbage

reply to post by MagoSA


Is your polling location open after 5pm?? I'm sure that it is... Ask you boss for time off to vote. Depending on your state, he/she can't say no and some cases you may actually get paid for your time spent voting. Check it out!!

For God's sake, Mr. Flynn at Breitbart, why do you want to publish lies to be disseminated to the very military you are so concerned about! Don't our military and their loved ones have enough to worry about without you adding to their stress by posting untruths to rile them up?

Apparently, you, sir, don't really give a crap about my military, except to use them as backdrops to your political venting. Shame on you!

The fact that this accusation isn't true doesn't matter: this lie will travel around the world, to Bagram, Ramstein, Yongsan, Camp Lejeune, Fort Benning, Miramar, and every post in between.

We need to start by setting the record straight, and the fact is that the core right of American citizens--the right to vote and have that vote counted--is being attacked by Ohio Republicans, and President Obama is trying to defend that right from those who'd take it away. Anyone saying otherwise is lying to our troops, and exploiting them to baselessly smear the President.

I don't know about you, but that pisses me off.

source

Me, too!
Mr. Flynn, we have a military to protect the very rights you have to speak out. Please, do them, and me, the honor of not engaging in lies, especially lies that do nothing to advance the democracy the military defends.

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
Yeah.. No reason whatsoever why Military members might need this special exception. It isn't like they are coming and going on forced deployments with all the worst timing...or on the other side of the planet while needing to vote or anything.

Nope... Military voters have 100% precisely the same opportunity and chance to vote as the guy who lives a few blocks from the polling place. What a silly thing to consider any special arrangements.

Sorry...but in this country we are all equal.

Originally posted by OccamsRazor04

Originally posted by MrSpad
The lawsuit in fact says that if the military has the extra days to vote so should everybody. So not only is the title wrong but pretty much the entire OP.

The premise is still right, Obama is fighting to prevent the members of our armed forces who are in a very special situation from having extra days to vote. OP shot wide, but somehow still hit the mark.

No. If the lawsuit said do not let the military have extra days to vote, then the premise would be correct. They just want everyone esle to have those 3 days back that were taken away from them. I have no idea if I had the option for extra days to vote when I served, if I did nobody ever told me and yet I managed get it done because that is what a soldier does. The funny part is Obama is far more popular in the military than Romney.

Originally posted by antonia

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
Yeah.. No reason whatsoever why Military members might need this special exception. It isn't like they are coming and going on forced deployments with all the worst timing...or on the other side of the planet while needing to vote or anything.

Nope... Military voters have 100% precisely the same opportunity and chance to vote as the guy who lives a few blocks from the polling place. What a silly thing to consider any special arrangements.

Absentee ballots exist. Sorry, I agree with the Democrats. It's not right to keep it open three days for one set of the population. Extend it for everyone.

I remember quite a few times our absentee ballots coming late in the mail,not to mention our mail catching up with us overseas.In fact I we got ours after the election a couple of time so yes a few days extra is necessary.

Romney: Obama lawsuit seeks to 'undermine' military voters

Nooooooooo!!!!

No, Mr. Romney, no, not you! You believe this lie? And you use your status as candidate elect to scatter it about like manure, hoping to sprout the lie in other people's heads?

Good grief, sir! This country might as well cash in its chips if you got elected, as it will suffer much grief under your lack of common sense. What we have here is a failure to communicate anything intelligent. ....Willard, just asking, but do you personally believe what you say?