Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
Susan Bysiewicz, the Connecticut secretary of state, has an op-ed in the New York Times blasting the Bush administration for issuing a directive to prevent veterans in government care from voting:
WHAT is the secretary of Veterans Affairs thinking? On May 5, the department led by James B. Peake issued a directive that bans nonpartisan voter registration drives at federally financed nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and shelters for homeless veterans. As a result, too many of our most patriotic American citizens -- our injured and ill military veterans -- may not be able to vote this November.I have witnessed the enforcement of this policy. On June 30, I visited the Veterans Affairs Hospital in West Haven, Conn., to distribute information on the state's new voting machines and to register veterans to vote. I was not allowed inside the hospital.
Their arguments for this policy are patently absurd:
There are thousands of veterans of wars in Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf and the current campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan who are isolated behind the walls of V.A. hospitals and nursing homes across the country. We have an obligation to make sure that every veteran has the opportunity to make his or her voice heard at the ballot box.Connecticut's attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, and I wrote to Secretary Peake in July to request that elections officials be let inside the department's facilities to conduct voter education and registration. Our request was denied.
The department offers two reasons to justify its decision. First, it claims that voter registration drives are disruptive to the care of its patients. This is nonsense. Veterans can fill out a voter registration card in about 90 seconds.
Second, the department claims that its employees cannot help patients register to vote because the Hatch Act forbids federal workers from engaging in partisan political activities. But this interpretation of the Hatch Act is erroneous. Registering people to vote is not partisan activity.
If the department does not want to burden its staff, there are several national organizations with a long history of nonpartisan advocacy for veterans and their right to vote that are eager to help, as are elected officials like me.
Stunning.
Politics
Comments
Considering that AFAIK the military tends to overwhelmingly vote Republican, I find this somewhat surprising, as well as infuriating. You'd think that the Bush administration would be chomping at the bit to register all those crochety Republican veterans.
Have I missed a sea change in military voting patterns?
Posted by: Mara | August 14, 2008 9:41 AM
The Bush administration sure did pick a funny time to be concerned about the Hatch Act. Maybe they should send Lurita Doan to puzzle all this out.
-TTm
Posted by: Ticktockman | August 14, 2008 9:49 AM
@Mara
Perhaps they're worried that vets who have first hand experience at being discarded like broken toys might choose to vote against those who threw them away.
Posted by: tincture | August 14, 2008 10:00 AM
Tincture: I know that's how *I'd* vote, but I think historically the military has continued to vote Republican, no matter what.
Any historians or political historians around who know more about this? I'm no expert!
Posted by: Mara | August 14, 2008 10:06 AM
When McCain spoke this weekend at the Disabled American Veterans, he got a lukewarm reception, with some veterans being very critical of him. I think the Republicans are worried that disabled veterans will vote Democratic.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16520.html
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/aug/10/mccains-attacks-rival-fall-flat-vets-group/
Posted by: DaleP | August 14, 2008 10:21 AM
Can't claim to be an expert, but I think tincture nailed it. Yes, the military tends to vote mostly Republican. But notice they're not trying to stop currently-serving military personnel from voting. Just those being "cared for" in the VA Healthcare system.
Posted by: WScott | August 14, 2008 10:25 AM
during my time in the US Marines, Officers tended to vote Republica, Enlisted tended to vote Democrat, those wounded tended to voe Democratics ( that's in my outfit, not a big sample)
Posted by: richCares | August 14, 2008 10:25 AM
If veterans did start voting for Democrats, imagine how big a blow that would be for Republicans in years to come. I guess the current administration wants to make sure such a disaster doesn't happen, even if the possibility seems remote. To echo Ticktockman, they picked a fine time to show some foresight regarding unlikely but catastrophic events.
Posted by: Jeff Darcy | August 14, 2008 10:50 AM
Well at least they made sure astronauts can vote from space.
Regarding the veteran vote, here's an article from The">http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16520.html">The Carpetbagger Report that shows Republicans may have good reason to fear this voting segment.
