VA Voting Rights Scandal

May 9 VA Voting Rights Scandal: VA Flip-Flops, Bans Voter Registration Drives for Veterans at VA Hospitals and Nursing Homes

Steven Rosenfeld


AlterNet

May 09, 2008

VA Retreats on Voter Registration Efforts for Wounded Veterans; The Department of Veterans Affairs says it will help ex-soldiers to register and vote, yet it won't allow registration drives on VA facilities

"VA's decision, during wartime, to block voter registration for our hospitalized veterans is shameful, outrageous, and despicable," said Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense. "VCS finds it unconscionable that VA would reverse position and prohibit voter registration efforts for our wounded, injured, ill, and disabled veterans in VA hospitals and nursing homes as more and more casualties flood home from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars."

May 8, 2008 - The Department of Veterans Affairs has retreated on a recently announced policy to allow voter registration drives at its facilities where veterans' groups and others would assist wounded former soldiers to participate in the 2008 presidential election.

"It is VHA (Veterans Health Administration) policy to assist patients who seek to exercise their right to register and vote; however, due to Hatch Act (Title 5 United States Code (U.S.C.) 7321-7326) requirements and to avoid disruptions to facility operations, voter registration drives are not permitted," the new policy directive by Michael J. Kussman, Under Secretary for Health said.
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http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/10061