Editorial: Are they interested?
Some of the opponents of a federal ballot for soldier voting contended, among other arguments, that the men in the Armed Forces overseas are not interested in voting.
They have been predicting that most of them wouldn’t vote if given a fair chance.
We think this is beside the point. This is a constitutional democracy and under that form of government every citizen is entitled to a reasonable opportunity to vote. We should think that right would apply especially to those who are fighting the nation’s battles.
But here is a sign that they are interested and that they will vote, given a decent chance.
The Stars and Stripes is a daily newspaper published by and for the members of the Armed Forces stationed in the European and Mediterranean war theaters. There are good reasons to believe that this newspaper not only is the overseas fighter’s principal source of information, but that it fairly well reflects the opinions and interests of its readers.
In a February issue of Stars and Stripes, only recently received in this office, a complete roll call of the House on the soldier vote issue was published. Stars and Stripes obtained this roll call by special cable, not having received it from its regular news sources in the United States.
It is reasonable to assume that Stars and Stripes wouldn’t have gone to this trouble and expense had not its editors believed it was justified by the interest of its readers.