Washington, D.C. – On October 3rd, Reps. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) and Michael Honda (D-CA) introduced the Fixing the Federal Voting Assistance Program Act (H.R. 7265), which would strengthen oversight of the federal office charged with helping overseas military and civilian voters.

In recent elections, the Federal Voter Assistance Program (FVAP) has struggled to meet its mandate to help ensure access to the ballot for thousands of overseas voters, both civilian and military (see list of the FVAP’s recent lapses, below).  Maloney’s bill would create an oversight board to monitor the FVAP’s efforts and ensure accountability by requiring Senate confirmation of the program’s director.

“It’s sadly ironic that Americans who are fighting to preserve our democracy often have a tough time casting their vote,” Maloney said.  “We must do more to ensure that our troops and other overseas Americans have access to the ballot.  This legislation is designed to bring oversight and accountability to the federal program that has struggled in its mission to ensure greater ballot access for our soldiers, sailors and airmen, their families, as well as civilians living overseas.  My only regret is that this legislation cannot pass in time to help in the 2008 elections.”

Specifically, H.R. 7265 would amend the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act to require the presidential designee responsible for carrying out federal functions under the Act to have experience in election administration and be approved by the Senate.  The bill would also establish the Overseas Voting Advisory Board to oversee the administration of the Act so that American citizens who live overseas or serve in the military can participate in elections for public office.

Background

The Federal Voting Assistance Program is supposed to help ensure that overseas voters are counted in elections. The following is a list of recent failures of the FVAP that highlight the need for a new direction and greater oversight of the office’s efforts.

2002

•    The Inspector General of the Department of Defense found during the 2002 election that about 42% of military surveyed knew who their Voting Assistance Officer was.   Four years and two federal election cycles later, only 47% knew.

2004

•    In 2004, the Interim Voting Assistance System spent $576,000, but only 17 voters participated.

2006

•    The Inspector General also found that in 2006, only 33% of military absentee voters were aware of the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA, the very form they are to use to request an absentee ballot).   Only 25% had received FPCAs by the DoD deadline of January 15th.   Further, only 31% of the military absentee voters surveyed were even aware of the Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot (FWAB) and its use if they didn’t receive their regular absentee ballot.

•    Only 5% of Unit Voting Assistance Officers during the 2006 election cycle had delivered Federal Post Card Applications to their personnel by the Secretary of Defense mandated January 15th deadline.   When pressed, the UVAOs admitted they either weren’t assigned until after the January 15th deadline, they did not even know of the requirement, or they simply ignored the requirement because they “perceived the requirement as an administrative burden.”

•    In 2006, 39.8% of this country’s citizens voted.   However, only 22% of the military’s active duty personnel voted.   Simply bringing military voting rates up to those of the general population would increase military voting by over 241,000 total voters.

•    While more than 85% of the general electorate who requested absentee ballots actually cast them,  only about 25% of the military who requested them actually got the chance to cast them.

•    In 2006, FVAP spent $1.1 million on the Integrated Voting Assistance System, but only eight votes were traced back to the system.

2007-2008

•    In response to the FY07 Defense Appropriations Act, FVAP initiated a Request for Proposals for Military Voter Registration System which was supposed to be operational in December 2007,  but was not launched until late August 2008 just months before the 2008 election.  In additional there have been numerous reportsxvi that the final product available on the FVAP website is much less helpful than other websites that are available, this after months of delay.