AWOL Military Ballots Cause Controversy

Insight on the News, Dec 11, 2000 by Jamie Dettmer

In Florida, the Democrats are bewailing spoiled ballots and demanding that such votes should count. But in farflung regions of the world, as well as on the high seas, the lament of military personnel is about missing ballots -- ballots completed and others that were never received although they were requested.

After at first pooh-poohing a WorldNetDaily report that hundreds of overseas military ballots hadn't been delivered, the U.S. Navy did an about-face on Nov. 14 and confirmed that bundles of completed ballots had been left behind to languish on three ships in the Persian Gulf.

According to naval spokesman Cmdr. Greg Smith, the ballots of about 3,000 sailors and Marines on the USS Tarawa, USS Duluth and USS Anchorage hadn't been delivered. He said that the ballots -- many of which would be counted in Florida-- were going to be flown back to the United States "expeditiously," although it wasn't clear if all would make it back in time to meet a Nov. 17 deadline for absentee votes in the Sunshine State.

Smith conceded that time could be a problem. "All we're trying to do is see if there's a way to get the mail there," he said. He added that the mail was forgotten because the ships were tasked with assisting the bomb-stricken USS Cole. However, sailors on the ship think the whole approach to the ballots was far more blase and note the ballots were not kept separate from ordinary mail.

Federal lawmakers are planning to take the matter up in Congress. Rep. Joe Scarborough, R-Fla., has asked the House GOP leadership to make time for a congressional probe into the handling of naval ballots.

But the problem of missing military ballots may be more widespread if anecdotal evidence is anything to go by. There have been reports that military personnel never received absentee ballots. Some have complained of ballots being sent as fourth-class bulk mail rather than as first-class items.

Some old hands have argued that the Pentagon did nothing this election to aid U.S. servicemen to vote -- with no special programs or facilities being provided at many military locations.

Defense spokesman Ken Bacon has reacted angrily at suggestions that the Clinton administration was attempting to suppress the military vote, which tends to be very Republican. At a press briefing he snapped that such arguments were "ludicrous."

The U.S. Postal Service said it would rush delayed military ballots to Florida.