Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act of 2009

Floor Speech

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, since becoming chairman of the Committee on Rules and Administration with jurisdiction over Federal elections, I have come to have a better appreciation for and deeper understanding of the obstacles and barriers that our military men and women serving abroad and at home and U.S. citizens living in foreign lands encounter when they try to vote.

As I explained at a Rules Committee hearing held in May of 2009, every couple of years around election time, there is a great push to improve military and overseas voting. But as soon as the election is over, Congress all too often forgets the plight of these voters.

But last year, Congress delivered. Our motive was simple--we wanted to break down the barriers to voting for our soldiers, sailors, and citizens living overseas. On a bipartisan basis, we agreed that it was unacceptable that in the age of global communications, many active military, their families, and thousands of other Americans living, working, and volunteering in foreign countries cannot cast a ballot at home while they are serving or living overseas. For our military, what especially moved us to act was the fact that they can fight and put their life on the line for their country, but they can't choose their next commander-in-chief. This shouldn't happen--not in the United States of America where elections are the bedrock of our democracy.

With the 2010 elections less than 7 months away, a new law is on the books. The provisions of the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act, MOVE Act, of 2009 were incorporated in Public Law 111-84, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2010. This law will make it easier for members of our Armed Forces and citizens living abroad to receive accurate, timely election information and the resources and logistical support to register and vote and have that vote count.

Mr. President, a legislative history of the MOVE Act is as follows:

Background and Purpose of the MOVE Act

American citizens believe voting is one of the most treasured of our liberties and a right to be defended at any cost. It is therefore unacceptable that our military men and women serving abroad and at home, who put their lives on the line every day to defend this right, often face obstacles in exercising their right to vote.

Empirical evidence confirms that members of the military and citizens living overseas who have attempted to vote through the absentee balloting procedures that has been in place for the last 30 years were often unable to do so. The reasons were many, including insufficient information about military and overseas voting procedures, failure by States to send absentee ballots in time for military and overseas voters to cast them, and endemic bureaucratic obstacles that prevent these voters from having their votes counted. While the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, UOCAVA, enacted in 1986, created a Federal framework for both military and overseas citizens to vote it was clear that, in order to break down these barriers to voting, UOCAVA was in need of an overhaul.

A history of congressional efforts to aid military and overseas voters highlights the obstacles faced by these voters. In 1942, the first Federal law was enacted to help military members vote in Federal elections. The Soldier Voting Act of 1942 was the first law to guarantee Federal voting rights for servicemembers during wartime. It allowed servicemembers to vote in elections for Federal office without having to register and instituted the first iteration of the Federal Post Card Application for servicemembers to request an absentee ballot. Though this was a commendable first effort by Congress, the 1942 law's provisions only applied during a time of war, and barriers to voting remained. In 1951, President Truman commissioned a study from the American Political Science Association on the problem of military voting. Recognizing the difficulties faced by military members serving overseas during World War II and the Korean War in trying to vote, President Truman wrote a letter to Congress that called on our legislators to fix the problem. In response, Congress passed the Federal Voting Assistance Act, FVAA, in 1955 which recommended--but did not guarantee--absentee registration and voting for military members, Federal employees serving abroad, and members of service organizations affiliated with the military. In 1968, FVAA was amended to cover U.S. citizens temporarily living outside of the United States, thus increasing the number and scope of U.S. citizens that fell within the law's purview. In 1975, the Overseas Citizens Voting Rights Act at last guaranteed military and overseas voters the right to register and vote by absentee procedures. In 1986, Congress enacted UOCAVA as the primary military and overseas voting law, incorporating the expansion of rights granted under prior Federal legislation and making several significant advances to improve military and overseas voting. UOCAVA has been the operational voting framework provided to military and overseas voters.

