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After being criticized for not once mentioning America's decade-plus war in Afghanistan during his Republican National Convention speech, Mitt Romney and his campaign are making a push on military voting rights.
The Romney campaign sent letters to election officials in Wisconsin, Mississippi, and Vermont demanding an extension to deadlines in accepting absentee ballots from military and overseas voters. On the behalf of the campaign, former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi charged that at least 30 Wisconsin municipalities failed to send out absentee ballots to military voters by the Sept. 22 deadline.
"No Americans have done more to earn their right to vote than the men and women in uniform, who risk their lives defending the freedoms this nation holds dear," Prinicipi wrote to David Deininger, who heads the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board. "I am writing to express my concern regarding your office's attention to the voting rights of men and women in uniform, and to urge you to take immediate action to correct recent violations of military voting rights."
Under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voter Act (UOCAVA), election officials are required to send out absentee ballots no later than 45 days before an election, allowing time for overseas voters and members of the military to return their ballots.
In Wisconsin, officials say 27 municipalities failed to meet that deadline by within five days, affecting a total 44 military members and overseas citizens, the Associated Press reports.
The Romney campaign had previously addressed similar absentee voter issues in Mississippi and Vermont where the number of delayed ballots were similarly small.
Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos, a Democrat, responded by calling the issue political posturing from the Romney campaign that was merely "a show."
A Gallup poll from late May shows Romney leading with veterans with 58% compared to 34% for Obama.
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Wow! A decent thing from the GOP. Who would have guessed they would be in favor of extending the deadline this election after what Romney said about service people.
This man has a lot of nerves. Please give me a break, Romney does not deserve the vote from our military men. Romney did not remeber that there were American men at war in Afghanistan.
Romney was one of those people who would have benefited hugely from a couple of years in a rifle platoon in Vietnam or even Germany. Combat experience or military experience would have made this rich spoiled snob into a decent empathetic human being. The man has no empathy for working class and middle class people. Romney does not understand what it is like to have to live on $30,000 a year with a W-2 on the table, a stack of bills to pay, and kid that is going off to college or health insurance premiums to pay. Romney does not bother remembering veterans, middle class people, blue collar people because he has never had to live a normal life. He is a rich, arrogant, spoiled snob with little to offer in the way of leadership for our country or the middle class in the 21st century global economy. Two years of military service would have done wonders for Mitt but its too late for him now. Empathy for the less fortunate is a foundation of caring leadership in the Army, a corporation, or the White House. Mitt has nothing to offer even if he is an ace at hiding corporate money from the IRS. It's not enough to run a country.