Another election has come and gone land although sailors have had no problem putting their lives on the line to defend our republic, few of them met with success in participating in our republic's election process. The reason for this is that the military voting assistant program is completely inadequate to meet the needs of our sailors and their dependents.
What resources does the Navy direct toward this program? There is an attractive website with tons of information, and there probably are fairly recent voting assistance guides and dusty stacks of application forms at most commands. We are blowing tons of money on this program, but most of our sailors still do not get the opportunity to vote.
Most commands have a designated command voting assistance officer. A sailor, with no formal training, volunteers (or, more likely, is volunteered) to assume this dubious duty. Suddenly, this sailor is responsible for assisting "all eligible U.S. citizens who are members of the U. S. Uniformed Services or merchant marines, [and] their eligible family members... when they are attempting to exercise their right to vote including absentee voter registration and voting procedures." That is a tall order, especially when you consider that this sailor probably is working like crazy just trying to carry out his regular duties and take care of his or her family. This sailor also is expected to "disseminate accurate, non-partisan voting information and conduct training workshops." Either the voting assistance officer is Superman, or the program will not be all of the things it was intended to be.
Most of us came into the Navy right out of high school or college. The first election I was eligible to vote in, I was in the Navy. In successive elections, I missed the opportunity to vote when I made mistakes on my applications. Another time, the state made a mistake and I did not get to vote. Once I actually received an absentee ballot and voted—but the planets must have been aligned just so that year. This year, I was traveling around training for assignment to my next ship and my wife was surviving with our four-year-old son in a hotel waiting to get into housing. We were too busy to worry about voting—but we feel badly about not voting and wonder why the states make it so difficult.
Even if the voting assistance officer is everything the program says he or she should be, the absentee voting process is complicated and confusing. Constitutionally, states have the right to control voting under state laws and local procedures. From Alabama to Wyoming, states assert these rights—which leaves the poor sailor with 50 different sets of rules, procedures, and timelines. The 2000 election was decided by hundreds of votes cast by absentee ballots in Florida. What was alarming, however, was the number of absentee ballots that were discarded. Both at the state and county level, vague rules and local interpretation regarding absentee ballots stood in opposition to the Federal Absentee Voting Assistance Program and many absentee ballots were challenged.
Even when the Florida courts agreed that minor discrepancies should not disqualify the absentee ballots, Judge Ralph L. Smith got caught up in the broader issue of why the state of Florida should allow absentee ballots to be counted until 17 November. The Federal Absentee Voting Assistance Program guide clearly delineates the 17 November deadline and references the statutes upon which the deadline is based, yet the judiciary was unclear about why this should be so. If all of the lawyers and judges who were involved in the 2000 election debacle in Florida could not comprehend this system, then the system is flawed. In addition, every state has Florida's problems. It is time for the federal government to insist on uniformity in voting for those defending the national interest around the world.
Apply common sense and standardize the voting process for sailors. Make voting deadlines uniform and easier with which to comply. Do away with unnecessary paperwork and redundant applications. Why not let military personnel and their families stationed in the United States vote in federal elections wherever they are stationed? What difference does it make if my wife is living in California or New York when she votes for president?
There it is, another election gone, and the voices of too many sailors and their families have been muted again. This time, our votes (despite many discards because of technicalities) were a significant factor in the presidential vote in Florida. Will this be the impetus for reforms before the next election to make sure sailors can vote, and that when they do so their votes will be counted? Is the message any clearer than right now, that every vote matters?
Chief Monaghan is the electronics materiel officer at the Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station in Cutler, Maine.