VA still resists voting drives in facilities

VA still resists voting drives in facilities

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Jul 18, 2008 15:36:50 EDT

The Department of Veterans Affairs continues to resist efforts by lawmakers to allow voter registration groups access to patients at hospitals and nursing homes.

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James Peake said VA will provide information to veterans about voter registration but will not open the doors to outside groups for two reasons: VA is not prepared to judge whether an organization is truly nonpartisan, and involving federal workers in a partisan operation would violate federal law.

“The agency is not in a position to examine the agenda, history and motivations of every organization that may wish to conduct voter registration drives in our facilities,” Peake said in a July 15 letter to three Democratic senators, Daniel Akaka of Hawaii, Dianne Feinstein of California and John Kerry of Massachusetts.
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