“Military set to log worst voting participation ever”

The Washington Examiner explores how low military voter participation can go. 


You can forget about the impact of the military vote in the 2012 presidential elections. The reason: servicemembers aren’t applying for absentee ballots and the Pentagon isn’t doing much to help them.

“This is immensely disappointing,” said Eric Eversole, founder of the Military Voter Protection Project. “Election Day 2012 could result in an all-time historic low for military voter participation.”

Eversole’s group Tuesday released a report showing that applications by service members in states with high numbers of military residents is in the very low percentages. In Virginia, just 1,746 of 126,251 active military and their spouses, or 1.4 percent, have requested absentee ballots. In North Carolina, the percentage is 1.7 percent, in Alaska 5.9 percent, Ohio 3.3 percent.

And it’s a continuation of a bad trend. Eversole told Secrets that in 2008, 30 percent of the military voted. That dropped to 15 percent in 2010. By comparison, 60 percent of the general population voted in 2008 and 40 percent two years later

“Military set to log worst voting participation ever”

The Washington Examiner explores how low military voter participation can go. 


You can forget about the impact of the military vote in the 2012 presidential elections. The reason: servicemembers aren’t applying for absentee ballots and the Pentagon isn’t doing much to help them.

“This is immensely disappointing,” said Eric Eversole, founder of the Military Voter Protection Project. “Election Day 2012 could result in an all-time historic low for military voter participation.”

Eversole’s group Tuesday released a report showing that applications by service members in states with high numbers of military residents is in the very low percentages. In Virginia, just 1,746 of 126,251 active military and their spouses, or 1.4 percent, have requested absentee ballots. In North Carolina, the percentage is 1.7 percent, in Alaska 5.9 percent, Ohio 3.3 percent.

And it’s a continuation of a bad trend. Eversole told Secrets that in 2008, 30 percent of the military voted. That dropped to 15 percent in 2010. By comparison, 60 percent of the general population voted in 2008 and 40 percent two years later

PA Gov to DOJ: Fish or Cut Bait

Pittsburgh Tribune Review.

“Attorney General Eric Holder’s race-baiting Department of Justice has been rattling the chains of the Ghost of Jim Crow Past ever since the Keystone State passed its voter identification measure. The intimation is — and one reinforced with the cudgel of a possible federal civil rights lawsuit held high — that the new law is designed to suppress minority voting.

Last week, Commonwealth Court upheld the new law that requires photo IDs. And last week, too, Corbett administration General Counsel James D. Schultz fired off a letter to Justice telling it in no uncertain terms that its behavior is out of legal bounds if not politically motivated. . . .


The AG’s words and deeds give every impression that, on behalf of the Obama re-election campaign, he wants to preserve a loosey-goosey system that invites fraud and turns a blind eye to it.


As Mr. Schultz might have preferred to have written: “Bring it on.”

Virginia Senator: “DOJ Supports Voter Suppression”

Ooops.  This wasn’t supposed to happen.  DOJ’s opposition to Voter ID stoked the civil rights base.  We heard from the Attorney General how it was a poll tax, 9th Circuit caselaw notwithstanding.  We heard how it was the second coming of Jim Crow. That the Justice Department exists to remove barriers to the ballot box – on and on and on.  The base loved it.

Then Virginia happened, and soon so will New Hampshire.  In Virginia the DOJ approved a voter ID law that the Washington Post opposed.  The base is suddenly concerned. 

Consider Virginia Senator Locke.  He says DOJ is aiding voter suppression.  More to come.  New Hampshire is next.  Once you decide to ride a tiger, it can be a wild unpredictable, high risk ride.

Virginia Senator: “DOJ Supports Voter Suppression”

Ooops.  This wasn’t supposed to happen.  DOJ’s opposition to Voter ID stoked the civil rights base.  We heard from the Attorney General how it was a poll tax, 9th Circuit caselaw notwithstanding.  We heard how it was the second coming of Jim Crow. That the Justice Department exists to remove barriers to the ballot box – on and on and on.  The base loved it.

Then Virginia happened, and soon so will New Hampshire.  In Virginia the DOJ approved a voter ID law that the Washington Post opposed.  The base is suddenly concerned. 

Consider Virginia Senator Locke.  He says DOJ is aiding voter suppression.  More to come.  New Hampshire is next.  Once you decide to ride a tiger, it can be a wild unpredictable, high risk ride.

New study shows military voting participation rates plummeting to all-time lows

Link to a Military Voter Participation Project study here. 

This report reveals a bleak picture for military voters for the upcoming 2012 election as rates of participation are a fraction of that in 2008.  This study is a wealth of information on military voting participation rates in the battleground states and some of the causes of that sharp drop.  Some of the drop is directly related to a lack of implementation of key parts of the MOVE Act by the Department of Defense and a failure to fully enforce the MOVE Act by the Department of Justice. 

In the coming days, ELC will provide some analysis of the different parts of the study.  

New study shows military voting participation rates plummeting to all-time lows

Link to a Military Voter Participation Project study here. 

This report reveals a bleak picture for military voters for the upcoming 2012 election as rates of participation are a fraction of that in 2008.  This study is a wealth of information on military voting participation rates in the battleground states and some of the causes of that sharp drop.  Some of the drop is directly related to a lack of implementation of key parts of the MOVE Act by the Department of Defense and a failure to fully enforce the MOVE Act by the Department of Justice. 

In the coming days, ELC will provide some analysis of the different parts of the study.