UOCAVA's main provisions placed several mandates on States. First, States must allow members of the uniformed services, their families, and citizens residing overseas to register and vote by absentee procedures for all elections for Federal office including all general, primary, special and runoff elections. Second, States are required under UOCAVA to accept and process all valid voter registration applications submitted by military and overseas voters--as long as the application is received no less than 30 days prior to an election. Third, UOCAVA created the Federal write-in absentee ballot, FWAB, a failsafe backup ballot for Federal general elections.

Congress has amended UOCAVA several times over the last 24 years. The 1998 amendments included certain reporting requirements on States to provide information on military and overseas voting participation; and the 2001 amendments required States to accept the Federal Post Card Application, FPCA, as a combined voter registration and absentee ballot request form, and gave voters the opportunity to request that the FPCA be a standing absentee ballot request for each subsequent Federal election in the voter's State that year. In 2002, the Help America Vote Act, HAVA, modified this provision to allow voters to automatically request an absentee ballot through the FPCA for the two subsequent regularly scheduled Federal election cycles after the election for which the FPCA was originally submitted. HAVA also added a number of substantive provisions to UOCAVA, including a provision to give voting assistance officers the time and resources to provide voting guidance and information to active duty military personnel, a mandate that the Secretary of each branch of the Armed Forces provide information to service personnel regarding the last date that an absentee ballot can reasonably be expected to arrive on time, and a requirement that States identify a single office for communication with UOCAVA voters. Finally, Congress amended UOCAVA in 2004 to allow military personnel to use the Federal write-in absentee ballot, or FWAB, from within the territorial United States.

Despite these improvements over the years, evidence revealed that significant barriers to voting continued for military and overseas citizens. Registration among military voters has been shown to be substantially lower than among other voting-eligible U.S. citizens. According to testimony submitted by hearing witnesses, in 2006, the registration rate among military personnel was 64.86 percent compared to a registration rate of 83.8 percent for the general voting age population. According to one survey of military and overseas voters conducted after the 2008 election, of those overseas voters who wanted to vote but were unable to do so, over one-third--34 percent--could not vote because of problems in the registration process. The same survey found that even among experienced overseas voters, nearly one-quarter--23.7 percent--experienced problems during the registration process. Military and overseas voters have had to deal with a lack of information about registration procedures and a slow, cumbersome registration process that often turns into the first roadblock to voting.

Military and overseas voters also have trouble even when they have been able to properly register. The Congressional Research Service, CRS, found that during the 2008 election military personnel and overseas citizens hailing from the seven States with the highest number of deployed soldiers requested 441,000 absentee ballots. Of these, 98,633 were never received by local election officials. Further, survey data shows that two out of every five military and overseas voters, 39 percent--who requested an absentee ballot in 2008 received it from local election officials in the second half of October or later--much too late for a ballot to be voted and mailed back in time to be counted on election day. Sending absentee ballots too late to have the opportunity to actually vote is an unacceptable situation for military and overseas Americans.

Finally, some States reject ballots from military and overseas voters for reasons unrelated to voter eligibility, including unnecessary notarization requirements and criteria such as the paper weight of the ballot or ballot envelope. As many as 13,500 ballots were rejected from military and overseas voters from the seven States with the greatest number of troops deployed overseas.

These numbers are totally unacceptable. These barriers effectuate rampant disenfranchisement among our military and overseas voters. Congress has a compelling interest to protect the voting rights of American citizens, and it is especially incumbent upon Congress to act when those very individuals who are sworn to defend that freedom are unable to exercise their right to vote.

The need for sweeping improvement was clear. The Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act is a complete renovation of UOCAVA that brings it into the twenty-first century and streamlines the process of absentee voting for military and overseas voters through a series of common sense, straightforward fixes.

First, it allows military and overseas voters to request, and when so requested, requires States to send, registration materials, absentee ballot request forms, and blank absentee ballots electronically. It ensures that military and overseas voters have at least 45 days to receive and complete their absentee ballots and return them to election officials. The legislation also requires that absentee ballots from overseas military personnel be sent through expedited mail procedures, making it faster and easier to send voted ballots back to local election officials. In addition, it prevents election officials from rejecting overseas absentee ballots for reasons not related to voter eligibility, like paper weight and notarization requirements.

