Carnahan covers up disenfranchisement of military voters that occurred on her watch

JEFFERSON CITY—Secretary of State Robin Carnahan today attempted to cover up her the disenfranchisement of military voters that occurred on her watch. Carnahan held a joint press conference to boast about new federal reforms meant make the voting process easier for men and women stationed overseas—but she whitewashed her own failures to ensure that members of the armed forces can vote.

Carnahan’s record has been slammed by watchdogs and experts:

A January 2009 Pew Center on the States study of military voting ranked Missouri as one of the 9 worst states for military voters. The study, entitled No Time to Vote: Challenges Facing America’s Overseas Military Voters, slammed Missouri for being one of the “nine ‘no time to vote’ states that afford military voters fewer than 45 days to receive and mail back their completed ballots.”

In a subsequent news article, one of the report’s authors blasted the states like Missouri that did not give veterans enough time to vote: “We’re failing in our responsibility to ensure access to military voters living overseas. While these voters are serving America, America is not serving them.”

But rather than address the problems described in the report, Carnahan, the highest ranking elections official in the state, claimed she was powerless to implement reforms. Instead, her spokesman complained: “We can’t change the laws.”

Shortly after the bombshell report, Robin “We Can’t Change the Laws” Carnahan backed a bill to allow military voting by email and fax. However, that effort was criticized by State Rep John Diehl*, the former Chairman of the St Louis County Elections Board, who was concerned that fax and email “might not be secure and could waive a soldier’s right to a secret ballot.” (AP, February 17, 2009)

“Robin Carnahan has worked side-by-side with groups like ACORN, which engaged in a years-long effort to commit voter fraud, but she cannot find a way to ensure that the men and women of our military are able to access the ballot,” said Lloyd Smith, Executive Director of the Missouri Republican Party. “It is extremely important that Missourians serving in the military have a say in the direction of our state and nation, but on Carnahan’s watch, Missouri was ranked one of the worst states in the nation for military voting, and the legislation she supported may have put our soldiers’ sacred right to a secret ballot at risk. Robin Carnahan has failed the men and women of our military. She cannot be allowed to sweep her record under the rug by taking credit for federal legislation meant to address a broken system that Carnahan did nothing to fix.”

*As an alternative, Rep. Diehl proposed allowing members of the military stationed overseas to vote online, which would ensure more security and secrecy than the Carnahan-backed bill.


Additional information: “No Time to Vote: Missouri fact sheet” Pew Center on the States, January 2009