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Votes of
Pennsylvanians Overseas Must Be Counted
Stressing that the voices of Pennsylvania’s servicemen and women serving
overseas must be heard in the upcoming election,
three state
Senators today urged Governor Ed Rendell to stop fighting the U.S. Justice
Department’s suit to give military and overseas voters extra time to return
their absentee ballots.
In a letter to the Governor, Senator Don White, R-41st
District and Chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness
Committee, Senator Bob Robbins, R-50th District, and Senator John
Pippy, R-37th District and an Army Reserve Captain who served in Iraq
and Kuwait, said military and overseas voters should have an extra two weeks to
return their ballots.
“A large
proportion of overseas voters are our men and women in the Armed Forces who
fight courageously across the globe to protect our country and our Commonwealth. At the very least, we should take the imminently reasonable step of extending a
deadline by two weeks in order to ensure that these brave soldiers can
participate in this election -- one of the most basic rights of citizenship,” the
three senators said in their letter.
Ralph Nader’s
status on the ballot has created problems, especially in regard to the absentee
ballot process. The three lawmakers commended the Governor for deciding to honor
absentee ballots with Ralph Nader listed as a candidate as valid. However,
delays in mailing the ballots mean some Pennsylvanians serving overseas simply
will not be able to get their ballots back in time.
“Although
spokesmen have indicated that the administration is doing everything it can to
ensure those individuals will have their vote counted, there are clearly more
steps that can be taken,” the lawmakers wrote. “Not all counties mailed military
ballots by the September 20th deadline. In fact, by as late as October some
counties still had not gone forward with mailing military and overseas ballots.”
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