Second, the MOVE Act expands accessibility and availability of voting resources for military and overseas voters. It shores up the Federal Voting Assistance Program, or FVAP, an organization within the Department of Defense, DOD. Under the provisions of MOVE, FVAP will make a number of improvements to its voter education efforts for our military and other Americans living and working abroad and serve as the central administrative office for carrying out the Federal responsibilities under UOCAVA and MOVE. It also increases the usability and accessibility of the FWAB. This failsafe ballot allows military and overseas voters to vote even when they face a situation where they don't receive a State-issued ballot in time. In addition to all these improvements, the legislation advances voter registration for our military by directing each of the Secretaries of the military departments to designate offices in military installations where soldiers and their families can register to vote, update their registration information, and request an absentee ballot.

The MOVE Act also aims to secure future voting rights for military and overseas voters. It increases accountability for future elections by directing the Department of Defense to regularly report to Congress on their activities for implementing the programs and requirements under MOVE, including information on ballot delivery success rates. It also authorizes the Defense Department to create a pilot program testing new technologies for the future benefit of military and overseas voters.

The enactment of the provisions of the MOVE Act brings to an end a system that could ever allow a quarter of ballots requested by U.S. troops to go missing. It instead aims to ensure that every single military and overseas vote be counted.

COMMITTEE HEARING AND CONSIDERATION AT MARKUP

The Committee on Rules and Administration held a hearing on May 13, 2009, which I chaired entitled ``Hearing on Problems for Military and Overseas Voters: Why Many Soldiers and Their Families Can't Vote.'' The first panel consisted of one witness, Gail McGinn, Acting Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness for the Department of Defense. Testifying on the second panel were Patricia Hollarn, board member of the Overseas Vote Foundation and former supervisor of elections in Okaloosa County, FL; Donald Palmer, director of the Division of Elections at the Florida Department of State; LTC Joseph DeCaro, active duty member of the U.S. Air Force, on his own behalf; Eric Eversole, former attorney at the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, Voting Rights Section, adviser to the McCain-Palin campaign, and former member of the Navy's Judge Advocate General Corps from 1999-2001; and Robert Carey, executive director of the National Defense Committee.

The hearing focused on the reasons why so many military and overseas voters find it difficult or impossible to effectively cast their ballots, with special attention paid to recommendations from the witnesses who possess extensive experience with the military and overseas absentee voting process. The hearing opened with a discussion of the preliminary results from a study of military and overseas voting in 2008 conducted by the Congressional Research Service. The findings showed that in several of the largest military voting States, up to 27 percent of the ballots requested by military and overseas voters were not counted for one reason or another.

Letters from soldiers serving abroad who wanted to cast ballots in 2008 but were unable to do so were shared. One letter from a soldier in Alaska concisely summarized the problem underscored by the hearing: ``I hate that because of my military service overseas, I was precluded from voting.''

Gail McGinn, Acting Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness at the Department of Defense, testified in detail about the logistical and administrative challenges facing military and overseas voters. Ms. McGinn identified time, distance, and mobility as the chief logistical barriers to these voters. She said, ``Our legislative initiatives for states and territories to improve ballot transit time are, first, provide at least 45 days between the ballot mailing date and the date that ballots are due; give state chief election officials the authority to alter elections procedures in emergency situations; provide a state write-in absentee ballot to be sent out 90 to 180 days before all elections; and expand the use of electronic transmission alternatives for voting material.'' Ms. McGinn further pointed out that 23 States do not provide the minimum of a 45-day round trip for military and overseas absentee ballots. Patricia Hollarn, board member of the Overseas Vote Foundation and former supervisor of elections in Okaloosa County, FL, testified about her personal experience with local election officials who, she said, had a lot of confusion about the proper absentee balloting procedures they needed to provide for overseas citizens and military personnel. She echoed Ms. McGinn in recommending that States and local jurisdictions provide a minimum of 45 days for absentee ballots to be delivered to overseas voters, completed, and returned before the state's deadline. She also emphasized the logistical challenge facing the U.S. Postal Service and military mail service with respect to the speedy delivery of overseas ballots.

