"One of the most fundamental rights we enjoy in a democratic society is the right to vote. My amendment will ensure that the men and women who are serving their country overseas are able to enjoy the very rights they protect for those of us back home," Grassley said.
Grassley's amendment to the election reform bill seeks to resolve past problems with absentee ballots from military installations overseas that arrived too late to be considered by election officials or were rejected because they had no postmark. The amendment would require the Secretary of Defense to implement a system that notifies overseas personnel of the mailing deadline for absentee ballots in a general election, and ensures that those ballots are postmarked.
The amendment also would require the Defense Secretary to report to Congress on the steps the department is taking to ensure the timely transmittal and postmarking of voting materials and to identify those persons in the department responsible for implementing the measures. Grassley said that the report to Congress will help hold the Defense Department accountable to fix the shortcomings in the system.
"It's good common sense for us to fix any kinks in the military mail system so that state and local election officials have no reason to reject ballots cast by members of the armed forces," Grassley said. "The lack of a postmark or proof of mailing date was one of the excuses used in the 2000 Florida ballot dispute. A postmark seems like a little thing, but we know its absence can have major consequences."
The Senate is expected to pass the election reform bill this week. The House passed its version of election reform last December.