Assuring the precious right of voting for those who assure our rights

With American troops often deployed in remote or combat areas where mail service is sporadic at best it is important that the U.S. takes steps to protect the right to vote of our men and women in uniform. For military and overseas voters, that right is only as good as their ability to cast a ballot and have it counted.

In 2008, statistics from the seven states with the greatest number of deployed troops show that one in four military and overseas voters were unable to have their vote counted.

In 2006, the situation was even worse. The U.S. Election Assistance Commission said that up to two-thirds of ballots requested by voters under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Voting Act were either not cast or not counted.

Unacceptable and Preventable

That is unacceptable in our democracy and it is preventable with some legislative changes that take advantage of technology.

The bipartisan voting bill I co-authored this year, the Military and Overseas Voting Act, is to be included in the defense authorization conference report. In addition, there is a standalone bill that already has 59 cosponsors.

The Senate approved the 2010 Defense Department Appropriations bill that included an amendment of mine to provide $15 million for the Department of Defense to implement their responsibilities under the Military and Overseas Voting Act.

Technology Helps the Process

Our legislation harnesses technology to speed up the voting process by allowing registration and ballot requests to be sent electronically.

It ensures that military and overseas voters have time to vote by requiring ballots to be sent out 45 days before the election. And it allows blank ballots to be sent electronically.

It also provides flexibility to states who cannot meet the 45-day deadline, as long as they come up with an alternative plan to ensure time to vote.

Living Up to Our Responsibilities

We have a responsibility to ensure that the men and women of our armed forces and others serving overseas have their votes counted.

They protect our rights; we have an obligation to protect theirs by passing the Military and Overseas voting Act to make a difference for our men and women in uniform beginning with the midterm elections in 2010.