Donald Palmer, director of the Division of Elections for the Florida Department of State, testified about Florida's experience serving its military and overseas voters. Mr. Palmer said that providing 45 days for ballot transmission and delivery, as Florida does, is ``prudent'' and ``absolutely necessary, when relying solely on the mail service.'' Mr. Palmer also discussed Florida's experience using technology, including e-mail, fax, and the Internet, to communicate with military and overseas voters and transmit balloting materials to and from Americans abroad. Mr. Palmer testified about an invitation from the Department of Defense for Secretaries of State to travel to the Middle East and see firsthand how soldiers receive their absentee ballots. Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning relayed to Mr. Palmer that soldiers abroad many times do not have access to fax machines and often use e-mail as a primary source of communication and expressed their desire to be able to use email or the internet to transmit balloting materials to local election officials. Mr. Palmer also detailed pilot programs in Florida which have used new technologies to facilitate ballot transmission from abroad. He also described Florida's efforts to work with the U.S. Postal Service to reduce error rates in ballot delivery and to use intelligent code technology to track absentee ballots while in the Continental United States.

United States Air Force LTC Joseph DeCaro, testifying on his own behalf, described his personal experiences with absentee voting while serving abroad in 2004. His experience illustrates the burdens facing uniformed servicemembers overseas who want to vote:

Every moment I spent researching and coordinating with state-side resources to be able to cast my ballot was against any personal time off. The mission is and always must be the main focus. Being deployed is difficult enough as it is ..... I think every American should do what they can to cast their ballot and make their voice heard. As with many other citizens, I will continue to do this, but there should be a better way in which [service personnel can] cast their ballot while deployed.

Lieutenant Colonel DeCaro also lamented that he had no way of knowing whether the ballot he mailed to his local election office would ever reach its destination.

Eric Eversole, former attorney at the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, Voting Rights Section, began his testimony by arguing that ``when it comes to the military members' right to vote, we seem to forget their sacrifices and we deny them the very voting rights that we ask them to defend.'' He cited statistics which showed that only 26 percent of Florida's deployed servicemembers were able to successfully request an absentee ballot in 2008. He also echoed prior testimony that States should mail out absentee ballots to military and overseas voters at least 45 days before the local deadline to have the ballot count. Mr. Eversole testified about the need for improvements in the Federal Voting Assistance Program. Mr. Eversole strongly advocated for military personnel to receive appropriate voting information and voter registration materials when they move or deploy to a new installation or port. In response to a question I asked, Mr. Eversole also testified that certain offices at the Department of Defense should be designed as voter registration agencies under the National Voter Registration Act.

Robert Carey, executive director of the National Defense Committee, testified about his own experience taking a leave of absence from his duty as a member of the U.S. Navy Reserves and flying back to New York City at his own expense in order to vote in the 2004 election. He cited research showing that only 26 percent of the ballots requested by overseas soldiers in 2006 were successfully cast. Mr. Carey emphasized that insufficient time was the chief reason for these statistics, arguing that States too often send out ballots too late for military voters to complete and return them in time to be counted. He pointed to a study conducted by the Pew Center on the States, Pew, which found that 23 States do not provide enough time for military and overseas voters to successfully cast their ballots. Mr. Carey also recommended that ballots be sent out at least 60 days before they were due.

Several organizations submitted statements for the hearing record. Pew submitted a copy of its 2009 study of military and overseas voting, No Time to Vote, for the committee record. In its accompanying letter, Pew highlighted several recommendations for reform from the study, including ``sending out overseas absentee ballots sooner, eliminating notary and witness requirements and harnessing technology to allow for the electronic transmission of ballots and election materials to voters overseas.''

