Introduction of Legislation to Help Eliminate Uncertainty for Military and Overseas Voters

Floor Speech

Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, today, I introduce legislation, with my colleagues Representatives Charles Gonzalez and Michael Honda, which would help eliminate uncertainty for military and overseas voters when they request an absentee ballot this year that they will get ballots for each of the elections for the full year when voting absentee.

The Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act of 2009 repealed several subsections of Section 104 of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), which has caused concern among overseas voting groups that this change may result in a situation in which a military or overseas voter might vote in a primary election but not receive ballots for the general election. This legislation would amend UOCAVA to make clarifications to the law and ensure that voters who request an absentee ballot will receive ballots for each election that occurs during the full election cycle.

The MOVE Act was a major step forward in the reform and modernization of UOCAVA; however, this particular change may have unintended consequences. As we are in the 2012 election cycle, we need to ensure that this does not inadvertently disenfranchise large swaths of our military and overseas voters. This bill proposes simple fixes that will help ensure the votes of every overseas American are counted.

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