The Department of Justice has reached an agreement with Alaska regarding military voters.  The resolution in Alaska is a good thing and provides a model which should have been followed in Wisconsin.  Why is it a good settlement?  From accounts in the press release, it will force Alaska to comply with the 45 day window to send out ballots before the election.  This was made possible by Alaska officials accelerating their usual timetables and getting ballots out in compliance with the 45 day requirement of the Move Act. 

In Wisconsin, the DOJ entered into an agreement which undermined the Pentagon’s denial of Wisconsin’s request to ignore the MOVE Act.  Wisconsin sought to send out ballots 29 days in advance.  But DOJ, instead of seeking an injunction, agreed to allow ballots to mail only 32 days in advance of the election – 13 days fewer than required by federal law.  While days were added after the election to allow ballots to come in, Congress explicitly rejected this as a remedy.  DOJ should have at least gone into a courtroom and asked a federal judge to require compliance with the 45 day federal law.  The worst that would have happened is the judge would have said no, and some lawyers would have had to do some pleadings and travel to Madison.  But instead, a settlement was reached that undermined explicit statutory requirements designed to protect military voters.