111th Congress - 10/28/2009

McCarthy’s Military Voting Provisions Signed into Law

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, provisions from Congressman Kevin McCarthy’s Military Voting Protection Act (MVP) were signed into law.  The language from the Military Voting Protection Act was included in the National Defense Authorization Act to help ensure that completed absentee ballots from military personnel serving abroad are returned to election offices in time to be counted.

Congressman Kevin McCarthy issued the following statement:

“After more than a year of fighting to make this common sense reform become law, I am glad that my legislation was finally signed into law to help our troops vote.  This is a strong step forward to protect the voting rights of our military men and women serving overseas by making delivery improvements so their completed ballots are received and counted. More still needs to be done, and I will continue to work to address military voting problems so that our brave men and women in military know their votes will be counted.”

One provision of the MVP Act that was signed into law expedites the delivery of completed absentee ballots of our troops serving abroad, who have little control over their geographic assignments.  The reforms will utilize expedited shipping and tracking of ballots, so that servicemembers abroad who complete their absentee ballots at least 7 days before a general election will know that their vote will be received in time to be counted by appropriate election officials.  Previously, troops serving abroad were told that they needed to complete and send their ballots as much as 28 days before Election Day to ensure they were counted, far too long especially in an age of global and expedited delivery of mail.

Background:

As a freshman, Congressman McCarthy, the highest ranking Republican on the House Administration Elections Subcommittee, first introduced the Military Voting Protection Act (MVP) in the 110th Congress.  Although it gained bipartisan support, it was never scheduled for a vote on the House floor by House Democratic leaders.   In the 111th Congress, Congressman McCarthy again introduced the bipartisan Military Voting Protection Act of 2009 (H.R. 2393) in May 2009 with Congressman Dan Boren (D-OK).  In June 2009, the House Administration Committee approved the Military Voting Protection Act of 2009 (H.R. 2393).  Today, President Obama signed H.R. 2647, which included provisions from the bipartisan MVP Act  that will further help to protect overseas military voting.  

Related:
H.R. 2393 –Military Voting Protection Act
H.R. 2647 –National Defense Authorization Act

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