[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 13 (Wednesday, February 5, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1045-S1046]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   MILITARY VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1997

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Madam President, today I introduced legislation, 
along with Senator Phil Gramm, called the Military Voting Rights Act of 
1997. The bill that was introduced today makes absolutely clear in the 
law what is already law, because there is nothing against it in the 
law, and that is that our military personnel have the right to vote at 
their home base in Federal, State, and local elections.
  The law does not say anything against that, but because it does not, 
there has been a challenge in my home State of Texas to 800 military 
votes that were, of course, in State and local elections, which are 
allowed by Texas law.
  It is very clear that a person who serves in our military should have 
the right to vote and the right to citizenship in the State and the 
localities that he or she chooses to have as their home base. Yet, that 
right is being challenged. Some 800 military absentee ballots, 150 of 
which were from overseas, were challenged saying that these people who 
are serving our country and who are putting their lives on the line to 
protect our right to vote nevertheless should not have the full voting 
rights. In fact, the plaintiff sent questionnaires that were in the 
form of depositions to all of these 800 people who voted, and one woman 
in Bosnia got a questionnaire to be filled out to determine if she has 
the right to vote in the State and local elections. We are trying to 
put a stop to that. We are trying to say very clearly in the Military 
Voting Rights Act of 1997 that no person will ever be able to be 
challenged for their full citizenship rights because they have chosen 
to serve our country, which job, by its very nature, requires moving 
around the country and outside of the country wherever they are 
required to go to fulfill the job.
  I want to commend our State representative in Texas, Jerry Madden, 
who is just as incensed as all of us are, for taking the initiative. He 
is working on a bill now to make it easier for the military personnel 
in our State to vote because he, like I, appreciates the fact that 
these people who have been at a base in Texas have chosen to call Texas 
home, and he wants to make sure that they can vote in the very easiest 
way. Perhaps, in fact, we might learn from some of the things that he 
is doing. He wants to be able to let them have access to Internet 
voting. He wants to give them some extra leeway in time to vote so that 
their ballots will have time to get to the State of their residence 
from a place like Bosnia, or perhaps in Saudi Arabia, or anywhere else 
in the world where they might be deployed.
  I think that it is very important that the sense of the Senate be 
known here. In fact, 58 Members of the Senate signed a letter to the 
Attorney General, Janet Reno, asking her to intervene in this case to 
make sure that our military rights are being protected. All of us who 
signed that letter are very concerned about the ramifications of this 
bill. We are concerned that if these people are able to prevail in this 
case, to say that the military does not have the right to have full 
citizenship in a State to be able to vote in a State or local election, 
that perhaps other rights might be challenged. If a person can't have 
the full rights of the State in which he or she resides and calls home 
base, then what other laws might not apply? Marriage laws? Could you 
not get a divorce if you were in the military and you don't have the 
right to belong in a State? How far are you going to take this?
  The fact is there is no question on the merits that the people who 
are choosing to serve our country and whose job, by its nature, 
requires that they move every 2 years, or even more frequently, that 
they should be able to join the home State of their choosing. Frankly, 
I am proud when the military personnel who serve on Texas bases love 
our State enough to want to call it home, and we want them to return 
because we know that the people who lay their lives on the line to make 
sure that the United States is free are the kind of citizens we want in 
our State. We want them to know they are welcome. We want them to know 
they are welcome anywhere else they choose to call home because we 
appreciate what they do for our country.
  So I am pleased to be a cosponsor of this bill. I know that we will 
have a number of cosponsors, and I think we will pass this bill quite 
easily, because, as I said, 58 Members are incensed enough to ask the 
Attorney General to intervene. In fact, I hope the Attorney General 
will do her duty to represent the Federal employees that are needing 
help right now so that their rights will be protected--not only the 800 
who are being challenged, but all of those that might be affected if 
this case is allowed to prevail.

[[Page S1046]]

  We cannot sit back and let one of our military personnel be robbed of 
their right of citizenship, especially as they are the ones who are 
standing there to make sure that every American who is registered to 
vote has that right to do it free and clear.
  I stood here on the first day of our session and talked about the 
wonderful people of Serbia who were standing in the streets for days on 
end so that their vote would be counted. And because those people 
peacefully demonstrated, they eventually prevailed. Those elections 
that were held, for which their vote had not been counted, have been 
declared effective, and the local elections are being declared 
victorious for those who stood in the streets for their right to make 
their vote counted. How could we as a country, who stood with those 
wonderful people silently protesting so that their vote would be 
counted, as the greatest nation on Earth, the democracy that is the 
beacon for the world, say that our military personnel are going to be 
second class citizens because, yes, they can vote in Federal elections 
but, no, they can't have the full rights in the State they choose to 
call home?
  This is a major Federal issue. I hope that it is one that we can 
dispatch very promptly and say clearly in the law there is no question, 
and there isn't a question because there is no law against this anyway 
but we want to set it in the positive. Our military personnel will have 
the full right to vote in the State in which they choose to call home 
when they are based there, and forevermore. And I hope they will choose 
to call Texas home, and I hope they will return to Texas because those 
are just the kinds of citizens that we want.
  So I appreciate very much that we have this bill, that we have so 
many sponsors for it, and that we have so many that are interested in 
this issue. We will not let this issue die. We will protect the rights 
of our military, and we will make sure that they know how much they are 
appreciated.
  Thank you. I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hagel). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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