The Overseas Vote Foundation, OVF, submitted a copy of its 2008 post-election survey for the record. The survey included data obtained from over 24,000 overseas voters and over 1,000 local election officials. Among OVF's key findings was that more than half, 52 percent, of those overseas military voters who tried but could not vote were unable to because their ballots were late or did not arrive. OVF also found that despite concerted efforts, less than half of UOCAVA voters were aware of the Federal write-in absentee ballot.

Democrats Abroad submitted a statement for the record emphasizing the difficulties for military and overseas voters stemming from the patchwork of varied State and local regulations, a lack of awareness of the Federal write-in absentee ballot, and general inability to effectively communicate with local election officials from abroad.

Tom Tarantino, legislative associate with Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, submitted a statement for the record including testimony about his own experience as a voting assistance officer, citing the lack of sufficient training about how to effectively educate soldiers about absentee balloting procedures. Mr. Tarantino recommended improving the voting assistance officer program and suggested that the Department of Defense be required to ensure safe and timely passage of military ballots to their home districts.

The Federation of American Women's Clubs Overseas submitted a statement for the record in which it recommended that States send overseas absentee ballots at least 45 days before the deadline and that voter materials, including ballots, not be rejected for reasons unrelated to voter eligibility.

Everyone Counts submitted a ``white paper'' for the record comparing the effectiveness of various voting technologies for military and overseas voters.

Alex Yasinac, dean of the School of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of South Alabama, submitted a statement for the record analyzing various technological solutions to improve overseas absentee voting. Dr. Yasinac suggested the creation of a technological pilot program for overseas voters, including the use of virtual private networks, cryptographic voting systems, and document delivery upload systems to ensure secure electronic transmission of balloting materials.

INTRODUCTION OF THE BILL

I introduced S. 1415, the MOVE Act of 2009, on July 8, 2009, and was joined by Senators Saxby Chambliss and Ben Nelson as original cosponsors. After the bill's introduction, 56 additional Senators joined as cosponsors. The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration.

COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION AT MARKUP

S. 1415 was considered by the Senate Rules Committee at a markup held on July 15, 2009. The committee adopted three amendments which I submitted on behalf of Senator John Cornyn, who had introduced separate legislation on improving military voting that was pending at the time in the Rules Committee. Senator Cornyn joined in this endeavor by contributing his knowledge and expertise on military voting to the MOVE Act. Senator Robert Bennett, ranking member of the Rules Committee, introduced an amendment with several provisions intent on improving the effectiveness of the MOVE Act.

The first amendment, which I submitted on behalf of Senator Cornyn, strengthened the bill by ensuring that overseas military personnel can mail their marked absentee ballots to their local election offices with confidence that those ballots will be received and counted by directing the Presidential designee to work with the U.S. Postal Service to provide expedited delivery services for ballots that are collected before a prescribed deadline. The provision provides ample discretion for the Presidential designee to extend that deadline for collection of ballots, allowing the Presidential designee to permit a longer transit time for completed ballots to be delivered to local election officials. To ensure Department of Defense accountability under this section, the amendment directed the Presidential designee to submit reports to the relevant congressional committees to explain the procedures implemented to provide the expedited mail delivery and inform the committees of the number of military overseas ballots successfully and unsuccessfully delivered to local election offices in time. Finally, the amendment included language requiring the Presidential designee to ensure, to the greatest extent allowable, that the privacy of military servicemembers and security of their ballots are protected during the delivery process.

The second amendment, which Senator Cornyn and I worked on together, fortified the bill by expanding voter registration opportunities, services, and information for military and overseas voters. It also required the Department of Defense to provide voting information and an opportunity for servicemembers to register and update voting information during certain points in service and provided the Secretary of Defense flexibility to designate certain pay, personnel, and identification offices as voter registration agencies. In addition to voter registration, the amendment required written information to be provided to servicemembers on absentee ballot procedures. Finally, the amendment contained reporting requirements for the Department of Defense to evaluate its voter support services and send Congress its recommendations for improving those programs.

The third amendment was technical in nature and altered no substantive provisions of the bill.

