The Pittsburgh Press (January 13, 1944)
In Washington –
Republicans deny blocking soldier vote
Members of House election group strike back at Democrat accuser
Washington (UP) –
Four of the five Republican members of the House Elections Committee today denied charges by Democratic Leader John W. McCormack that they had blocked development of a workable soldier-vote bill and in turn accused him of being partially responsible for the delay.
The fifth Republican member – Rep. Ralph A. Gamble of New York – was recovering from pneumonia and his office demanded to know how he could block any legislation from a hospital bed.
Confident of satisfactory bill
While blaming Mr. McCormack and other administration leaders with slowing progress on the soldier-vote issue, the four Republicans nevertheless expressed confidence they, with the aid of three Democratic committee members, would soon be able to get a satisfactory bill to the floor.
Rep. Karl M. LeCompte (R-IA) declared that:
You can be sure that by the end of the week, we will report out a bill that will give every member of the Armed Forces, the American Red Cross, merchant seamen and civilians overseas a chance to vote in the coming elections.
Worley blamed for delay
Rep. Harris Ellsworth (R-OR) charged that Elections Chairman Eugene Worley (D-TX) had forestalled a committee showdown for fear his bill would be defeated. Mr. Worley’s bill would call upon the federal government to print, distribute and collect ballots and then send them to the individual states, which would determine their validity.
In the Senate, where a purely state-control bill has already been passed, administration forces were busy seeking a compromise similar to Mr. Worley’s proposal. There were reports that several Senators who voted for the original state-control bill were ready to support a measure for limited federal participation.