Posted by: Abby Normal | August 14, 2008 10:59 AM
Oops, here's the Carpetbagger Report link done right: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16520.html
Posted by: Abby Normal | August 14, 2008 11:01 AM
I think the concern is that veterans in those situations might be jaded towards the current administration and would vote democratic.
If I had my leg blown off or found myself in a homeless shelter experiencing difficulty coping with life's many challenges, I think that I might be slightly pissed off at at those responsible.
Posted by: Patrick | August 14, 2008 11:16 AM
All the guys on my team vote Republitard. Indeed, they often joke about me being a liberal elitist and such. It does make for some interesting bar debates and such. By far most of the guys I know in the Army vote conservative. There are exceptions, but unfortunately, the military is pretty GOP friendly.
Posted by: Josh | August 14, 2008 11:17 AM
no one will notice any of this till they take our right to eat away......they just slowly take it away so no one will notice.....scary as hell.......
Posted by: the nomad | August 14, 2008 11:28 AM
I doubt that this is motivated by fears of the vets voting Democratic. As Heinlein said: "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." This is just typical government bureaucracy rearing its ugly head.
Posted by: Taz | August 14, 2008 11:38 AM
But Taz, a Republican plot is so much more interesting. ;-)
Posted by: Abby Normal | August 14, 2008 11:48 AM
"Registering people to vote is not partisan activity."
Yeah, only vote counting is partisan in America (at least in Florida and Ohio).
Posted by: Jason Failes | August 14, 2008 12:13 PM
A link
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/08/14/obama-troops-donations/
to a study that shows Obama is out-raising McCain 6 to 1 for troops stationed over seas. Troops overall is close to even split.
Posted by: DaleP | August 14, 2008 12:38 PM
The military has not ALWAYS voted Republican. That's a hilarious assertion. It is true that the military has tended to vote Republican since the draft was eliminated. (insert limp-wristed joke of your choice here)
During WWII, Republicans feared an attempt to provide active military personnel full and unobstructed access to the polls.
Posted by: a knight | August 14, 2008 12:42 PM
It sounds like the writer of this op-ed did not know what she is talking about, as this policy was changed in May: http://votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2842&Itemid=26.
Also, this is apparently an old policy of the VA, so I don't really think this is a Republican/Democrat thing.
I worked for a short time at a VA hospital and I think that this policy comes from the VA's absolute love affair with any type of bureaucracy. Remember the computer that got stolen about 4 years ago with millions of veterans' personal info on it? Well, the VA finally got a policy together 3.5 years later that absolutely all data had to be encrypted, with this absolutely terrible gov't encryption program. My data on mouse cells that I was carrying from one computer to another on a USB key - had to be encrypted.
Posted by: sylph | August 14, 2008 5:49 PM
I'm asking readers at my blog to call Bush to get the rule changed -- we gotta act fast. 202-456-1111.
http://timpanogos.wordpress.com/2008/08/14/need-your-help-call-bush-tell-him-to-let-veterans-vote/
Posted by: Ed Darrell | August 14, 2008 6:59 PM
Just curious,about the whole "most of the military votes republican" thing...
Has anybody ever done a statistical analysis of this claim, and has it been broken down by branch of service, NCO/Comissioned?
I've seen some pools that suggest that the higher a person's education level, the more likely they are to vote democrat.
This would seem to imply that the officer corps would be more democratic than the enlisted, and that the Air Force and Navy would be more dem than the Army or the Marines. No disrespect to the Army or the Marines, they simply have a lower education requirement than do the Navy and Air Force (or did, with the difficulties in recruiting the education requirements may be watered down lately).
Posted by: Blaidd Drwg | August 14, 2008 8:14 PM
Perhaps the operative factor is some people's deep rooted belief that there is no such thing as a "nonpartisan" voter recruitment drive. In this view, if those proposing to educate voters say they are nonpartisan, all it means is that they are unwilling to admit the bias that surely exists. Doublethink, anyone?
