After decades of encountering roadblocks to exercising their right to vote our service members today will have additional resources and less bureaucratic red tape"
WASHINGTONU.S. Sen. John Cornyn R-Texas today issued the following statement after President Obama signed into law several pieces of legislation he sponsored to improve voting for service members overseas.
Central provisions of Sen. Cornyns Military Voting Protection Act (MVP Act) and his Military Voters Equal Access to Registration Act (MVEAR Act) are included in a comprehensive military voting reform bill and all part of the FY10 National Defense Authorization Act.
Sen. Cornyn successfully inserted major provisions of his bills into the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE Act) ensuring that overseas troops are provided expedited delivery of their completed ballots and that they and their families have unfettered access to voter assistance on military bases under a program modeled after the well-known motor voter" program.
After decades of encountering roadblocks to exercising their right to vote our service members today will have additional resources and less bureaucratic red tape. The MOVE Act represents the most sweeping reform of military and overseas voting law in a long time and its significance cannot be overstated.
Im proud to have worked with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to enact these common-sense reforms which come just in time to help our troops and their family members participate in the November 2010 elections. Many thousands of these brave Americans continue to serve in harms way in Afghanistan Iraq and elsewhere and the MOVE Act will go a long way toward helping them participate in elections a right which they fight each day to safeguard for their fellow citizens. Today we have taken a major step to end the disenfranchisement of our troops and their families" Sen. Cornyn said.
Background
Sen. Cornyn teamed up with Sens. Chuck Schumer Robert Bennett Saxby Chambliss and Ben Nelson to craft the legislation and gain broad support in the Senate. The MOVE Act has 60 co-sponsors.
Sen. Cornyn has spearheaded legislative 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 earlier this year with bipartisan support and it has 34 co-sponsors. In addition it has received an overwhelming number of endorsements from prominent Veterans Service Organizations and military support groups.
Building on the momentum behind the MVP Act Sens. Cornyn and Begich introduced a second military voting reform bill earlier this year to make sure troops and their family members have access to voting assistance through motor voter"-style services provided to them on military installations.
This second complimentary bill the MVEAR Act would help ensure that our troops and their families actually receive their blank absentee ballots enabling them to cast their votes and send their completed ballots back to their home election offices in time to be counted on Election Day. Specifically the MVEAR Act would require the DoD to designate one office on each active duty military base to provide this voter assistance to our troops and their families during key transition points in their military careers including arrival at a new duty station and overseas deployment.
After decades of encountering roadblocks to exercising their right to vote our service members today will have additional resources and less bureaucratic red tape"
WASHINGTONU.S. Sen. John Cornyn R-Texas today issued the following statement after President Obama signed into law several pieces of legislation he sponsored to improve voting for service members overseas.
Central provisions of Sen. Cornyns Military Voting Protection Act (MVP Act) and his Military Voters Equal Access to Registration Act (MVEAR Act) are included in a comprehensive military voting reform bill and all part of the FY10 National Defense Authorization Act.
Sen. Cornyn successfully inserted major provisions of his bills into the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE Act) ensuring that overseas troops are provided expedited delivery of their completed ballots and that they and their families have unfettered access to voter assistance on military bases under a program modeled after the well-known motor voter" program.
After decades of encountering roadblocks to exercising their right to vote our service members today will have additional resources and less bureaucratic red tape. The MOVE Act represents the most sweeping reform of military and overseas voting law in a long time and its significance cannot be overstated.
Im proud to have worked with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to enact these common-sense reforms which come just in time to help our troops and their family members participate in the November 2010 elections. Many thousands of these brave Americans continue to serve in harms way in Afghanistan Iraq and elsewhere and the MOVE Act will go a long way toward helping them participate in elections a right which they fight each day to safeguard for their fellow citizens. Today we have taken a major step to end the disenfranchisement of our troops and their families" Sen. Cornyn said.
Background
Sen. Cornyn teamed up with Sens. Chuck Schumer Robert Bennett Saxby Chambliss and Ben Nelson to craft the legislation and gain broad support in the Senate. The MOVE Act has 60 co-sponsors.
Sen. Cornyn has spearheaded legislative 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 earlier this year with bipartisan support and it has 34 co-sponsors. In addition it has received an overwhelming number of endorsements from prominent Veterans Service Organizations and military support groups.
Building on the momentum behind the MVP Act Sens. Cornyn and Begich introduced a second military voting reform bill earlier this year to make sure troops and their family members have access to voting assistance through motor voter"-style services provided to them on military installations.
This second complimentary bill the MVEAR Act would help ensure that our troops and their families actually receive their blank absentee ballots enabling them to cast their votes and send their completed ballots back to their home election offices in time to be counted on Election Day. Specifically the MVEAR Act would require the DoD to designate one office on each active duty military base to provide this voter assistance to our troops and their families during key transition points in their military careers including arrival at a new duty station and overseas deployment.
