110th Congress - 4/2/2008

Congressman McCarthy Introduces the Military Voting Protection (MVP) Act of 2008

WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman McCarthy, Ranking Republican on the House Administration Elections Subcommittee, introduced the Military Voting Protection (MVP) Act of 2008 to help ensure timely delivery of overseas military absentee ballots so they are counted.

“There is no higher calling than protecting the very constitutional freedoms of those who are protecting our constitutional freedoms,” said Congressman McCarthy. “We can, and we must, work to protect the votes of our troops serving abroad and ensure they are counted. The MVP Act is an opportunity for a bipartisan, commonsense solution to address what is unacceptable – letting our troops’ votes not be counted through no fault of their own.”

The bill directs the Secretary of Defense to collect the absentee ballots of overseas military voters, and deliver the ballots to state election officials via air transport with tracking capabilities. The MVP Act addresses problems outlined by the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), which reported on military and overseas absentee voting in September 2007.  According to the report, one of the top reasons for “rejected ballots was that they were received by the election offices after the deadline stipulated by State law.” The EAC’s findings also suggested that roughly 10% of all uncounted military and overseas absentee ballots were rejected because they were received past deadline. The MVP Act is designed to ensure absentee ballots submitted by military personnel, who have little control over their geographic assignments, are delivered to the correct state election officials in a timely fashion by allowing other methods of delivery.

The MVP Act is currently circulating in the House for bipartisan support. The MVP Act has been cosponsored by the Committee’s Ranking Republican, Congressman Vern Ehlers (R-MI) and fellow Committee member Congressman Dan Lungren (R-CA).

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