Editorial: A ‘simple, uniform’ ballot
Secretary Stimson gives every evidence of being sincerely concerned about the problem of providing members of the Armed Forces with a vote in the 1944 elections.
He also gives every evidence of being wholly non-political in his interest.
Mr. Stimson, along with Secretary of the Navy Knox, has presented to Congress a specific outline of the problems involved in the job of getting ballots to the Armed Forces and back to the proper election boards for counting.
The two secretaries have pledged the Army and Navy to exert every effort to do the job as speedily and efficiently as circumstances permit.
But Mr. Stimson says the so-called “states’ rights” compromise bill which is now before the House will “interfere with the prosecution of the war” and he requests Congress to provide a “simple, uniform” ballot.
And that is exactly what Congress ought to do.
And the states ought to cooperate with it, even to the extent of calling special sessions of their legislatures if necessary.
The sooner Congress acts, the sooner the states will know what changes in procedure, if any are necessary, and the sooner they will be able to make them.
Obviously, there are some complex problems, legal and mechanical, in providing the Armed Forces with a vote. But they are not problems which cannot be surmounted if Congress, the Army and the Navy and state administrations will put their brains to them.
Any failure in giving the Armed Forces the utmost opportunity to vote is a breach of the right to suffrage – the highest privilege of an American citizen. That is like saying to the Armed Forces:
You may fight and die, if need be, for the right to vote; but you may not participate in that right.