In a story that brings echoes of the 2000 post election vote fight in Florida, absentee military ballots are being tossed out by elections officials in a Virginia county not far from Washington, D.C.
The dispute in Fairfax County, Virginia centers on what makes a military absentee ballot legitimate. In this case, the disputed ballots don't have the address of the person who is witnessing the vote.
You read that right. Not the address of the servicemember casting the vote, but the address of the fellow servicemember signing as a witness.
Eight years ago in the Florida vote fight, military ballots because a huge issue, mainly because so many had been thrown out on some similar technicalities.
The troops had used a special Federal absentee ballot, made just for servicemembers who will be overseas on Election Day.
It evidently asks for the address of the witness, but doesn't say which states require it.
Supposedly some 255 ballots have been affected in Fairfax County. One would have to assume there will be others also flagged in Virginia.
Back in 2000, Federal Judge Lacey Collier ruled that Florida counties had to count the military ballots which were caught up in the Bush v Gore battle.
"It is truly an unfortunate circumstance when a citizen of the United States is denied the fundamental right to vote," wrote Collier in his decision more than a month after Election Day.
"It is even more unfortunate when a vote cast by a member of the armed forces serving abroad is rejected for no legitimate or compelling reason."
We already have enough stuff out there in terms of vote fraud accusations by both parties. We may as well throw this in the mix, too.
It's a good thing that we've improved the process since 2000, eh?
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