Pressure Grows to Overturn VA Voter Registration Ban
Democrats in both the House and Senate have introduced legislation to force the Department of Veterans Affairs to overturn a ban on veteran voter registration drives at its facilities. Separately, Connecticut’s secretary of state is still contemplating a lawsuit.
It’s the latest move in an ongoing struggle between Dems and VA leadership. In response to a March letter from Sens. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and John Kerry (D-MA) seeking to make all VA facilities voter registration locations under the National Voter Registration Act, the VA issued a directive in May that prohibited voter registration drives because of the potential for Hatch Act violations, which prohibits federal employees from partaking in partisan political activities while on the job. As we reported last month, experts are dubious of the VA’s Hatch Act concerns.
Last Friday, the House of Representatives passed a VA appropriations bill that included an amendment by Rep. Christopher Murphy (D-CT) to reverse the ban.
Rep. Robert Brady (D-PA) also introduced a bill last week called the Veteran Voting Support Act that would overturn the ban by permitting states to designate VA facilities as voter registration agencies –- like many states do with their Department of Motor Vehicles. The bill mirrors a Senate version introduced on July 22 and was co-sponsored by several senators, including Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama. We called Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain’s office this morning to gauge his support for the bill, but haven’t heard back yet. The earliest any of these bills could progress is Sept. 8, when Congress returns from its recess.
In an e-mail response, VA spokesman Terry Jemison wrote, “Our position has not changed in light of any of these bills.”
On the state level, Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz exchanged letters with the state’s VA director Roger Johnson last week, continuing a dialogue that began after the VA blocked her from registering veterans at its hospital in West Haven, Conn. Bysiewicz initially said she might sue the VA to gain access and hasn’t backed off that.
“The lawyers are all talking about it,” Bysiewicz spokesman Av Harris told ProPublica.
In his letter (PDF) on July 29, Johnson wrote that the VA had posted voter information flyers, made registration forms available and recently contacted every inpatient and resident in the Connecticut system to see if they needed assistance.
“We appreciate some of the concessions,” Harris told us. “But let’s get back in there now and register and educate these people to vote.”
Johnson also wrote that Bysiewicz could help the VA canvas veterans up to three weeks before the Nov. 4 election and offer training to VA volunteers.
“All in-patients, they are given a handout on voter information,” Connecticut VA spokesperson Pamela Redmond told us. “There are flyers with voter information throughout the facility. We’ve complied with the directive.”
But Bysiewicz responded in a letter (PDF) last Friday that she was concerned about the upcoming registration deadline for municipal elections. She also wanted to demonstrate how Connecticut’s new optical scan voting machines work, but Johnson denied that request in his letter.
“The main sticking point is they keep putting conditions on us going in there,” Harris told us. “It’s all this bureaucratic gobbly-gook.”
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1 comments
Pat Smith
Aug. 6, 2008, 5:33 a.m.
There is already a small fire burning at the VA and you want to add fuel/politics to it?
Please do not refer to this as partisan politics. Veterans are of different race, color, creed, religions and political parties.
If the veteran is not already registered he or she can do so upon their release, if they are registered they can use the absentee ballot.
Can anyone see how the VA is actually protecting the rights of these injured veterans while they are hospitalized in their care? After an out-patient operation or just a mild sedation to have teeth extracted the patient beforehand has to sign a paper which tells them not to sign their name to any documentation, make any financial decision or even drive a vehicle for the next twenty-four hours.
These injured patients at the VA are more than likely on many various medications, which in turn would allow them to be more easily persuaded to sign their name to something they would normally not agree with. So in essence the VA is protecting the rights of the disabled and medicated veterans staying at the VA under their care and protection.
Look at how heated an argument on politics can get just on-line. Face to face in person I have watched actual fights break out, and right or wrong the security police at the VA has better things to do than stop an actual fight over someone’s political opinion. At times there is enough bickering going on at the VA, why would anyone want to add politics to the fire?
I just wish that over medicated outpatient veterans had the same protection when it comes to signing loans from predatory lenders and car salesmen/politicians.
Why is it that at election time many are suddenly worried about the veterans in the nursing home not being able to vote? When I was able to volunteer there I was worried by some of the conditions there and said how many deserved to die with much more dignity. The same applies to the 200 thousand or more homeless veterans, let’s get them a real address (home) first then register them to vote.
Also think of the somewhat already tense working environment of the VA employees – nurses, doctors, management etc watching over the patients – and many individuals do have an inclination to express their political beliefs especially during an election – politics does not belong in a working environment, especially one as diverse as the VA and one where many are on various medications. All the employees especially in a MEDICAL facility need to focus on their job which is the patients care and well-being not politics.
After the Gulf war as a political science major I participated in a few voter registration drives and it was never the students doing the registering that caused the problems. The stress of a very heated over-heard or worst yet witnessed argument over politics can contribute to a life altering mistake by an otherwise good employee.
Something easier to consistently be worked for (even after this election) would be for something more simple and bi partisan like a voter registration card to always be placed in the patients room like the bible use to be and can then be made a part of the normal cleaning ritual after each patient is released and the room is then readied for the next new patient. Simple, consistent and bi partisan.
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