Voting, "one of the most solemn trusts in human society"

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 17, 2021 

Right now the biggest danger to this nation is not what other nations can do to us, but what we can do to ourselves. The voice we have is our vote and what some politicians are doing is the equivalent of putting a muzzle on all of us. 

"Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual - or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country." Samuel Adams

Some voters are deluded enough to not see that all votes are in jeopardy. All they want to see, all they want to know is, the vote of the "others" are being removed. They fail to see that their own votes are in peril.

If anyone has the right to disallow, remove or overturn the voice of the voters, then no one running for office is safe. Even if they do the will of those with the power to overrule votes, there is nothing to prevent themselves from becoming a target later on when someone else shows up, and those in power want to hand over that seat to them.

It is time for wisdom to defeat ignorance. This is something the Founding Fathers tried to imagine happening and they sought out ways to avoid it.

The connection between Jay’s day and ours is clear: “In our age,” Roberts wrote, “when social media can instantly spread rumor and false information on a grand scale,” there is even greater danger that political passions can turn us against one another, or against constitutional government itself. He emphasized judges’ particular role as “a key source of national unity and stability,” but his deeper point was that those values are needed among more than just judges.

His letter invoked Jay, Hamilton, Madison, and John Marshall, but his ideas called to mind another Founding Father: Benjamin Franklin, who, on leaving the constitutional convention of 1787, supposedly told a curious passerby that the Framers had produced “a republic, if you can keep it.” (The Atlantic)

New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan spoke about the need to secure our votes yesterday.

The truth is, men and women have been putting their lives on the line to defend this right to determine the direction of this country, before there even was a country. They fought the best military in the world and defeated it so the people could decide the leaders. That right has been defended over and over again because men and women valued it more than their own lives.

Now we see that the perception of military members being Republican, no longer applies.

In August, Military Times released its annual poll of service members, one of the only political pulse readings conducted of those actively serving. The poll found that support for Trump among the 1,018 active duty troops surveyed had fallen to 38 percent in 2020 from 46 percent in 2017. Of those respondents in the August poll, 41 percent said they were voting for Biden; 37 percent said they planned to vote for Trump; 13 percent would seek a third-party candidate and 9 percent said they did not plan on voting. “Donald Trump’s numbers are beyond dismal in the military, especially for a Republican,” said Jon Soltz, an Army veteran who deployed to Iraq twice and founded the 700,000-member VoteVets, a progressive-leaning veterans’ political advocacy organization. “The idea that veterans and the military are heavily Republican is just not true anymore.” (McClatchy)

Republican voters seen to think it is hitting Democrats. Democrat voters seem to think the same thing. The truth is, more voters are Independents and our votes are being threatened as well. This is from PEW

If we, as Independents, do not fight for all voters, no matter which party they claim, as well as, we who have no party loyalty but true loyalty to this nation we love, then we have failed all those who came before us.

Majority of Veterans Are Not Republican?

If you control a Veterans Charity or group, think about this before you allow any of your members to put politics over other veterans.

PEW Voting Veterans

It clearly shows the majority are not Republicans, as many would have you believe. It clearly shows that the majority are not Democrats and many would like you to believe. 

The truth is, MOST ARE INDEPENDENTS and all of them are veterans!

29% are Republican, 20% are Democrats but 49% are Independents! 

The divide is even wider when taken by age group.

Younger veterans, you know the ones you want to join your group, between the ages of 19-49 show 25% are Republicans, 16% are Democrats but 59% are Independents. 

When they walk into a group and hear political talk, imagine being one of the ones who do not agree with your political view and you just made them feel uncomfortable. Do you think they'll want to hear how much you care about them afterwards?

Florida Gov. Scott mistaken for dead in 2006 vote

We've all read the story of War hero, 91, targeted in Florida's purge of voter rolls about Bill Internicola. Maybe Gov. Scott has been seeking revenge for what happened to him in 2006 when he was purged and declared dead?

Florida governor mistaken for dead in 2006 vote
By Michael Peltier
TALLAHASSEE, Florida
Thu Jun 14, 2012

(Reuters) - Florida's governor, who is leading a disputed purge of voter registration rolls, had to cast a provisional ballot in 2006 because officials mistakenly thought he was dead, election officials said on Thursday.

Governor Rick Scott was required to use a provisional ballot in the 2006 primary and general elections because Collier County election officials had received a Social Security Death Index Death Record that led them to believe he had died on January 27, 2006.

In fact the deceased was Richard E. Scott, who had the same birthday as the governor, December 1, 1952. The governor's full name is Richard Lynn Scott.
read more here

Veterans Voting right fight taken on by Veterans for Common Sense

From Veterans for Common Sense

This week's update is about every American citizen's Constitutional right to vote - including our veterans. Our veterans stood between enemy bullets and our Constitution. Yet until last week, VA stood between our veterans and their right to vote. What VA did was wrong, and we need a new law to make sure this never happens again.

On September 15, 2008,

Veterans for Common Sense was asked to testify before the Senate Rules and Administration Committee about the need for voter registration drives at VA facilities. Here's the problem. When a veteran moves from their house into a VA facility, their old registration becomes invalid and the veteran must re-register to vote. VA has known about this problem for years. Senator Dianne Feinstein wrote VA about it in March 2007 and March 2008.

