Heritage.org October 8, 2009
by Hans A. von Spakovsky
WHY does New York's Gov. David Paterson keep disenfranchising military voters? The answer is obvious -- and ugly.
When members of our military deploy, they're acting to protect the rights and security of all Americans. But they often find they've lost a crucial right of their own.
Paterson recently scheduled a special election to replace Rep. John McHugh in the state's 23rd congressional district. But he set the election for Nov. 3 -- just 35 days after his proclamation.
That short deadline will effectively disenfranchise military voters -- and the governor should know it, since he's being sued on precisely this issue over the last snap election he called.
Five weeks simply isn't enough time for local officials to get absentee ballots out to servicemen and women deployed abroad. It takes too long to lay out the official ballot with the names of the candidates, get the ballots printed and get them set for mailing.
So absentee ballots requested by overseas military voters -- including the valiant men and women of the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum who are now deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan -- almost certainly won't be received and returned in time to count in the election.
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