Armed insurgents provide more than enough for our fighting men and women overseas to worry about, but this fall'sjam-packed election calendar is also ambushing them.
Ten states, Washington, D.C., and the Virgin Islands are all seeking waivers exempting them from complying with thenew law -- the Move Act -- that requires all states to mail absenteeballots to overseas military voters 45 days before Election Day.
"The waiver process is kind of recognition, probably, that 2010 was going to be a transition year, that some stateswould have to do things like move their electoral calendar, which is noteasy," said Chip Levengood of the Overseas Vote Foundation.
In Delaware, for example, primary day, Sept. 14, 47 days before Election Day, leaving not enough time for officialsin Washington to certify a winner, print ballots and ship them toMazar-I-Sharif fast enough to comply with the new law.
"It's been very clear that some of these states were not going to be in compliance with the Move Act a long timeago," said Eric Eversole, executive director of the Military VoterProtection Project. "And the Department of Justice, each step of theway, has simply not taken the actions to ensure that the Move Act wouldbe implemented in each of the 50 states."
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who co-authored the Move Act, wrote Attorney General Eric Holder last month to complainthat a top Justice Department official had called the law "fairlygeneral" with some provisions "an open question."
"If a state is not in compliance with the statute," Cornyn wrote Holder, "there is little room for 'dialogue' ornegotiation, and (the department's) Voting (Rights) Section should takeimmediate steps to enforce the law."
An assistant attorney general fired back four days later, writing to Cornyn, "The department (is) forming a teamof attorneys to monitor state compliance with the act's requirements."
Despite repeated requests by Fox News, the Pentagon refused to make the officer charged with deciding on the 10states' waiver requests -- Robert Carey, director of the Federal VotingAssistance Program -- available for an interview.
Fox News' James Rosen contributed to this report.
Replies