Our guest blogger is Jon Soltz (@jonsoltz) is a two-tour Iraq veteran and Chairman of VoteVets.org.
When I read stories this weekend that said the Obama campaign was suing to restrict the voting rights of military in Ohio, my blood got boiling. Of course, Think Progress has already documented that story, inflamed by the Romney campaign, is patently false.
In fact, the Obama campaign was suing to block an Ohio law which
restricts a very successful early voting program in the state. The
President’s campaign was trying to keep expanded voting rights in place
for everyone, military included. So, why am I still so disturbed?
Because Mitt Romney, by supporting the Ohio law that would do away
with three days of early voting for all but those covered under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voter Act (‘UOCAVA’), is supporting the restriction of voting rights for as many as 913,000 Ohio veterans.
This includes military retirees with over 20 years of service and
multiple deployments. In short, Mitt Romney supports efforts to make
voting more difficult for the very people who have put their lives on
the line after swearing an oath to uphold our Constitution and
democracy.
Once you leave the military, you are no longer covered by UOCAVA.
Your voting rights are the same as any civilian. That means the early
voting law which Mitt Romney wants to undo, provided hundreds of
thousands of Ohio veterans with more of an opportunity to vote. By all
accounts, Ohio voters liked and used the early voting law. In 2008, nearly one-third of all ballots was cast under the early voting measures, surely many of them veterans.
Interestingly, the press reported that 15 military and veterans’
groups supported Romney’s position. That isn’t the case. Those groups
actually petitioned the court to be involved in the case,
because of their concerns that the end result, whatever it was, might
hurt troops’ ability to vote. On Friday, the Obama Campaign actually
signed a brief to the court that backed the petition of those groups –
welcoming them into the case, because the Obama campaign says it wants
to ensure that military voters aren’t kept from early voting. Now that
we know the truth, I hope those groups will come out and fully support
the President’s campaign, in court. Because if they don’t, the change
in law will hurt so many who have served in uniform.
So, how is the law about to change? Under the previous statute, Ohioans were allowed to vote early,
all the way up to election day. Under the new law that the Obama
campaign is seeking to block, almost all Ohioans will not be able to
vote early starting three days before the election – doing away with
weekend voting, which was the easiest for those with a full time job, or
multiple jobs.
For veterans, most of whom have full-time work, often in jobs they
can’t leave during the day, that lessens their ability to vote.
We’ve already seen what a non-early-voting Ohio looks like. We saw
it in 2004, when in many polling places had extremely long lines
(especially in urban areas), and polling places were shut down before
everyone in line had a chance to vote. Non-early voting, quite
literally, resulted in the disenfranchisement of voters. That’s what
Mitt Romney wants to go back to. That’s what he wants to subject nearly
a million Ohio veterans to, after they wore the uniform, and swore
their lives to uphold our Constitution, including the right to vote.
My question for Mitt Romney is simple: “Why won’t you join the Obama lawsuit in Ohio, and protect our veterans’ right to vote?”
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