The Newport News Daily Press reports that Fairfax County is rejecting the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot. The registrar says he is only following the law. These military absentee ballots are used when members of the armed services who are posted overseas are not sure if the State absentee ballots will make it to them on time.
According to the article:
Fairfax general registrar Rokey Suleman said Thursday that he has had to reject some of the ballots because of a Virginia law passed in 2002. That law — then called Senate Bill 113, sponsored by then state Sen. Bill Bolling — requires that when an overseas citizen wants to request an absentee ballot and cast a vote with the same paperwork, it requires not only a witness signature but also the current address of the witness.
The McCain campaign said there's not even a space for the witness to list an address. Suleman agreed; he said the federal document was changed in recent years and the space for the witness address was removed. But the Virginia law hasn't changed.
Here's an interesting comment from the registrar:
"I can't ignore the law," Suleman said. "I think it stinks."
No, what stinks is Gerry Connolly's Fairfax County. For some reason, other jurisdictions don't seem to have a problem here. Is it just coincidence that 68% of the military favor John McCain over Barack Obama?
UPDATE: There may be a resolution to this issue. (Hat tip: The Corner) This still shows that the Fairfax Democrats tried to disenfranchise our military. Shame on them!
Thanks also to all the bloggers who carried this story. My apologies to those who posted on the subject before I did (like UCV), and I didn't catch it right away.
