Sen. Cornyn also recognized by colleagues for his unyielding efforts to improve military voting
WASHINGTONU.S. Sen. John Cornyn who has been a long-time Senate advocate of military voting reform successfully incorporated several of his initiatives into legislation passed today out of the Senate Rules Committee.
Sen. Cornyn strengthened the MOVE Act by adding two major pieces of legislation one based on his Military Voting Protection (MVP) Act and another based on his Military Voters Equal Access to Registration (MVEAR) Act to ensure that overseas troops are provided expedited delivery of their completed ballots and also given along with their families on-base voter assistance when they need it.
His efforts and leadership on the issue of military voting were also recognized by several of his Senate colleagues who are on the committee including Rules Committee Chairman Chuck Schumer Ranking Member Robert Bennett and Sen. Saxby Chambliss.
Sadly our troops and their family members face tremendous roadblocks when it comes to voting in U.S. elections as formally documented in report after report. I am working with my Senate colleagues to tear down these barriers and ensure that every military service member and family member is able to participate in the democratic process and have his or her vote counted.
Its highly encouraging the committee has adopted the MOVE Act which includes comprehensive military voting reforms many of which Ive been pushing in the U.S. Senate. We are now one step closer to enacting these important reforms into law and helping our troops get the assistance and resources they need to vote in U.S. elections" Sen. Cornyn said.
Background
Following the markup Sen. Cornyn signed onto the MOVE Act as amended with his military voting reforms included.
Sen. Cornyn has spearheaded efforts on military voting reform including the MVP Act which ensures that the completed ballots of troops overseas are delivered to the appropriate state election officials in time to be counted; it passed the Senate last year. He reintroduced it this Congress with bipartisan support and it currently has 33 co-sponsors. In addition it has received an overwhelming number of endorsements from prominent Veterans Service Organizations and military support groups.
Building on the success of the MVP Act Sens. Cornyn and Begich introduced a second military voting reform bill to make sure troops and their family members have voter registration assistance through motor voter-style services provided to them on military installations. This second complimentary bill the MVEAR Act would help make sure blank absentee ballots reach troops at their current addresses so they can cast their votes and send their completed ballots back to their home election offices in time to be counted on Election Day.
