Fairfax County will Count Soldiers Ballots

[USJD]

I just was listening to WMAL which is the ABC Radio affiliate around Washington DC and they said the State Board of Elections will issue a decision saying the ballots that came from our brave warriors overseas will be counted. This is indeed great news for them. EVERY VOTE COUNTS!!

 

[xaxeptance449]

Kudos to Fairfax County. How many of the actual votes from our men and women overseas will actually make it to the correct destination to be counted though is the real question, isn't it? As I remember them the numbers from 2006 were absolutely starteling and the greatest problem was they were never received?

Then there is the question of vets in treatment who are not ambulatory. How do they vote? Where do they vote? DO those that have given everything short of their lives have a right to vote?

 

[USJD]

Kudos to Fairfax County. How many of the actual votes from our men and women overseas will actually make it to the correct destination to be counted though is the real question, isn't it? As I remember them the numbers from 2006 were absolutely starteling and the greatest problem was they were never received?

I lived in Mexico before moving to South America where I now live. The biggest problem in receiving ballots from overseas is usually the country where they are mailed from. The Mexican mail service was awful and known for losing stuff. The best bet was to go to the US Embassy or Consulate and it goes out with the Diplomatic Mail. I left my ballot with the US Embassy in Lima and four days later it was received by Arlington County in Virginia. Military mail usually goes out either thru the Consulate or Embassy Diplomatic Mail unless you have a combat situation like Iraq where it goes out on a assortment of outbound flights.

I think the local elections office had no choice but to say they couldn't count them because of the law because the law was clear. However, the local office did the right thing in referring the matter to the State Elections Board who in turned asked the Attorney General's Office for an opinion. The AG said, that federal law would allow the ballots to be counted and thus the votes should be counted. I would bet the VA State Legislature will deal with this whole issue when they meet in January.