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UPDATE: VA TAKES MORE FLAK ON VOTER REGISTRATION
BAN -- Senators now demanding change in policy to
allow voter registration drives on VA property.
For complete background on the battle to allow
voter registration on VA property, click here (story has backlinks)...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfJUL08/nf070408-6.htm
We have two pieces of information...first is a
news story, then a press release from Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Chairman
of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
-------------------------
Story below:
VA gets more flak on voter registration ban
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is facing mounting criticism over
its national ban on voter registration drives on its property with Florida
Secretary of State Kurt Browning being the latest to join the chorus of
criticism.
Two states -- Connecticut and Washington state -- have joined
 California
in asking the VA to do away with its policy. And Browning, while saying he
is legally powerless to force the VA's hand, nonetheless thinks their
stand is wrong.
And today, U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, chairman of the Senate's Veterans
Affairs Committee, joined senators John Kerry and Dianne Feinstein in
writing a letter to VA Secretary James Peake asking him to allow voter
registration on VA property.
The trio also said the VA's insistence that the Hatch Act prevents voter
registration drives on federal property is simply a misreading of the law,
saying it simply prevents federal employees from engaging in political
activity on VA time.
They said the act doesn't prevent employees from assisting veterans in
registering and said the act doesn't prevent any third party from a voter
registration drive.
Browning, Florida's chief election's officer, said in an exclusive
interview that he is yet to receive a complaint from either a veteran or a
group complaining that the VA is preventing the registration of voters in
Florida.
"I find the VA directive somewhat troubling," said Browning, a Republican.
"I think these men and women confined to VA facilities should have the
opportunity to register and participate in the voting process. They fought
in the foxholes for our country and should have the franchise" to vote.
But Browning said his hands are tied in forcing the VA's hand in Florida
because he said he has not gotten any complaints the VA has barred anyone
here. So he said he has no legal standing.
Pat Hollarn, supervisor of elections in Okaloosa County on Florida's
Panhandle for 20 years, is another Republican who opposes the VA ban.
A VA spokesman did not immediately return a call for comment today. But
the agency has previously said it allows its official volunteers to assist
residents of VA nursing homes, hospitals and shelters in registering when
they ask for help.
Tom Bowman, VA chief of staff, told the St. Petersburg Times in May that
the VA needed to control access to its property so patient care would not
be affected.
"My information is that there has not been a great hue and cry from
patients that they're being denied assistance," Bowman said in May. "To
say this is politically motivated is simply inaccurate and untrue."
Washington attorney Scott Rafferty has sued the VA over its policy and
said he thinks the VA wants to exclude to registration of Democrats.
"The voters who are already registered are primarily Republicans,"
Rafferty said. "When you start reaching out to people who aren't
registered at the VA, you find they're overwhelmingly Democrats."
-- William R. Levesque, Times staff writer
---------------
Akaka press release here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/scva08/scva071008-1.htm
Press release below:
July 10, 2008
AKAKA, FEINSTEIN AND KERRY URGE VETERANS AFFAIRS
SECRETARY TO END PROHIBITION ON VOTER REGISTRATION
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the
Veterans' Affairs Committee, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Senator
John Kerry (D-MA), sent a letter today to Veterans Affairs Secretary James
B. Peake, calling on him to end the current prohibition of voter
registration at Department of Veterans Affairs facilities.
Under current regulations, which Secretary Peake has the authority to
revise, Veterans Affairs broadly prohibits third-party organizations from
conducting voter registration drives at VA facilities. Recently, VA has
received criticism for this prohibition, and been urged to allow
non-partisan voter registration activities.
"Veterans receiving care at VA facilities risked life and limb to defend
the freedoms we enjoy, including the right to vote," said Akaka. "Current
VA policy makes it unnecessarily difficult for some veterans to
participate in the electoral process. I urge Secretary Peake to reverse
the prohibition on non-partisan voter registration activities."
"There is no reason why the Department of Veterans Affairs should not
proactively assist veterans in exercising their right to vote. To do
otherwise is an insult to the sacrifices these men and women have made for
our country," said Feinstein. "It's time the Department of Veterans
Affairs reverse its directive and allow these non-partisan, third-party
organizations into VA facilities to register veterans to vote."
"No veteran who has defended freedom and democracy overseas should
experience democracy denied here at home. We must support voter
registration for veterans in every way possible, including allowing
assistance from nonpartisan registration organizations. Impeding voter
registration in any way insults the ideals our veterans fought for in
uniform, and that's something the Department of Veterans Affairs cannot
stand for," said Kerry.
The joint letter is copied below.
The Honorable James B. Peake, MD
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
810 Vermont Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20420
Dear Secretary Peake,
We are writing to urge you to revise the current directive - VHA Directive
2008-025 - relating to voting assistance for Department of Veterans
Affairs' patients. We believe that the Directive's broad prohibition
against third-party organizations conducting voter registration drives at
VA facilities is both unnecessary and arbitrary and fails to recognize
that veterans may need assistance in registering in order to exercise
their Constitutional right to vote. We believe that VA should be a
proactive facilitator of voter registration by nonpartisan groups, rather
than an agency that hinders veterans from participating in the electoral
process.
The VHA Directive references "Hatch Act requirements" as one basis for the
prohibition on voter registration activities. We do not understand this
reference. The Hatch Act, among other things, prohibits federal employees
from engaging in political activity on official time or on federal
property. This has been interpreted to mean that federal employees are
forbidden from participating in a partisan voter registration drive on
official time or on federal property. However, the Office of Special
Counsel has issued policy statements that federal employees may assist in
non-partisan voter registration drives on federal property and on official
time without violating the Hatch Act. In addition, the Hatch Act does not
prohibit outside groups, partisan or otherwise, from registering voters at
a VA facility if federal employees do not participate.
Right before the Fourth of July, Connecticut's Secretary of State Susan
Bysiewicz attempted to provide voter information and register residents at
a West Haven Veterans Affairs facility. Secretary Bysiewicz was denied
entry to the VA facility under the VA's Directive. Instead she sought to
register veterans leaving the facility. One such veteran who was
registered to vote by the Secretary was Martin Onieal, 92, a World War II
veteran. Mr. Onieal told her "There was nobody here to do this last year."
That is simply unacceptable.
We recognize and respect the need for VA to guard against any activities
that might interfere with carrying out the Department's mission to furnish
quality health care services to veterans. However, we are confident that
voter registration activity can be permitted that would not impinge on
fulfilling that responsibility.
We strongly urge you to revise VHA Directive 2008-025, so as to allow
voter registration activity at VA facilities, with appropriate limitations
as to time and place for such activities.
Thank you for your consideration of this important request. We look
forward to working with you on this and others matters of concern to our
Nation's veterans.
Sincerely,
Daniel K. Akaka
Dianne Feinstein
John Kerry
-------------------------
posted by Larry
Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
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