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VA FLIP-FLOPS ON VOTER REGISTRATION, GOES BACK TO
"NOT HERE" POLICY -- "VA's decision, during
wartime,
to block voter registration for our hospitalized
veterans
is shameful, outrageous and despicable."
For background on this story (with backlinks),
click here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfMAY08/nf050208-3.htm
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Story here...
http://www.alternet.org/democracy/84871/
Story below:
-------------------------
VA Retreats on Voter Registration Efforts for
Wounded Veterans
By Steven Rosenfeld
AlterNet
The Department of Veterans Affairs has retreated on a recently announced
policy to allow voter registration drives at its facilities where
veterans' groups and others would assist wounded former soldiers to
participate in the 2008 presidential election.
"It is VHA (Veterans Health Administration) policy to assist patients who
seek to exercise their right to register and vote; however, due to Hatch
Act (Title 5 United States Code (U.S.C.) 7321-7326) requirements and to
avoid disruptions to facility operations, voter registration drives are
not permitted," the new policy directive by Michael J. Kussman, Under
Secretary for Health said.
The Hatch Act restricts political activities by federal employees.
The VA directive rolls back a new policy announced in late April where the
agency agreed, after mounting public and political pressure, to assist
wounded veterans with registering to vote and voting for federal
elections. While the VA still says it will help former soldiers on an
as-requested basis with registration and voting, curtailing voter
registration drives brought swift condemnation from Capitol Hill and
advocacy groups.
"We believe that the earlier directive better
addressed the need for a consistent voter registration policy for our
veterans," Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and John Kerry (D-MA) said in
a May 6 letter to VA Secretary James B. Peake. "While the changes made in
the new directive seem small, the impact is large. It appears to us that
the Department took one step forward for our veterans and the right to
vote by directing that assistance be provided with voter registration and
with securing absentee ballots, but then took a large step back by
prohibiting voter registration drives."
The Senators questioned the Hatch Act claims, saying the "Office of
Special Counsel has made it clear that federal employees, even those who
are considered to be in sensitive positions, may "assist in voter
registration drives."" And they questioned how voter registration drives
would disrupt VA activities.
 "We
would appreciate knowing the type of disruptions the VA envisions might
occur during voter registration drives by nonpartisan organizations, such
as the League of Women Voters or veterans' organizations, and why any
potential disruption could not be addressed by less restrictive means,"
the said.
The VA press office did not respond to several calls seeking a further
explanation of the new policy late Thursday afternoon.
Veterans' advocates were more than disappointed.
"VA's decision, during wartime, to block voter registration for our
hospitalized veterans is shameful, outrageous, and despicable," said Paul
Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense. "VCS finds it
unconscionable that VA would reverse position and prohibit voter
registration efforts for our wounded, injured, ill, and disabled veterans
in VA hospitals and nursing homes as more and more casualties flood home
from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars."
"This is voter suppression, pure and simple," said Scott Rafferty, a
Washington, D.C.-based attorney who has been fighting the VA in court for
several years to allow voter registration efforts at the VA campus in
Menlo Park, California, near San Francisco.
Rafferty said there was little doubt the decision to deny voter
registration drives -- because they were political -- was en extremely
political decision. "They've been caught letting the Republican Party send
paid campaign workers to register voters after they excluded nonpartisan
volunteers from the same campus," he said. "They've been forced to admit
under oath that they told the League of Women Voters that if they took a
position on Iraq, they'd lose their access. The court told them they can't
do that anymore, so they are going to ban all voter registration drives."
Veterans for Common Sense's Sullivan made the same point.
"America has entered a dark day in our history when President George W.
Bush's Administration prevents veterans who are patients in a VA hospital
from registering and voting behind a false claim of partisan politics," he
said. "There is absolutely nothing partisan about assisting veterans who
defended our Constitution with registering to vote."
Sullivan said he hoped congressional pressure could prompt the VA to
reconsider the voter registration drive policy. Meanwhile, Rafferty said
the VA's newest directive would inject new issues into the ongoing
litigation surrounding voter registration at the agency's Menlo Park
campus.
"We'll ask the Ninth Circuit to make the VA offer every veteran a chance
to register when they first come to the VA," he said. "The First Amendment
applies to VA campuses, so we also want a set of rules that lets visitors
talk politics to the same extent that can talk about the weather --
without the threat of six months in jail if they are overheard."
Michael Slater, deputy director of Project Vote, which is organizing
registration drives in some two dozen states this summer, also said there
was little doubt the decision was driven by the prospect of wounded
veterans voting against the administration's current war policies.
"This is yet another action from the Bush administration that imposes
barriers to registration and voting in front of Americans they don't trust
to vote for their preferred candidates," he said "Government, regardless
of what party controls it, has a monopoly over the mechanisms of
registration and voting and they hold that responsibility in trust for the
public. The Bush administration has repeatedly allowed their political
interests to trump their obligations to the public and now, it seems,
veterans are the latest victims."
-------------------------
posted by Larry
Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
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