The Afro-American (July 29, 1944)
Dewey calls New York’s soldier ballot simplest of states’
New York –
Declaring New York soldier ballot the simplest of all the states, Governor Thomas E. Dewey, Republican presidential nominee, charged today that “a group has been playing partisan politics with the right of the state’s fighting men to vote;” declaring, “it is time that this campaign of deceit backed by unlimited financial resources, was labeled and exposed,” he issued a prepared statement at his press conference.
It says:
Instead of helping soldiers to vote, they have distributed millions of misleading circulars designed to confuse both the public mind and the mind of soldiers.
Asks families’ aid
Accordingly, I urged all families and friends of members of the Armed Forces immediately to write to them telling them the truth about their right to vote in the state of New York.
The New York Soldier Vote Law is drawn to fit precisely Title II of the federal law. Every member of the Armed Forces will be handed a postcard. This is required of the Army and Navy by federal law.
All a soldier has to do is to sign his name and his home and service address on that postcard and mail it to the War Ballot Commission at Albany.
Indirect application
Even a letter or card to the soldier’s friends or parents will serve the purpose if sent in to Albany. The soldier will receive a full ballot with the name of every candidate for every office printed on it.
This is the simplest application form of any state in the Union and yet it meets the requirement of the State Constitution so every ballot will be both complete and valid.
130,000 received
Even before the government postcards have been placed in the hands of the men and women in the Armed Forces and almost four months before election, the New York State War Ballot Commission has already received more than 130,000 applications.
I have been urged, in addition, to approve the federal supplementary ballot for use in New York State. This is only a partial ballot for four offices and would be void and worthless under the Constitution of this state.