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The OIG Audit into Military Voting
Research and Summary by Lisa Evans Rockwell — Sept 26, 2018

‘DoD Voting Assistance Programs for Calendar Year 2017’

There are 19 Agencies within the DOD. This Audit focuses on the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.

The OIG Audit into the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines was to determine whether DoD Agencies complied with the Instruction’s requirement that all DoD Components “develop written voting-related policies to support all eligible uniformed service personnel and their family members, including those in deployed, dispersed and tenant organizations.

BACKGROUND
On August 28, 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed “The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act” (UOCAVA [P.L. 99-410]).

The law and other provisions explained the sense of Congress that exercising the right to vote was important to uniformed service members, their eligible family members, and other eligible overseas voters.

Accordingly, the UOCAVA established various programs and requirements intended to help these absentee voters.

On June 8, 1988, pursuant to the UOCAVA, President Reagan signed Executive Order 12642 designating the Secretary of Defense as the “Presidential designee.” 👈THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT, REMEMBER IT.

THAT EO put the Sec Of Def IN CHARGE OF AND OVERSEEING THE MILITARY VOTING PROCESS.

That EO stood, untouched UNTIL On October 28, 2009, when President Barak Obama signed the “Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act.

👉What THIS NEW ‘MOVE’ Act did was REMOVE the Sec of Defense of being in charge of and overseeing the Military Voting Process.

The NEW EO put a ‘Civilian’ in charge of the process.

FROM THE AUDIT:

➡ further delegated ‘Presidential Designee’ authority and responsibility to a “civilian” FVAP Director, and specified that the FVAP Director would “manage, coordinate, and perform the Presidential designee’s responsibilities as established by the UOCAVA.

That gave a Civilian the SAME authority as the Sec of Defense to ensure the proper procedures were followed from start to finish.

No big deal, huh?
Well, according to the Audit, IT WAS A VERY BIG DEAL

👉From the 2016 Election HERE IS WHAT THE OIG Audit FOUND:
In the 2016 Presidential election:

➡Only about 15 percent of potential UOCAVA voters received an absentee ballot (930,156 ballots) from their voting jurisdiction.

➡Only about 8 percent of the potential six million person UOCAVA voter population had a ballot counted (512,696 ballots).

➡Local voting jurisdictions rejected the balance of ballots they received (120,896 ballots), usually because the jurisdiction stated they ‘did not receive the ballot on time’.

Moving on to the Individual Branch Audits:
The MOVE Act also was so ambiguous in it’s wording it caused confusion.

➡So much so the NAVY ELIMINATED the shipboard (unit) voting (assistance) officer position “immediately,” and explained the position was “no longer required “

The NAVY stated in it’s Review it did not feel like this effected overseas troops voting. THE OIG DISAGREED!

👉The Naval IG’s Conclusion Was Not Supported

➡The details of the Naval IG’s report do not support the conclusion that the Navy’s voting assistance program was “compliant and effective.” The requirement for unit voting assistance officers is established in law and DoD FVAP policy.

➡The Navy’s elimination of unit voting assistance officers from shipboard units, and the potential that the Navy also eliminated unit voting assistance officers from shore-based units, seemed inconsistent with the Naval IG’s conclusions regarding program compliance.

So, the ‘Voting Assistance Officers’ was NEVER to have been removed. The MOVE Act NEVER stated that. The civilian that was put in charge removed that officer.

In addition the OIG found:

➡ almost 60 percent of naval units with 25 or more personnel were non-compliant with the requirement to designate a unit voting assistance officer in writing

➡ about 64 percent of naval units were non-compliant with the requirement to annually train all uniformed Service members on absentee registration and voting procedures

➡ more than 60 percent of naval units were non-compliant with the requirement to provide training and voting assistance for units or personnel preparing to deploy

➡ overall, Navy average compliance was only 36 percent

➡ Navy voting assistance program implementation was non-compliant and not effective ‘due to a Lack of Service Support’

The new MOVE Act was SUPPOSE to streamline the voting process for troops stationed over seas. What it did was cause confusion and delays by putting more regulations on each state.

ANOTHER issues was It ALLOWED states to file a ‘hardship’ WAIVER.

🚨That meant the state was saying they COULD NOT IMPLEMENT ALL OF THE NEW RULES AND REGULATIONS IN TIME FOR THE UPCOMING 2012 ELECTION.

👉Therefore, these states would NOT guarantee Military Voters would receive their ballots IN TIME TO VOTE FOR THE 2012 ELECTION.

➡In 2010, there were 12 waiver applications for the 2012 Election: Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Washington, Wisconsin, and the Virgin Islands.

👉The OIG found the AIR FORCE WAS NOT IN COMPLIANCE ALSO.

You can read the Audit into the other branches.

From the Lunch Program, to Common Core, to Obamacare to changing how the Military voting process works, literally everything the Obama Admin did to ‘streamline’ or ‘make better’ resulted in More Regulation and Red Tape.

And More regulation and red tape was a reoccurring theme under the Obama Administration.

Everything that was suppose to be ‘streamlined’ was, in fact bogged down in almost in-compliable rules and regulations.

And More regulation and red tape was a reoccurring theme under the Obama Administration. Everything that was suppose to be ‘streamlined’ was, in fact bogged down in almost in-compliable rules and regulations.

👉Military and overseas voters are required to re-register with their elections authority EVERY YEAR under the MOVE Act.

Previous laws required military and overseas voters to re-register every TWO years.

That poses ANOTHER problem for our troops who are moved around. Having to register every year is something one can EASILY forget.

Has there been a problem with Military Voters receiving their ballots?

👉Yes, Per a survey by the Defense Department’s Federal Voter Assistance Program (FVAP).

➡The survey found the rate of active-duty military voters who reported not receiving a requested absentee ballot ALMOST DOUBLED from 16 percent in 2008 to 29 percent in 2010. The survey also found 120,000 troops reported NOT receiving a requested ballot in the 2010 election.

➡In 2016 the DOD stated it was the DOJ’s job to track and ensure voting compliance for Oversea Military Voters. In the Survey the DOD stated the DOJ did not respond to a request for comment on if any Military Ballots missed the cut off date.

💥 In light of all the confusion, If you have a Family member serving over seas here is a link to the 2018 Recommended Mailing Dates for Voting Ballots:👇
Military Postal Service Agency 2018 Strategic Postal Voting Action Plan

Appendix C
2018 Election Season Recommended Absentee Ballot Mailing Dates by APO/FPO [2]

💥Make sure they double check their State law too!! Specific State or Territory voting guidelines can be found here and there is an interactive map to help: 👇[3]