Pennsylvania Disenfranchising Military votes from 2 counties.

Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania will not be extending the deadline for two counties that failed to mail out absentee ballots by the September 20th deadline.

2 of the 67 counties in Pennsylvania did not mail out their absentee ballots in time for military personnel to have their votes counted.

The governor did say that he would express mail the ballots overseas but at this late of a date it is very unlikely they will make it back before the Friday deadline.

www.post-gazette.com...


[edit on 27-10-2004 by BlackJackal]

you can bet that if these ballots were going into minority area's they would have been mailed out. Democrats don't want a fair playing field. They are afraid that the military will support the President. Don't complain if you are the problem.

The voters should be angry at the county then, not the state. This is like that Nader argument that was brought up yesterday. Just follow the rules, people. Everyone is getting all upset when they break a rule, and then are angry that things don't go their way. I'm sure that means both Kerry and Bush votes are being lost, but shrug, what else can you do, break the rules instead? Or 'bend' them? The voters have every right to be angry at their county officials though for causing this blunder to begin with, but I don't see they can be angry at the state for following the rules.

That's easy to say, I remember during 2000 saying the same thing, but then as a Republican I was blasted because I was not being fair to the poor folks who wanted to vote in Fla. but were turned away. It's unfortunate that Democratic operatives have their way in disenfranchising the very people that give them the right to vote.

So, when you are breaking the rules it's ok, but when others are breaking the rules it's wrong?

The rules are in place before the election. Because of the nature of this thing, especially after the 2000 election, it's pretty damn important to follow the rules, rather than try to fight them. Follow the rules, at every level, and your vote will be counted. If not, then you have a real reason to be angered.

PS - this is the quote from the article:

"Rendell said that in Venango and Huntingdon counties, ballots were not sent out on time, and the state will pay to have them express-mailed to those residents who are overseas."

It says the state is paying to have the late-mailed ballots express-mailed to voters so they still have ample time to get them returned by the deadline. Or am I misunderstanding you when you said the state would not be paying to have them express-mailed?

I agree with you, I wish the Dems would agree with you, unfortunately, they think that the rules only apply to republicans.

[edit on 27-10-2004 by BlackJackal]

Seems to me, the people in our military should be given two votes....one for their president, and one for their commander in chief...not have their vote taken away because crap happens that isn't in their power to prevent!!

This sickened me last time. This time around I have a kid in boot camp. I will be totally peeved if he is not allowed to vote or have his voice heard!!

There was someone on the radio other day about mtv's influence on the kids swaying thier votes....according to this person, these kids just aren't mature enough to handle the responsibility! Well, if they aren't responsible enough to go into a voting boothe and pull a lever, then just what are we doing giving them guns and sending them across the world!!

These are the people who's life will be most drasticly affected by the decisions our gov't makes, we should be bending over backwards to make sure that their votes are counted!!!

If it happens again this year....petitions should be sent out, signed and the public should be screaming that they change the proceedures that are being used in our military, and, well, once adopted, every state in this nation should have to accept their proceedures!

This just plain disgusts me.

Originally posted by jrsdls
I agree with you, I wish the Dems would agree with you, unfortunately, they think that the rules only apply to republicans.

No, it's simply a case of arguing against something until it happens to you, then you support it. That's always seems to the be M.O. of both Republicans and Democrats.

I'd ask you to go back and edit your original post and the title of this thread. If the quote I posted from the link you gave is correct, that means your original msg, and the title of this thread, is misleading at best, or just plain wrong.

W_Hamilton,

Even by express mailing the ballots today they are not going to be back before Friday.

Umm, no. Where are you getting that information from? Certainly not from the link you posted.

It doesn't say when the Venango and Huntingdon county ballots were mailed out, so there's no evidence to support what you just claimed.

They could have been express-mailed out Sept. 30, 10 days after the others were mailed out, which means there would be plenty of time to have them returned. They could have been mailed out yesterday (doubtful), which would support your accusation.

I'll ask you again to edit out your title and original post so as not to be misleading. If you have another trusted article that says even when express-mailed, that the ballots won't be able to be returned in time, then I'd believe it. But from the article you posted, it does not support the theory that they don't have time to return the ballots, not does it support the claim that the state is 'disenfranchising military votes from 2 counties.'

As someone who lives in PA I am disgusted. Rendell is playing for the Dems here.

W Hamilton - Remember you said this when Bush wins and the democrats file hundreds of law suits

Originally posted by W_HAMILTON
So, when you are breaking the rules it's ok, but when others are breaking the rules it's wrong?

The rules are in place before the election. Because of the nature of this thing, especially after the 2000 election, it's pretty damn important to follow the rules, rather than try to fight them. Follow the rules, at every level, and your vote will be counted. If not, then you have a real reason to be angered.

And I'm sure Bush will win, seeing as how he barely mustered out a win against Al Gore in 2000, and that was before he pissed off the world, 50% of Americans, and quite a few of the people that voted for him in 2000 that will not be voting for him again. Sounds like a recipe for success to me!

Ya, well, people can blame the dems is they wish. But, they've had at least four years to get it straightened out to ensure that the military's votes wouldn't just be tossed on technicalities like this. Why are we back to this problem??

If not because the idea of disenfranchising a few servicemen here or there just isn't worthy of the outrage that Bush's draft dodging, or Kerry's actions during the nam war are!!

This is an outrage!!

Ever consider that this might be Nader's fault? I mean....I'm voting (already voted) in PA absent ballot. I didn't receive my ballot until last week because they couldn't decide if Nader was going to be on the ballot or not. He actually was on my ballot, but I think it was sent before the whole signature thing in PA. So, don't blame the Dems for getting the ballots out too late.....blame the Greens.

Here is the proof that the military will not have enough time to get their votes counted.

"I have heard directly from service members who have recently returned from the war in Iraq and learned that first-class mail takes four to six weeks to arrive from the United States," Santorum said Tuesday in an open letter to Rendell. "So, in a best-case scenario, ballots mailed on Sept. 20 are being delivered to our men and women in uniform this week. It is nearly impossible for our soldiers to return their ballots by the Oct. 28 deadline."

The Ballots for the two counties in question were sent out in "Early October" but no exact date was given.

www.zwire.com...

I wouldn't trust Santorum as far as I could throw the guy.

But let's just use some common sense here.

65 of the 67 counties mailed their ballots on Sept. 20th. If it really does take 4-6 weeks (not the truth to begin with), that means it would take another 4-6 weeks for the ballots to be returned back the USA, which would go well beyond this Friday's deadline. That's saying AT BEST it's an 8 week turnaround in a 5-6 week span. Which of course is not true.

hqdainet.army.mil... shows the true time it takes to get a letter mailed from the USA to the postal stations for our military men and women overseas. It's anywhere from 7 days to 13 days for express mail, FAR from Santorum's claim of 4-6 weeks. Like usual, he's full of &!$%.

Moral of the story, 65 of the 67 counties have had ample time. The two counties in question will also meet the deadlines, assuming the postal stations overseas don't hold up delivering their mail, and assuming the service people over there don't take forever to fill out their ballot and send it back (which the state of Pennsylvania is also paying for, express mail).

So neither the state, and certainly not the governor, of Pennsylvania are at fault. I think it's become abundantly clear after checking into the matter that the state is certainly NOT disenfranchising military voters, so I ask again that you please change your title, thanks.

[edit on 27-10-2004 by W_HAMILTON]