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Military votes will be very crucial in 2004
There are a half-million U.S. troops, including some from Willcox and many stationed in Cochise County at Fort Huachuca, overseas. These are potential American voters who will be out of the country for the Nov. 2 general election.
They shouldn't be forgotten, especially since they are on the front lines of pushing for freedom for America and others around the world.
We found it promising that military officials said last week that improvements had been made for absentee voters to do so via the Internet and they promised faster mail service for ballots.
This change comes after reported ballot problems during the 2000 presidential election.
Every vote is important in an election. According to statistics presented by The Associated Press, nearly 70 percent of the 258,000 service members in the 2000 presidential election cast a ballot.
That's outstanding turnout when compared to the general public at home.
And this comes in light of 22 percent of those who didn't vote saying they never received a ballot, and seven percent saying they never got them or received them too late.
That would possibly put the turnout even higher.
This year, there are 492,000 potential voters.
If 70 percent of those people cast ballots, a likely scenario with the war in Iraq and the ongoing fight against terrorism, that's akin to a large city making its voice known.
America needs to make sure military service members have an efficient way to get their ballots back home. They also need to make sure their ballots are counted, as everyone else's back home should be, too.
The government should go far and beyond the call of duty to ensure that our men and women in the armed forces, particularly those who find themselves in harm's way, have their vote and have it counted.
The government should not fail those who are working for and representing America.
They shouldn't be forgotten, especially since they are on the front lines of pushing for freedom for America and others around the world.
We found it promising that military officials said last week that improvements had been made for absentee voters to do so via the Internet and they promised faster mail service for ballots.
This change comes after reported ballot problems during the 2000 presidential election.
Every vote is important in an election. According to statistics presented by The Associated Press, nearly 70 percent of the 258,000 service members in the 2000 presidential election cast a ballot.
That's outstanding turnout when compared to the general public at home.
And this comes in light of 22 percent of those who didn't vote saying they never received a ballot, and seven percent saying they never got them or received them too late.
That would possibly put the turnout even higher.
This year, there are 492,000 potential voters.
If 70 percent of those people cast ballots, a likely scenario with the war in Iraq and the ongoing fight against terrorism, that's akin to a large city making its voice known.
America needs to make sure military service members have an efficient way to get their ballots back home. They also need to make sure their ballots are counted, as everyone else's back home should be, too.
The government should go far and beyond the call of duty to ensure that our men and women in the armed forces, particularly those who find themselves in harm's way, have their vote and have it counted.
The government should not fail those who are working for and representing America.
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