Ranking Member Bennett offered a package of amendments modifying several provisions of the bill. First, the amendment clarified that States may delegate the obligations under the MOVE Act to local jurisdictions. Some local and State election administrators contacted the Rules Committee to express concern because they thought that the MOVE Act could be interpreted to require States, instead of localities, to take administrative responsibility for running elections for UOCAVA voters. Though there was no intent to shift routine administrative responsibility of elections to States, for the sake of clarity in the bill, I supported this amendment. While clarifying that the MOVE Act can be administered and implemented at the local level, the amendment did not modify or otherwise alter the ultimate responsibility of MOVE Act compliance, which remains with the State. Accordingly, States retain the responsibility to ensure local jurisdictions' compliance with UOCAVA and MOVE and thus the State will continue to be the focus of any potential enforcement actions that need to be taken by the Attorney General.

Senator Bennett's amendments also modified provisions of the MOVE Act which had originally required States to transmit balloting materials ``by mail, electronically, or by facsimile.'' The text of the amendment instead read to require transmission of balloting materials ``by mail and electronically.'' This change clarified the requirement on State and local election administrators that, in addition to mail, they must provide at least one method of fast and effective electronic means of transmitting balloting materials to U.S. citizens overseas and uniformed servicemembers. It is important to note that Bob Carey during his testimony before the Rules Committee on May 13, 2009, testified that ``[R]ecent research by the National Defense Committee indicates that fax transmission is not an effective option for military personnel, especially those suffering the greatest disenfranchisement in this process.'' However, at the same time, the amendment's language clarified that election administrators may provide multiple means of electronic communication in order to ensure speedy transmission of information, registration and balloting materials.

Senator Bennett's amendments also reinforced the privacy and security provisions of the original legislation by directing States to protect, to the extent practicable, the integrity of the voter registration and absentee ballot process through procedures that shield identity and personal data.

The amendments also simplified the timing provisions of the original legislation by mandating that whenever a State receives an absentee ballot request at least 45 days before a Federal election it must send out an absentee ballot not later than 45 days before the election. With respect to valid ballot applications received after 45 days prior to such an election, States are required to transmit a validly requested absentee ballot in accordance with State law and as expeditiously as possible. However, the amendment did not impact the 30-day requirement under UOCAVA. At the same time, the amendment removed language from the original version of the bill which would have required States to accept and count absentee ballots received up to 55 days after the date on which an absentee ballot was transmitted or the date on which the State certified an election, whichever was later. The negotiated modification placed a 45-day mandate on States to promptly respond to military and overseas absentee ballot requests.

The amendments also strengthened Department of Justice oversight of absentee voting by uniformed services and overseas voters by requiring the Presidential designee to consult with the Attorney General before approving any hardship exemptions from States unable to comply with the bill's timing provisions. This will help ensure a unified governmental response to State compliance with the MOVE Act.

Finally, the amendments repealed subsections (a) through (d) of §104 of the Uniformed and Overseas Absentee Voting Act, which allowed military and overseas absentee ballot applicants to indicate on their Federal Postcard Application form that their application should be considered a continuing application for an absentee ballot through the next two regularly scheduled general elections. Given the highly mobile nature of military and overseas voters, there was a concern among States that this provision of UOCAVA required a large number of ballots to be sent to old and outdated addresses. Election officials reported receiving a large number of these continuing absentee ballots as ``returned undeliverable,'' thus artificially inflating the number of failed ballots, and potentially wasting State resources. Repealing these sections addressed those concerns. This amended section does not prohibit States from providing continuing applications for absentee ballots, or accepting ballots received under such continuing applications. This amended section also does not prohibit States from considering a Federal Postcard Application submitted for a primary election to carry over to the general election in that same election cycle.

The committee agreed to all of the proposed amendments and adopted them by voice vote. The committee then voted to report S. 1415, the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act, as amended. The committee proceeded by voice vote, and all members present became cosponsors of the legislation. S. 1415, as amended, was ordered reported to the Senate.

