Don’t let the Democrats disenfranchise our troops

By Melanie Morgan

Many of our men and women who are fighting for the United States’ security and freedom overseas may not get to vote in the presidential election. Stunning, isn’t it?

Our government bureaucracies and Democratic lawmakers, who hold the keys to fixing this travesty, say they support our troops at the same time they ensure our troops can’t vote.

Rep. Roy Blunt, a Republican, on July 8 introduced a resolution that would force bureaucrats to move on this issue. But not one Democrat has co-signed the resolution, and it is stuck in limbo because the Democrat-controlled committees won’t hold hearings.

Yes, these are the same Democrats who find ways for dead people to vote. And the same party that also pushed to allow convicted felons to vote.

But dead people and felons may be more likely to vote for Democrats. Troops aren’t. So the Democrats have good reason to try to stop the vote of our troops. Never mind that it’s undemocratic, disgusting and unconstitutional. That doesn’t faze these political animals who will do anything to get their puppet, Barack Obama, into the White House.

My group, Move America Forward – the largest pro-troop, nonprofit organization in the country – researched the problem and made some calls to Washington. Secretaries for the House Administration Committee as well as the House Armed Services Committee and the Senate Rules and Administration Committee confirmed that none of the committees have action scheduled. And this session of Congress will end in about one month.

The Senate bill related to this mess has been sitting in the Senate Rules and Administration Committee since May 22.

Translation: the Democrats are waiting out the clock, and the Republicans don’t care enough to light a fire under anybody’s duff.

The horrific truth is this problem has a long history, and nobody has figured out how to fix it. Or, in the Democrats’ case, they just don’t want to fix it.

Robert Novak has written about it for years and he did so again on yesterday. In his column, he wrote:

“Nobody who has studied the question objectively sees any improvement since 2006, and that is a scandal. Retired U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Charles Henry wrote in the July issue of the U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings: ‘While virtually everyone involved … seems to agree that military people deserve at least equal opportunity when it comes to having their votes counted, indications are that in November 2008, many thousands of service members who try to vote will do so in vain.'”

Scandalous? Yes, and worse. Traitorous.

House Congressional Resolution 388 lists the following facts:

  • Less than 17 percent of the citizens eligible under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act actually voted.
  • Ballots of 48,600 troops and expatriates were not counted in the November 2006 elections.
  • Members of the armed forces and their dependents did not receive their postcard applications for voting by the Jan. 15, 2008, deadline, as required by Department of Defense policy.

I know that Sen. Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Hillary Clinton and the rest of the high-profile Democrats are busy with preserving and strengthening their power, but they need to set aside their personal aspirations and fix this travesty that prevents our troops from voting.

Come on Nancy, Hill and Barack, you support the troops, right? At least allow them the rights afforded them under the Constitution.

And Sen. John McCain should call them out publicly for their disgusting incompetence and political misdeeds.

As for the rest of us, we need to ride our House representatives and senators like three-legged rented mules until they pass this resolution and enact the laws. We citizens cannot rest as the conniving Democrats disenfranchise our troops.

Melanie Morgan

Melanie Morgan is an award-winning radio talk-show host, author, columnist, journalist, TV anchor and reporter. She was selected by the RTNDA and Associated Press for the Edward R. Murrow and Mark Twain Awards in 2004, and again in 2016. Read more of Melanie Morgan's articles here.