Latest vote suppression? VA registration for Vets.

[SirNitram]

Link

Just because victory is declared in Washington does not make it so.

One week ago, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced a new policy to allow voter registration drives on VA campuses, responding to pressure by lawmakers and the media that the VA was suppressing the vote of wounded former soldiers. That new policy was greeted with 'mission accomplished' press statements by members of Congress who have been pushing the VA to change its policy for several years.

But on Monday, as the Senate Rules and Administration Committee held a hearing in Washington on a bill to ensure veterans living at VA facilities could be helped with voter registration, a legal motion was being filed in federal court in California alleging the VA was still blocking efforts to register voters in time for the 2008 presidential election.

Following last week's announcement of VA's new voter registration policy, a VA facility in San Francisco blocked a non-profit group, Veterans for Peace, from registering voters, the legal motion said. The filing said the VA was seeking to require Veterans for Peace members to go through the process of screening VA volunteers, a process that would delay registration efforts. In contrast, the VA does not require screening for most other visitors.

"The VA has disenfranchised veterans and interfered with the freedom of political parties and nonpartisan groups to associate with their members and with other citizens who reside on VA campuses," the motion said. "This Court should prohibit further interference with voter registration at any VA campus for the imminent federal election."

Scott Rafferty, the Washington-based attorney who filed Monday's motion on behalf of a California labor organizer who in 2004 was blocked from registering voters on another VA facility in California, said there were political reasons behind the agency's refusal to register veterans.

“Veterans’ experience in war gives them a powerful voice," Rafferty said. "The VA wants to stop them from using their right to speak out and to vote. The VA knows that many veterans oppose the Administration’s conduct of the War, the overextension of the military, and its inadequate support for returning warriors.”

The motion filed Monday cited testimony from the Senate Rules and Administration Committee hearing on S. 3308, the Veterans Voter Support Act.

"Last week, the VA admitted that it had recruited only 173 volunteers nationwide for its 1400 facilities," the motion said, citing the "testimony of (VA) General Counsel Paul Hutter before the Senate Rules Committee on S. 3308, at 3. Out of a total of 5.5 million unique patients, these volunteers have registered 350 inpatients and 64 outpatients. Id. Only 19 days remain before registration deadlines begin for the 2008 election."

Those statistics show the VA's internal process of screening volunteers who are then approved to register voters has had the effect of suppressing the vote of injured veterans in 2008.

There was no indication on Monday when the federal court would respond.

And thus it continues down the road of cartoonish evil.

[Winston Blake]

Why do members of a group have to visit the vets in person? I've been reading about voter registration on Wikipedia and they should be able to do it by mail.

I find it very strange that a lot of American citizens will be unable to vote in the coming election because they're not registered. In Australia, you have to register to vote when you turn 18 - that's it, for life, AFAIK. Why aren't American 18 year olds simply required to register? These 'voter registration drives' seem weirdly influential.

[Lusankya]

I find it very strange that a lot of American citizens will be unable to vote in the coming election because they're not registered. In Australia, you have to register to vote when you turn 18 - that's it, for life, AFAIK. .

I think if you move you have to update your details or you fall of the radar a bit, but the AEC always seems to know about it somehow, and a couple of weeks after you move, you invariably get an "update your details" form. And then if you still don't enrol, they send you another closer to the election.

[Stark]

Why do members of a group have to visit the vets in person? I've been reading about voter registration on Wikipedia and they should be able to do it by mail.

I find it very strange that a lot of American citizens will be unable to vote in the coming election because they're not registered. In Australia, you have to register to vote when you turn 18 - that's it, for life, AFAIK. Why aren't American 18 year olds simply required to register? These 'voter registration drives' seem weirdly influential.

It's not compulsory, so the selection of voters thus becomes a powerful political tool, with both sides trying to hedge the voting population down to a group more strongly weighted to them. Thus all these tactics specifically designed to remove the voting ability of demographics, encourage opposition supporters to stay home election day and such.

The placement of election day is apparently also an issue, but I'm not sure on those details.

[Civil War Man]

The placement of election day is apparently also an issue, but I'm not sure on those details.

The basic gist of it is that election day is designed to always fall on a Tuesday. But since election day is not a holiday, everyone still has to go to work. Provides a few obstacles to voting for people who have to work for a living.

[Edi]

The placement of election day is apparently also an issue, but I'm not sure on those details.

The basic gist of it is that election day is designed to always fall on a Tuesday. But since election day is not a holiday, everyone still has to go to work. Provides a few obstacles to voting for people who have to work for a living.

Which is just another form of voter suppression. Can't allow the great unwashed masses to vote, really. Our voting days are aways Sundays, because that way the most people can participate with the least hassle.

[Kanastrous]

The placement of election day is apparently also an issue, but I'm not sure on those details.

The basic gist of it is that election day is designed to always fall on a Tuesday. But since election day is not a holiday, everyone still has to go to work. Provides a few obstacles to voting for people who have to work for a living.

Don't most states have laws requiring employers to grant their employees some 'reasonable' unpenalized time, to vote?

California does; don't know about others.

[andrewgpaul]

In the UK, we just open the polls until 10 at night. Plenty of time to go after work.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Is it paid? Because otherwise its still being held against voters.