Texas Sen. John Cornyn is calling for congressional hearings into what he suggests is the Justice Department’sfailure to protect the voting rights of American soldiers overseas,even as the DOJ announced that it had reached a series of agreements toensure those voting rights.
States are trying to come into compliance with the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act, whichrequires absentee ballots to be sent out no later than 45 days before anelection. The deadline is Saturday.
The Defense Department last month granted waivers to five states because their alternative accommodations weredeemed adequate, and the Justice Department came under fire overallegations that it had encouraged the states to use waivers to bypassthe requirement – a charge Justice denies.
Four other states, as well as the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands, had their waiver requests denied.Since then, Wisconsin has been granted an extension and the JusticeDepartment announced Friday it had reached agreements with Colorado,D.C., the Virgin Islands and Hawaii to ensure they are in compliancewith the law.
Under the agreements, Colorado, Alaska and the Virgin Islands are planning to mail out ballots by the Saturdaydeadline. D.C.has until Oct. 4 to mail out the ballots and will givesoldiers until Nov. 19 to return them.
Hawaii has until Sept. 24 to send out ballots by express delivery and must provide voters with the means toreturn them by express delivery free of charge.
But Cornyn, who co-authored the law, wrote a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder railing against the DOJ'sresponse to the act, which was enacted last year. He cited thedepartment's "failure" to demonstrate how it's enforcing the law.
“I have repeatedly requested information that would reveal the DOJ’s level of commitment to protecting militaryvoting rights in every state in the country. In response, the DOJ hasprovided only cursory information that raises as many questions as itanswers,” he wrote in a Sept. 16 letter obtained by FoxNews.com.
“With a federal election only weeks away, it is past time for the DOJ to take strong and decisive action to enforcethe Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE Act) and relatedlaws. Our service members and their families deserve all of theprotections guaranteed by the MOVE Act, and it is your responsibility toenforce these laws.
“If you fail to do so, the result will be the disenfranchisement of our troops and their families, which we haveseen time and time again in recent elections. I intend to call forSenate committee hearings on these issues,” Cornyn wrote.
The Texas Republican claims the Justice Department has provided insufficient and incomplete information aboutcompliance for all states, including those that submitted waiverapplications.
In some cases, states expressed concern that their primaries fell too close to the Nov. 2 general election. A couplestates were able to comply with the law by moving their Sept. 14primaries back to August. Others kept the Sept. 14 primary dates, likeDelaware, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Wisconsin andWashington, D.C.
Reid Magney, spokesman for the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, said his state simply could not puttogether the absentee ballots in time.
“We don’t even have the names of the candidates yet – we won’t for awhile,” he said.
He said Wisconsin can “absolutely” make the extended Oct. 1 deadline – an agreement reached in court with theJustice Department. Under that agreement, absentee ballots will becounted through Nov. 19 -- 17 days after Election Day.
Controversy over the MOVE Act policy heated up over the summer, when former Justice Department attorneys allegedthat the voting section encouraged states to get around the mailingrequirement by submitting waivers.
Cornyn wrote a letter to Holder in July requesting information about the waiver-requesting states.
Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich responded with a letter dated July 30, denying accusations that Justicewas anything less than fully committed to enforcing the MOVE Act.
"The Department of Justice is firmly committed to ensuring that our men and women serving in the uniformedservices and living overseas have the opportunity to vote and to havetheir votes counted. Any suggestion to the contrary is simply untrue,"Weich wrote.
In his response, Weich also promised to give Cornyn a state-by-state briefing, but sources say Cornyn has still notreceived the information initially requested about how the agency planson enforcing the MOVE Act this election season.
The Department of Justice did not respond to an e-mail request for comment Friday.
“It is not yet too late to ensure that the MOVE Act is fully enforced, but it soon will be,” Cornyn wrote.
“This law represented the most meaningful reform in this area in decades, but it is not going to enforce itself. Full compliance by the states depends on the DOJ making this apriority. The disenfranchisement of military voters must come to anend. If it is allowed to continue, it will represent a shameful failureto honor the heroic service of those who defend America.”
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