WASHINGTON – Without immediate action, hundreds of thousands of military voters once again will have their voices silenced on Election Day, according to a new report from the Military Voter Protection Project (MVP Project) and AMVETS Legal Clinic at Chapman University.
A strong majority (two-thirds) of military members will need to vote by absentee ballot in 2012, yet with less than 90 days to the election, only an incredibly small percentage have requested an absentee ballot.
“Election Day 2012 could result in an all-time historic low for military voter participation,” said Eric Eversole, founder and executive director of the MVP Project. “While military voters have long suffered from low participation rates, these numbers are extremely disappointing given the comprehensive reform passed by Congress in 2009. That law should have increased military voter participation, not decreased it.”
Military voter participation rates are significantly lower than the general population: 30 percent in 2008 and only 15 percent in 2010 (compared to over 60 percent and 40 percent for the general population, respectively).
The new report, Military Voting Update: A Bleak Picture in 2012, also exposes the U.S. Department of Defense’s failure to fully implement the voter assistance provisions of the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE Act). These provisions would have ensured that military members receive the same level and type of assistance as civilians at their driver’s license branches. The report also provides specific examples of low absentee ballot request rates in multiple states with large military populations, including:
• North Carolina has only received absentee ballots from 1.7 percent of eligible military voters (1,859 of 108,748).
• Of the 126,251 active duty military members and spouses in Virginia, only 1,746 have requested absentee ballots for November (1.4 percent).
For more information about the Military Voter Protection Project or to read the full report, please visit http://mvpproject.org/.
###