No More Democrat Hacks at FVAP

Christian Adams wrote a fascinating post last week on the Federal Voting Assistance Project (FVAP).  FVAP is in charge of the military vote and by any standard a failure.

Actual participation of military voters in the 2010 and 2012 election, as measured by cast ballots, was a joke.  Prisoners in Vermont participated at higher rates than the enlisted serving overseas.

Christian makes many good points in his article. I would only add the failures at FVAP at some level come down to partisanship.  As the military is perceived to vote more Republican, Democrat hack staffers are going to suppress the vote of those voters.  

Christian quotes an LA Times article that identified Paddy McGuire, the Deputy of the Election Official Assistance as a Democrat political “hack” and then describes what Paddy does now. 

Paddy McGuire knows that registering all soldiers at intake would favor Republicans, so they suppress this simple solution. Seems odd doesn't it, when anyone who applies for any kind of federal benefit - like food stamps, welfare payments and such - is asked if they want to register to vote - over and over again, each time they show up. Not newly enlisted military are disenfranchised and their votes are nixed because of poor leadership, incompetence and bureaucratic bungling. Voting rights are a hot topic in the mainstream media, but you won't find a single election law "blogger" or advocate outside of the Military Voter Protection Project advocating this simple solution of registration at intake for military voters.

FVAP needs qualified people with election experience above partisanship.  Until then, all those who write about vote suppression, should cover the suppression of the military vote by bureaucrats like Paddy McGuire at FVAP.