By Mary Clare Jalonick
Published August 3rd 2006 in Star News On-line
Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., is blocking all civilian Pentagon nominations until the Defense Department makes it easier for members of the military serving overseas to vote.
Up for re-election this year, Burns has been pushing the department to allow local governments to electronically transmit ballots to the military abroad. Several lawmakers are concerned the overseas voting process for troops is so complex and time-consuming their ballots will arrive too late.
Seventeen senators - 11 Republicans and six Democrats - wrote Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld earlier this year asking him to ease voting for the military.
Under the proposed new system, absentee military voters could download and print the ballots and return them by mail.
Under the current system, members of the military must use regular mail to ask local officials for a ballot, which is then mailed to them. The voter must fill out the ballot by hand and use regular mail to send it back to his or her state.
Burns spokesman Derek Hunter said Burns decided to place the holds "in order to pressure the bureaucracy into doing the right thing for our military men and women."
Hunter said the senator is not blocking the nomination of any uniformed officers. All senators have a right to place holds on legislation or nominations, forcing supporters to find 60 votes for passage or confirmation.
Hunter said Burns is frustrated with "a complete lack of progress" in implementing the system before Election Day.
Election Day '09 was a roller-coaster for election reformers. Instant runoff voting had a great night in Minnesota, where St. Paul voters chose to implement IRV for its city elections, and Minneapolis voters used IRV for the first time—with local media touting it as a big success. As the Star-Tribune noted in endorsing IRV for St. Paul, Tuesday’s elections give the Twin Cities a chance to show the whole state of Minnesota the benefits of adopting IRV. There were disappointments in Lowell and Pierce County too, but high-profile multi-candidate races in New Jersey and New York keep policymakers focused on ways to reform elections; the Baltimore Sun and Miami Herald were among many newspapers publishing commentary from FairVote board member and former presidential candidate John Anderson on how IRV can mitigate the problems of plurality elections.