U.S. Presidential Votes Cast From War Zone

American Soldiers, Civilians Fill Out Absentee Ballots In Afghanistan

(AP)  American soldiers, aid workers and military contractors in Afghanistan are filling out absentee ballots this week and sending them back to the U.S. to be counted by election officials.

U.S. soldiers and citizens in Afghanistan - which has no reliable mail service - face difficulties making sure their votes get counted. But the U.S. military has made a big push this year to help soldiers request ballots, advertising the process with TV commercials, posters and ballot drives outside dining halls and recreations centers.

The top commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser, said he thinks this year's effort was "the most significant drive probably in our nation's history" to make sure deployed soldiers can vote.

"I've been around for 32 years and been overseas more times than I can count, and it used to be near impossible for me or my spouse to vote," Schloesser told The Associated Press. "We've come a heck of a long ways and we've devoted a lot of resources so U.S. military personnel can vote this year."

Schloesser said that in previous years deployed forces feared their vote would not count, but he said he hasn't seen reason to believe votes wouldn't count this election cycle.

At the main U.S. base at Bagram on Wednesday, soldiers and civilian contractors filled out ballots known as the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot. Those ballots are used when a person who has requested an absentee ballot has not received one.

"This is a great opportunity," Charles Schwan Jr., a civilian contractor who works in strategic planning for the military, said after filling out his write-in absentee ballot. "I was thinking how to do this and the voting registration officer ... made it so easy and now I feel like I have a choice, and whoever wins at least I had a choice."

Democrats Abroad, the official Democratic Party organization for Americans living outside the United States, opened a new chapter in Afghanistan this autumn and helped dozens of Americans request ballots, said Susan Marx, the group's chairwoman.

But because almost no one in the group received a ballot back through Afghanistan's notoriously unreliable mail system, Marx this week is helping members fill out and send in the write-in absentee ballot.

"I think we have unique circumstances here in that the mail system is not something we can use," Marx said. "If you live in Australia, it's a lot easier for them to send the ballot to your mailbox in Sydney. ... What I'm hearing from most of the voters is that if it wasn't for our efforts, reaching out to them, most of them weren't going to vote."

Republicans Abroad does not list an Afghanistan chapter, and Marx said she has not heard of any Republican group in the country.

The U.S. military has about 200 voting assistance officers around eastern Afghanistan to distribute information and help soldiers vote, said Maj. Ty Walls, a voting assistance officer at Bagram.

1st Sgt. Marc Maynard, a member of the New York National Guard serving at a U.S. base in Kabul, said he voted in local elections in 2003 from his station in the Iraq-Kuwait theater. He said the process this year has been much easier.

"The information is easier to find," Maynard said. "I was one of very few people that I knew at the time (2003) that bothered to vote, and I had to figure it out on my own. We didn't have much in the way of voting assistance where I was."

Federal Write-In Absentee Ballots have to be sent in during a 30-day window before the Nov. 4 election. Most states require the ballots to be received by election day; others require that ballots be postmarked by election day.

[ioweign]

f you read any of the military times newspaper websites, they did a survey & most back mccain.

Posted by bsb53 at 07:17 PM : Oct 15, 2008

Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Ron Paul have little in common politically, except their opposition to the Iraq war.

Both top a new list of presidential candidates receiving campaign contributions from people who work for the four branches of the military and National Guard, according to a study released Thursday by the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Obama, an Illinois senator, brought in more donations from this group than any White House contender from either party. The Democrat announced Wednesday his plan to withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2008.

The center tallied money from donors who list the Air Force, Army, Marines, Navy and National Guard as an employer. Overall, these donations are miniscule: Obama got 44 contributions worth about $27,000 and Paul 23 for about $19,300. Republican John McCain, an Iraq war supporter and Vietnam prisoner of war, was third with about $18,500 from 32 donors.

[juwboy]

So, Jesse Jackson believes Jews control American policy (first Comment in this string).

Gentile-Americans ounumber Jewish-Americans by about 50-to-1.

Gentile-Americans outnumber all the Jews in the world by almost 20-to-1.

So, IF -- that`s right -- IF Jews control America, as Jesse Jackson claims, then he is saying that an infinitesimal fraction of any Jew is more than a match for a Gentile-American like himself.

He is implying that Gentile-Americans are weak, ineffective and limp-wristed in comparison with Jews.

What a HUMILIATING admission for Jesse Jackson to make!!!

[pvperson]

"To hell with America`s enemies both foreign and domestic !!!"

You can''t write off the neo-cons that easy.

[bsb53]

they even have pie charts if you don''t want to read the article, it is on the right side of the page

[downsteamjim]

Tobsb53: Don''t bother CBS with facts.

[bsb53]

if you read any of the military times newspaper websites, they did a survey & most back mccain.

[downsteamjim]

This CBS article failed to mention the efforts of the Democrat Party to deny votes from the military in 2000. What a surprise!

[john43218]

For the first time, I really feel scared about the future. These people are like the Germans in the election of 1933. They know what''s coming but they don''t care. Back then, all they cared about was that Hitler was going to give them a job and keep their lunch pails full. And stick it to the Jews. And restore Germany''s "rightful place" in the world. They knew full well that Hitler would destroy the independent unions, crack down on dissent, and turn Germany from a very free country into a fascist dictatorship.

