This is not an idle question. WLS AM in Chicago is reporting that Cris Cray, Director of Legislation at the Illinois State Board of Elections, says not all of Illinois' 110 jurisdictions were compliant with the 2009 Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE). The act requires that ballots be sent to military forces serving overseas forty-five days before the election in order for the soldiers to have enough time to return their ballots and have them count.
Getting ballots to our military seems to be problem this year. The article reports:
"Several New York counties including the five boroughs of New York City were found to be in violation of the deadline after the state was permitted by the Defense Department to move its deadline to Oct. 1 because the state's primary day was four days before the deadline.
"The Justice Department settled a case with New Mexico Tuesday where six counties failed to mail ballots by the deadline.
"Overseas ballots could be a deciding factor in Illinois' mid-term elections where recent polls show a tight U.S. Senate race between Republican Mark Kirk and Democrat Alexi Giannoulias. Republican Bill Brady has an edge over Democratic incumbent Pat Quinn for governor."
This is another reason to vote everyone currently in office out of office. I realize that there are some good men in Congress, but those good men need to learn how to stand up and be heard. All military votes should be counted. If they come in late because they were mailed late, too bad--they should still be counted.
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