Editorial: The compromise is compromised
After almost interminable wrangling, House and Senate conferees on the soldier-vote issue have come up with a compromise plan which nine of the 10 members of the joint committee approve.
But in compromising the extreme views in this controversy, the compromisers virtually compromised out of the picture anything like a simple, uniform system of voting for the Armed Forces.
The new scheme may be better than nothing, but not much.
It does not offer the Armed Forces a maximum opportunity to vote. It does not provide a uniform system, and it is complex and confusing.
The patched-up compromise applies only to overseas forces.
It leaves the garrisons and trainees at home to what are now widely varying state voting laws.
Even so, Rep. Rankin, Mississippi’s tireless obstructionist, continues to shed glycerin tears for the Constitution and to shout against any kind of federal ballot.
Under the compromise as it now stands, federal ballots will be available to:
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Overseas troops from the two or three states which have no absentee-voting laws, and
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Overseas troops from other states who apply by Sept. 1 for state absentee ballots and do not receive them by Oct. 1.
But in earlier case, federal ballots will be furnished only if the governor has certified that the federal ballot is acceptable under state law.
The result is approximately what it was before Congress started to battle over this issue – the state legislatures which gave not already done so will be required to convene and enact new soldier voting laws, meet the overseas problem in particular, and there will be a multitude of different systems, or no system at all in some instances.
This will complicate the Army and Navy delivery problem and make it next to impossible for many in the Armed Forces to vote.
As applied to Pennsylvania, the compromise measure is doubly confusing.
It practically repeals the Pennsylvania law without providing a reasonable substitute.
The compromise says the federal ballot will be distributed to soldiers who do not apply for state ballots before Sept. 1. Under Pennsylvania law, no member of the Armed Forces may apply for a state military ballot before Sept. 18.
The compromise provides for the use of federal ballots in cases where the voters in the Armed Forces do not receive state ballots before Oct. 1. The deadline for Pennsylvania voters to apply for military ballots is Oct. 7, and the present procedure effectively prevents elections authorities from mailing out military ballots much before Oct. 20.
The only ameliorating circumstance on the whole situation is the announced determination of Governor Martin to summon a special legislative session to amend the present law so members of the Armed Forces may vote as conveniently as it is possible for the State to permit them.