Barrasso and Cornyn Take Action to Protect Military Voters' Rights

Press Release

Today, U.S. Senators John Barrasso (R-WY) and John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced legislation that would give military and overseas voters new power to fight for their right to vote. Under current law, military voters must rely on the Department of Justice to protect their right to vote. The "Military and Overseas Voter Relief" (MOVR) Act will provide military voters with the right to take state and local election officials to court who fail to meet the 45 day absentee ballot deadline.

"Denying the right to vote to our men and women who are serving abroad goes against the very core of our democracy," said Barrasso. "These brave men and women are currently putting their lives on the line to protect one of our most cherished rights, the right to vote. Our bill will allow military voters to hold their election officials accountable for their failure to mail out absentee ballots. I would like to encourage all members of the military or their families to contact the Military Voter Protection Project if they did not receive their absentee ballots."

"During the 2010 elections, and previous elections, many voting jurisdictions failed to give military voters enough time to vote by not sending out absentee ballots on time," said Cornyn. "Sadly, our troops are still forced to rely on the Department of Justice to safeguard their voting rights, which has proven either unwilling or unable to enforce the MOVE Act's 45-day rule and related laws intended to prevent the disenfranchisement of our men and women in uniform and their families. These brave Americans put their lives on the line for our democracy, so the least Congress can do is ensure they have the legal tools available to safeguard their own voting rights."

Courts have divided over whether military voters have standing to go to court to enforce their rights to a timely ballot under UOCAVA and the MOVE Act. Because there is no explicit private right of action in either of those statutes, the proper procedures and remedies have been unclear even where courts have found that military voters had standing to bring a suit.

The result of this lack of clarity in the law is that military voters have largely had to rely on the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division to enforce federal law against dilatory state and local election officials. In the 2010 elections, this system proved inadequate. Reports indicate that military and overseas voters from jurisdictions in at least Illinois, Connecticut, New Mexico, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Indiana, and Nevada did not have their ballots mailed by the deadline set by federal law.

The Barrasso-Cornyn legislation will correct this wrong by creating a statutory private right of action allowing military voters to enforce their own voting rights in court. The legislation will also strengthen oversight of DoJ enforcement of military voting rights.
The MOVR legislation will:

1) Allow military voters and overseas voters to file civil suits against election officials.

2) Require the DOJ to report to Congress on their military voter enforcement actions.

3) Allow reasonable attorney's fees for the prevailing party

Senator Cornyn helped author the Military and Overseas Voter Enhancement (MOVE) Act of 2009 that required election officials to mail absentee ballots 45 prior to election day.

Source