Posted by: Chrissl | August 14, 2008 9:47 PM
Posted by: wscott | August 14, 2008 11:19 PM
sylph wrote: "It sounds like the writer of this op-ed did not know what she is talking about,"
The Connecticut Secretary of State doesn't know what she's talking about?
" as this policy was changed in May: http://votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2842&Itemid=26."
Not really. From your link:
"It also says "any request by an outside organization to hold a voter registration drive on VA property" will be reviewed by the VA's attorneys, but it does not state how quickly the agency must respond to registration drive requests."
So basically if an outside organization wants to set up a table inside a VA hospital to register patients to vote, they have to submit a request which the VA officials can sit on forever.
Posted by: Jon H | August 15, 2008 12:52 AM
Also, sylph, from the very site you link to, a more recent story from this week:
"Just last month, the VA issued new rules that banned election officials -- whether local registrars or secretaries of state -- from registering voters, saying it was a partisan activity that interfered with its medical mission. In most states, any time a person changes their residence they must update their voter registration in order to vote. "
Also, the CT Secretary of State was turned away from a VA facility in July, until she threatened a lawsuit, at which point the VA backed down slightly.
So, no, the rat bastards in the Bush administration are fighting this every step of the way because the draft dodging shits in the White House simply hold Veterans in raw, ugly contempt. Veterans are tools for the GOP. Pawns to be used and discarded.
Posted by: Jon H | August 15, 2008 12:59 AM
Exactly, I wish more people understood that. Their whole "support the troops" shtick is just a bullshit advertising slogan.
Posted by: tincture | August 15, 2008 1:36 AM
The left doesn't hate soldiers. The left instead hates the Military Institutions, and its symbols. The left will however, take advantage of a soldier who desires to speak out against the Military or The Nation's Military Policies, and will often slip away when that soldier comes under fire for his speaking out. On the plus side, The Left are the ones most likely to take in a soldier who has the war-sickness very bad, and will often do so without expectation of remuneration.
The Right has always promoted the Military Institutions and its symbols. They are avid supporters of massive build-outs in weapons systems. Yet woe to any soldiers who have the temerity to return from a war zone and speak the truth. They will be slandered and defamed for the rest of their lives, whenever they show their face publicly.
Liberals attempt to assuage their personal angst by smothering vets with syrupy sympathies. They often come up with asinine treatments and names for the war-sickness, proving they haven't an effin' clue. It's not a "syndrome", it's an expression of humanity after witnessing the tsunami of needless deaths in the black of night that is always descending. The variation in the degrees of affliction varies tremendously, and often this can be traced to one's nurture while growing up in society, but only the sociopath returns from war without being infected with the war-sickness, and it is malarial in nature, recurring, never completely curable.
Conservatives roll down their windows and curse at vets begging on highway off ramps, whose war-sickness afflictions are so severe, they can no longer function normally in society. They bitterly complain about how "their money" is being wasted by The VA, which is woefully underfunded to even fulfill the promises made to vets a long time ago.
Left/Right - Liberals/Conservatives; it makes little difference in the end. THEY ALL SUCK when it comes to vets.
Posted by: a knight | August 15, 2008 3:57 AM
Excuse me, but arn't most vets registered voters anyway? Those in the VA hospitals will go home at some point in time, hopefully. And those in the nursing homes are probably already registered voters in their own counties. I'm sure those homeless veterans will who are really law abiding citizens will come back to cast their ballots in their own hometowns, which may or may not be Hartford, Ct. Oh, wait... I'm using logic. Darn, reasoning too!
Nevermine.
Posted by: Marc | August 15, 2008 8:49 AM
@ Marc: Oh, wait... I'm using logic. Darn, reasoning too!
No, you are slurring vets, who also happen to be homeless with insinuations.
Posted by: a knight | August 15, 2008 9:48 AM
@ Marc
Read 4th paragraph to my post above. Care to me what just what your politics really are?
Posted by: a knight | August 15, 2008 9:52 AM