Obama
Justice Department
outrages never cease. The politically charged gang led by Attorney General
Eric H. Holder Jr. is more interested in
helping felons vote than in helping the military to vote.
Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, has put a
legislative hold on the already troubled nomination of
James M. Cole to be deputy attorney general
until the attorney general ensures full protection for voting rights of our
military (and associated civilian personnel) stationed abroad. The senator is
right to raise a ruckus.
Mr. Cornyn co-authored a 2009 law
mandating that states mail absentee ballots to military voters at least 45 days
before the election. Yet, as former
Justice Department lawyer
Eric Eversole first reported in
The Washington Times last week, the
department seems to be
encouraging states to apply for waivers so they won't have to follow that law.
More than 17,000 Americans serving overseas were denied the vote in 2008 - but,
presumably because military personnel are thought to lean conservative, the
liberal
Obama administration
is in no hurry to correct the situation.
The
Justice Department is so
unenthusiastic about military voting that its website still lists the old
requirement for a shorter 30-day military voting window, rather than the current
law mandating 45 days. On the other hand, the
Justice Department has no legislative
mandate whatsoever to involve itself with helping felons to vote, but its
website devotes a large section - 2,314 words - to advising felons how to regain
voting privileges.
As confirmed by
The Washington
Times last week,
Justice
Department official
Rebecca Wertz told
a Feb. 1 conference of the
National
Association of Secretaries of State that the new law's requirements are
somehow open to interpretation. On July 28, an attendee at that conference -
heretofore uninterviewed - told
The
Washington Times that
Ms. Wertz's
message was "totally undermining" the law. The earlier reports actually
underplayed the effect of
Ms. Wertz's
comments. "It was even more pronounced at the meeting," said the source. "She
undermined [the law] right in front of everybody. When I heard what she was
saying, I thought: 'You've got to be kidding!' ... It was a clear reversal of
roles for Justice to no longer be enforcing the law."
After looking at the minutes of that conference,
Mr. Cornyn responded forcefully. His office
confirmed that he did place the hold on
Mr.
Cole because of the military voting issue. His July 26 letter to
Mr. Holder does not actually mention his
hold, but its tone was strong stuff.
"The statute does not create any discretion for the Executive Branch to
decide whether or not to enforce its legal requirements," the senator wrote.
Ms. Wertz's comments "fly in the face of the
clear statutory language, undermine the provisions in question and jeopardize
the voting rights of our men and women in uniform."
The senator laid out a series of four steps he wants
Mr. Holder to take to ensure that states
respect the 45-day deadline, including a demand that the
Justice Department provide a
state-by-state accounting of compliance efforts. The hold on
Mr. Cole, reportedly a personal friend of
Mr. Holder, is sure to grab the attorney
general's attention. Our troops deserve his respect.
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