Part of this is McCain''s fault. He bought into that populist *** about greedy Wall Street. Well, so as ye sow, so shall ye reap. And we''re about to reap the whirlwind.

In this kind of atmosphere any kind of a government is possible. And I don''t know if Obama can resist the kind of raw power these nincompoops are willing to give him. Who could?

You need a license to own a dog but any fool can vote.

[john43218]

Nearly all of Obama''s appeal requires his supporters to take on faith that he will do things he has never done. But on the question of whether Obama will ever take a meaningful stand against corruption or waste in his own party or stand up to vested interests and ideological extremists on his own side, we already know the answer: Obama is so thoroughly marinated in extremism and corruption that it would be nearly impossibe to extricate himself and still have a meaningful identity left.

You will often hear Obama''s defenders argue that his ties to this or that extremist or corrupt figure is an isolated aberration, an example of "guilt by association"; that the various favors he dispensed with public money and private charitable foundation funds are nothing unusual in politics.

But when you look at Obama''s record and biography taken together, what you see is that the favors, the extremists and the machine ties are all inextricably intertwined, and that far from being isolated incidents, Obama''''s modus operandi of mutual back-scratching with radicals and crooks extends to nearly every aspect of his life and career - his family, his faith, his home, his jobs and education, his significant election victories and legislative "accomplishments," his closest advisors and most important mentors, the money and organization that made up his campaigns.

[mytoosense]

JEWS IN AMERICA, WAKE UP!!!
Posted by proisrael

Adding insult to injury, your number one Jew in Congress Joe Liberman will be in charge of nothing but brewing coffee and serving donuts when the Democrats get through stripping him of all powers for supporting McCain and attending the RNC Convention.

He might as well join the minority party.

[mytoosense]

It would be interesting to see if McCain or Obama wins the vote count from solders stationed in the middle east. If McCain wins, it would send the message that most the solders want to stay until the job (what ever that is) is done. If Obama wins, it would send the message that most the solders want to come home ASAP.

Considering the current administration, If we hear no vote count from solders in the middle east, we can assume that Obama won.

[jlmcscanner]

To hell with America`s enemies both foreign and domestic !!!

[jlmcscanner]

To hell with America`s emnemies both foreign and domestic !!!

[jlmcscanner]

With the information age continuously growing, they see their neighbors do better and they want some of what their neighbors have. They think Obama will give it to them by playing Robin Hood. What do they have to lose. They are at the bottom of the capitalist totem pole and have no ability or desire to move up so they want stuff given to them. They would vote for Kim Job Il if there was a chance for them to get more stuff or punish the successful and rich who they blame for their failures.Obama is playing to this premise even though everyone knows the bottom wont improve under him. They will just have a few extra dollars a month to blow on alcohol or a trip to the Golden Corral. Its just what we have become as a country. Successful people just have to work harder to pay for the bottom group. Only when we get sick of doing it will be look seriously at where are money is going and taking our talents elsewhere.If the American electorate is foolish enough to elect Obama and his fellow Marxists to govern us, then we will, as a nation, truly deserve the horror that will follow. I will weep for my country, but I will work hard to crush these domestic enemies. As Captain John Paul Jones, the father of the American Navy, said to his British counterpart on the flaming deck of the Bon Homme Richard, "Strike my colors, Sir?.... I have not yet begun to fight"!!
Posted by john43218 at 02:44 PM : Oct 15, 2008
I`m glad to see we have some real patriots that still love this country.

[antoniof123]

Republicans Abroad does not list an Afghanistan chapter, and Marx said she has not heard of any Republican group in the country.

It figures send everyone elses children to fight but yours stay home safe and sound.

[repforbarack]

"If the American electorate is foolish enough to elect Obama and his fellow Marxists to govern us, then we will, as a nation, truly deserve the horror that will follow. I will weep for my country, but I will work hard to crush these domestic enemies. As Captain John Paul Jones, the father of the American Navy, said to his British counterpart on the flaming deck of the Bon Homme Richard, "Strike my colors, Sir?.... I have not yet begun to fight"!!"
Posted by john43218




In the words of your master bush...''bring it on''

I''m in Texas but willing to travel and pay your redneck punk azz a visit! What''s your address info?

[john43218]

With the information age continuously growing, they see their neighbors do better and they want some of what their neighbors have. They think Obama will give it to them by playing Robin Hood. What do they have to lose. They are at the bottom of the capitalist totem pole and have no ability or desire to move up so they want stuff given to them. They would vote for Kim Job Il if there was a chance for them to get more stuff or punish the successful and rich who they blame for their failures.


Obama is playing to this premise even though everyone knows the bottom wont improve under him. They will just have a few extra dollars a month to blow on alcohol or a trip to the Golden Corral. Its just what we have become as a country. Successful people just have to work harder to pay for the bottom group. Only when we get sick of doing it will be look seriously at where are money is going and taking our talents elsewhere.

If the American electorate is foolish enough to elect Obama and his fellow Marxists to govern us, then we will, as a nation, truly deserve the horror that will follow. I will weep for my country, but I will work hard to crush these domestic enemies. As Captain John Paul Jones, the father of the American Navy, said to his British counterpart on the flaming deck of the Bon Homme Richard, "Strike my colors, Sir?.... I have not yet begun to fight"!!