MVP Project Releases 2010 Post-Election Report: Military Voters Continue to Struggle at the Polls
Washington, DC – The Military Voter Protection Project (MVP Project), a program of Military Families United, along with AMVETS Legal Clinic at Chapman University School of Law has released a report on the treatment of military voters in 2010. The report exposes the difficulties faced by our men and women in uniform when they attempt to vote and the need for immediate action before the 2012 elections.
After every federal election, states collect data regarding the total number of military voters that request and return an absentee ballot, as well as the total number of ballots that were counted. The report collected data from 24 states with the largest percentage of military voters, including Texas, California and Florida. The data shows:
- Of the nearly 2 million military voters residing in the states covered by the report, only 89,887 or 4.6 percent cast an absentee ballot that counted in 2010.
- While 310,625 military voters requested an absentee ballot in 2010, only 31 percent of those ballots were returned to be counted by local election officials.
- There were widespread failures by federal officials—in particular, the Department of Justice—to implement and enforce a new federal law designed to protect military voters. These failures had a clear and undeniable impact on military voters.
“The data says it all—it is disappointing that military voters continue to have their voices silenced on Election Day,” said Eric Eversole, Founder and Executive Director of the MVP Project. Eversole, a veteran of the Navy JAG Corps added, “If we are going to turn this ship around, it has to be a top priority for both the states and the Administration.”
Professor Kyndra Rotunda, who directs Chapman’s AMVETS Legal Clinic, said “We are delighted to co-publish this important research and we are proud of the Chapman and Berkeley Law students who uncovered the raw data behind it.”
“The vote of every man and women in uniform must be counted, regardless of their location in the world,” said Robert Jackson, Executive Director of Military Families United. Jackson, also a Navy veteran added, “Our service members sacrifice far too much for the freedom and rights of all Americans and that includes their right to vote. This report is an important first step in identifying the problems faced by our military voters and will allow the MVP Project to begin its critical efforts to protect the voting rights of our military members in 2012.”
A full copy of the report is available HERE.