In 2007, VA ignored her letter. In 2008, VA responded with a ban on voter registration drives.On May 5, 2008, VA issued a ban against all voter registration drives at VA hospitals and nursing homes. VA said they would handle all new registrations. VA said they would provide voting assistance to the veterans living in VA facilities.

On September 8, 2008, VA reversed their policy after an outcry from Congress and veterans. While we are pleased that VA lifted their ban, VA's voter registration results are very low.VA testified yesterday that 56,000 veterans live in VA facilities. Remember, all of the veterans living in VA facilities must re-register before they can vote.

Out of 45,000 veterans given voting information, only 350 veterans registered to vote.

That's only six new voters out of every 1,000 patients. That's unacceptable.

At yesterday's hearing we urged Congress to immediately pass S 3308,

"The Veteran Voting Support Act," introduced by Senator Feinstein. As reported in Air Force Times, VCS believes there must be a law to protect veterans' voting rights.

If VA won't do it on their own, then Congress must intervene and order VA to do it. We testified that "VA can easily reverse course, again, and issue another policy banning voting assistance…." Furthermore, we said that VA could "easily fail to implement their new policy." There are seven weeks until the November 4, 2008, election. We ask you to register and vote. We also ask you to contact Congress in support of S 3308, "The Veteran Voting Support Act." We want VA to follow through on their pledge to assist veterans.VCS now has more than 13,000 members. Your membership and your support of Veterans for Common Sense helped us bring our message to Congress: Let Our Veterans Vote ! The more people registering and voting, the stronger and more free our Nation will be.
Thank you!
Paul SullivanExecutive DirectorVeterans for Common Sense

VA Now Allows Voter Registration Drives, But,,,,,

VA Now Allows Voter Registration Drives, But Will Its New Policy Help Vets in 2008?

By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet. Posted September 9, 2008.

With Senate pressure looming, Veterans Affairs issues a new policy after barring voter drives for most of the 2008 voter registration season.

For the fourth time in six months, the Department of Veterans Affairs has revised its policy on allowing voter registration drives at hundreds of VA facilities serving injured and homeless veterans. Monday's announcement, on the eve of Senate hearings, said the agency would allow voter registration drives if certain conditions were met.

"The Department will welcome state and local election officials and non-partisan groups to its hospitals and outpatient clinics to assist VA officials in registering voters," the VA said in a Sept. 8 news release. "Such assistance, however, must be coordinated by those facilities in order to avoid disruptions in patient care."

Under the new rules, each VA facility will have to publish its voter registration policy, and "develop procedures to coordinate offers of assistance." VA regional counsel also will assess whether any voter registration group is "non-partisan," before allowing the organization into VA facilities to register voters, the new policy directive said.

"We are hoping that this will be fairly fast," said VA Spokesman Phil Budahn, when asked whether the new policy would accommodate veterans living at VA facilities for the November presidential election. "We don't see this as a terribly complicated process."

click post title for more

VA Voting Rights Scandal

May 9 VA Voting Rights Scandal: VA Flip-Flops, Bans Voter Registration Drives for Veterans at VA Hospitals and Nursing Homes

Steven Rosenfeld


AlterNet

May 09, 2008

VA Retreats on Voter Registration Efforts for Wounded Veterans; The Department of Veterans Affairs says it will help ex-soldiers to register and vote, yet it won't allow registration drives on VA facilities

"VA's decision, during wartime, to block voter registration for our hospitalized veterans is shameful, outrageous, and despicable," said Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense. "VCS finds it unconscionable that VA would reverse position and prohibit voter registration efforts for our wounded, injured, ill, and disabled veterans in VA hospitals and nursing homes as more and more casualties flood home from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars."

May 8, 2008 - The Department of Veterans Affairs has retreated on a recently announced policy to allow voter registration drives at its facilities where veterans' groups and others would assist wounded former soldiers to participate in the 2008 presidential election.

"It is VHA (Veterans Health Administration) policy to assist patients who seek to exercise their right to register and vote; however, due to Hatch Act (Title 5 United States Code (U.S.C.) 7321-7326) requirements and to avoid disruptions to facility operations, voter registration drives are not permitted," the new policy directive by Michael J. Kussman, Under Secretary for Health said.
go here for more
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/10061

Victory for Veterans' Voting Rights

May 1 Victory for Veterans' Voting Rights: VA Reverses Policy, Allows Registration After Pressure from Congress and VCS

The VA bows to public and political pressure, but soldiers still must ask for help. "VA's new directive is progress," said Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, whose mission has long included advocating for former soldiers' voting rights. "They changed from actively opposing it to passively supporting it."

Please see prior article, "April 10, VCS in the News: VA Creates Roadblocks to Voter Registration for Injured Veterans: -
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/9783


May 1, 2008 - The Department of Veterans Affairs has issued new rules allowing former soldiers living at VA facilities to ask for help with registering to vote and voting -- a decision that could increase participation in the 2008 election by wounded Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans.

The new rules, to be published on government websites this week, reverses a years-long policy where the VA opposed helping patients and others living on VA campuses -- notably homeless veterans -- with voter registration and voting, saying to do so would be a partisan activity.

"It is VHA policy to assist patients who seek to exercise their right to register and vote," said the new policy, issued by the Veterans Health Administration as Directive 2008-02. "This policy establishes a uniform approach to assembling and providing information on voter registration and voting to veterans who request it."
go here for more
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/9993