PASSAGE BY THE SENATE OF THE MOVE ACT PROVISIONS IN THE DOD AUTHORIZATION BILL

On July 22, 2009, I offered Senate amendment No. 1764 to S. 1390, the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2010, on the Senate Floor.

Senator Cornyn spoke in support of this amendment that day:

Our military servicemembers put their lives on the line to protect our rights and our freedoms. Yet many of them still face substantial roadblocks when it comes to something as simple as casting their ballots and participating in our national elections ..... This important amendment contains many other commonsense reforms suggested by other Senators and will help end the effective disenfranchisement of our troops and their families. Our goal has been to balance responsibilities between elections officials and the Department of Defense, and I believe this amendment accomplishes that goal.

On July 23, 2009, I urged my colleagues to support the MOVE Act amendment to the DOD authorization legislation:

Now, if [our soldiers] can risk their lives for us we can at least allow them to vote. They take orders from the commander-in-chief. They are the first people who ought to be allowed to elect and vote for a commander-in-chief. And if we can deploy tanks and high-tech equipment and food to the front lines, we can figure out a way to deliver ballots to our troops so they can be returned and counted. And that, Mr. President, is what the MOVE Act does.

Senator Bennett spoke in support of the amendment:

Now, then the legislation was introduced in its original form, I raised concerns with Senator Schumer about some of its provisions. He worked with me and my staff to address these concerns and the amendment that we have before us today effectively does so. That's why I'm pleased to now be a cosponsor of the bill. The difficulties our service personnel face in voting and the Senator from New York has described them, and I believe this amendment deals with them in a proper fashion.

Senator Chambliss also spoke in support of the amendment:

[N]ot since the passage of the Uniform and Overseas Voting Act in 1986 have we proposed such significant legislation designed to help the men and women of the military who time and time again are called upon to defend the rights and freedoms that we Americans hold so sacred. Unfortunately, our military's one of the most disenfranchised voting blocs we have and today we have the opportunity to correct this.

Senator Nelson also added comments in support:

We owe it to our men and women in uniform to protect their right to vote. And for military and overseas votes, that right is only as good as their ability to cast a ballot and have it counted. For years, we have known of the obstacles these brave Americans face in exercising their right to vote, often when far from home and in harm's way. I firmly believe this legislation will make a huge impact in empowering our military and overseas voters to have their votes counted no matter where they find themselves on election day.

Senate amendment No. 1764 to S. 1390 was agreed to by voice vote on July 23, 2009. The Senate took up H.R. 2647 on July 23, approved an amendment that substituted the text of S. 1390, then passed the bill by unanimous consent and requested a conference with the House. A Senate-House conference was held, and the House passed the conference report to H.R. 2647, H. Rept. 111-288, on October 8, 2009, and the Senate passed it on October 22, 2009. H.R. 2647 was signed by the President on October 28, 2009, and became Public Law 111-84.

THE MOVE ACT TODAY

The Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act of 2009 is a response to an unacceptable situation--the disenfranchisement of Americans serving and living abroad who are unable to vote because of logistical and geographic barriers.

The MOVE Act brings to an end a system that in the past allowed a quarter of the ballots requested by U.S. troops to go unreturned. It does so by insisting that every military and overseas vote be counted. Congress recognized that those who fight to defend America's freedom often face the greatest obstacles in exercising their right to vote. Congress acted to break down the challenges and barriers to voting faced by these citizens with passage of the provisions of the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act.

Most of the MOVE Act provisions will be in place for the November 2010 general elections. States started implementing measures and procedures to comply with the MOVE Act almost immediately after passage of Public Law 111-84. At the Federal level, the Department of Defense has been in consultation with the Attorney General to develop and promulgate regulations to administer the waiver process. As the 2010 Federal election approaches, the States and the Department of Defense are making every effort to ensure that military and overseas voters have every opportunity to register, vote, and have their vote counted.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a section-by-section of the MOVE Act provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2010 be printed in the Record.

There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record,

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source