9-17-08, 1:45 pm
According to Department of Veterans Affairs data, 56,000 veterans live in VA facilities. Most of them are ineligible to vote, typically because, as a result of the Help America Vote Act, state voting laws nullify their existing voter registration when they move from their home residence to live in a VA facility.
The problem was caught in 2007 by Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) who promptly wrote to the VA asking for a remedy. The VA refused to respond to the letter, until this past April when the Bush administration ordered a ban on third-party voter registration efforts at VA facilities.
Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peake used the excuse that the VA could not provide resources for 'partisan political activities.'
Needless to say, the order and Peake's subsequent reasoning prompted a swift response from veterans organizations.'The Department of Veterans Affairs should serve as an example ensuring that every veteran that passes through its doors is afforded the opportunity to register and vote,' said Randy L. Pleva, Sr., president of Paralyzed Veterans of America.
'During a time of war, our nation has a special and sacred duty to assist our fellow citizens who have defended our Constitution with their lives – our military veterans – with registering to vote and with voting,' said Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense (VCS).
The Bush administration clarified the ban, after some public outcry, and ordered the VA to handle all new registrations. Further the VA promised to provide voting assistance to the veterans living in VA facilities.
But to date the promise has been an empty one, according to testimony before Congress by VA officials this week. VA officials admitted to Congress that of 56,000 veterans live in VA facilities, 45,000 veterans have been given voting information. Only 350 veterans, however, have registered to vote as a result.
In a statement Sullivan of VCS noted, 'That's only six new voters out of every 1,000 patients. That's unacceptable.'
As a result of ongoing pressure, last week, the VA reversed its decision of earlier this year and now will allow third-party voter registration efforts.
The rule change is not enough, say veterans and voter participation advocates. Veterans for Common Sense believes that reversing policy isn't enough when it isn't supported by statute. 'VA can easily reverse course, again, and issue another policy banning voting assistance,' testified Sullivan this week in a congressional hearing on the matter.
In a statement to the press, Lisa Danetz, senior counsel at Demos, a voters' rights advocacy group, said, 'The new policy also continues to place the burden on VA patients to ask for the opportunity to register, rather than making it the affirmative obligation of the VA to engage in outreach to veterans to provide voter registration services in a consistent manner, as is done by motor vehicle bureaus and public assistance offices for members of the public accessing their services.'
Both groups have called on Congress to pass S. 3308, 'The Veteran Voting Support Act,' introduced by Sen. Feinstein.
It is important for the measure to pass quickly as voter registration deadlines are coming up quickly in many states, voters' rights advocates have emphasized. Any effort to block the measure or to resist its passage will surely be seen as an attempt to suppress the votes of veterans.
