Wounded not worth counting their vote?

When the Patriots decided their futures were worth fighting for to remove the foreign rule from their lives, they were looking at serving the nation that would come. America has a rich history of people willing to lay down their lives for this nation. Imagine being wounded doing it and then being told you just lost your right to vote because you were wounded serving your nation. You are in a hospital bed, probably missing limbs you will have to learn to live without for the rest of your life and then know, that wound just cost you your right to voice your wishes for the direction the nation would take by placing a vote for those who will lead it. This is wrong! The VA should be moving heaven and earth to provide all of them the means possible to vote since they were wounded serving this nation!

Veterans Affairs refuses to provide voter registration for wounded vetsJohn Byrne
Published: Thursday April 10, 2008


VA suggests voter registration not held because it's partisan

At a quiet 1999 ceremony in MaComb County, Michigan, a plainspoken former Texas governor delivered a patriotic speech to commemorate Veterans' Day.

But none of the eight veterans interviewed by The New York Times after the ceremony promised George W. Bush their vote.

A new report Thursday reveals that Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peake told two Democratic senators his department will not help injured veterans register to vote before the 2008 election.

"VA remains opposed to becoming a voter registration agency pursuant to the National Voter Registration Act, as this designation would divert substantial resources from our primary mission," Peake said in an April 8th letter to Sens. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and John Kerry (D-MA) acquired by Steven Rosenfeld at Alternet.

Peake refers to a 1993 law that allows government departments to engage in voter registration efforts, Rosenfeld says.

What this means is that many injured veterans still in VA hospitals who can't find means to register outside of their facilities will effectively lose their right to vote. Wounded veterans who have moved must re-register at their "new addresses" or file for absentee ballots in order to participate in the presidential and other elections.
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