Cornyn Disappointed With Vote Blocking Military Voting Reforms, Improved Safety Standards For Overseas Troops

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Cornyn Disappointed With Vote Blocking Military Voting Reforms, Improved Safety Standards For Overseas Troops

Urges Senate Democratic Leader to Reconsider Before Final Passage

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, expressed his disappointment this afternoon with a vote led by Senate Democrats to end debate on the Defense Authorization bill without even considering several amendments that would have reformed the military voting system and toughened safety standards to keep troops at overseas military bases safer.

"It's deeply disappointing when a rush to return home and campaign for the November election becomes more important than taking the time to debate and consider important measures that deserve our attention. The Senate has a solemn obligation to support our troops serving in harm's way, both in word and in deed. The right to vote is one of the most precious civil rights that we have as American citizens. Yet, as several recent reports have made clear, many of our troops are being denied that core right because of government inefficiency and bureaucratic red tape. My amendment would have made needed, common-sense improvements to our outdated military voting system. I sincerely hope Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid will reconsider and allow these measures to be included before the vote on final passage takes place later this week," Sen. Cornyn said.

Senator Cornyn's military voting protection amendment would have addressed problems that the Election Assistance Commission identified in its 2007 survey report, which suggested that, out of the 992,034 military and overseas absentee ballots requested for the 2006 election, over 660,000 of these ballots never reached election officials to be counted. Of the marked ballots that reached election officials but were rejected for various reasons, nearly 10 percent of these were rejected because they were received after the deadline.

Senate Democrats also failed to advance a second measure introduced by Senator Cornyn, aimed at protecting troops overseas from unnecessary hazards by strengthening safety standards for U.S. military facilities, infrastructure, and equipment overseas. To date, 16 troops and two contractors have been killed by electrocution while deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan in the Global War on Terror, but the Cornyn amendment was similarly not included in the Defense Authorization bill before today's vote to end debate.

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