[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 109 (Monday, July 20, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7697-S7698]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      VETERANS VOTING SUPPORT ACT

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am pleased today to join with Senators 
Feinstein and Kerr and others to reintroduce the Veterans Voting 
Support Act. This legislation will enable the Nation to better preserve 
and protect the fundamental right to vote for veterans in facilities 
operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Our men and women in 
uniform have risked their lives to serve our country and spread 
democracy around the globe. We must do all we can to protect their 
right to participate in the democratic process when they return home.
  When we introduced this legislation last Congress, I had hoped that 
it could be signed into law before last year's historic election. 
Millions of Americans went to the polls last November and yet far too 
many of our wounded warriors were left behind. That is wrong, and I 
hope the Senate will consider this important legislation to remedy the 
disenfranchisement of our disabled veterans. Senators Feinstein and 
Kerry, the respective Chairpersons of the Rules and Foreign Relations 
Committees, have been leaders on this important issue.
  Today, veterans of the armed services who reside in a VA facilities 
face a voting rights crisis. Far too often in recent years, the 
Department of Veterans Affairs has neglected to assist veterans with 
voting, or to allow nonpartisan groups access to VA facilities to 
register voters. Until last year, for example, the VA's national policy 
was silent on whether it could provide support to wounded warriors 
seeking to vote. There have also been reports that the Department of 
Veterans Affairs may have even prohibited its own staff from providing 
voter assistance to veterans in VA hospitals. In addition, since 2004, 
reports indicate that the VA has often sided in Federal court against 
allowing nonprofit voter registration organizations access to VA run 
facilities.
  I welcome the recent strides the Department of Veterans Affairs has 
made to correct its flawed policies, but it has not gone far enough. I 
am glad that last year, the Department changed its policy from a 
blanket prohibition against voter registration efforts to one that 
would permit its patients to register to vote. That change, however, 
was only a first step. We need legislative action to ensure that these 
changes are permanent and complete. For example, I remain concerned 
that the VA's voter registration policy stops short of mandating that 
VA facilities offer disabled veterans a chance to register to vote. To 
paraphrase Paul Sullivan, the Executive Director of Veterans for Common 
Sense, the new policy directive only changed the Department from being 
in active opposition to veterans' voter registration to passively 
supporting it. It is common sense that the Department of Veteran 
Affairs should make services available to wounded veterans who reside 
in VA facilities and yet face hardships in traveling off campus to 
register to vote. This legislation will ensure that VA facilities have 
an affirmative duty to provide our wounded warriors with access to, and 
assistance with, voter registration materials in the same way they help 
veterans fill out other forms.
  The Veterans Voting Support Act we introduce today would also require 
the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide voter registration forms 
to veterans whenever they enroll in, or make changes to, their status 
under the VA

[[Page S7698]]

health care system. It would also require the VA to provide assistance 
to veterans who wish to file absentee ballots. In addition, the bill 
would require facilities to allow access for nonpartisan voter 
assistance organizations, subject to reasonable time, place, and manner 
restrictions. To ensure accountability and transparency, the bill also 
provides certain reporting requirements on the Department of Veteran 
Affairs. This legislation has the support of voting rights and veterans 
groups, including the Brennan Center for Justice and Veterans for 
Common Sense.
  I believe it is essential for the Nation to do everything possible to 
honor our veterans. Ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as 
interventions across the globe, means more and more men and women are 
coming home as veterans. These brave men and women must know that the 
country will honor their sacrifice when they return. Recognizing their 
service not only means paying continual tribute through services on 
such holidays as Memorial Day and Veterans Day. It also means ensuring 
that our veterans in Vermont and across the country have the ability to 
fully participate in the democratic process. This is not a Republican 
or Democrat issue it is an American issue. We should all be able to 
agree that Americans who have ventured into harm's way to defend our 
values and spread democracy abroad must also have full enjoyment of 
those freedoms here at home.
  The disabled veterans of the Nation have given extraordinary service 
to our country and have advanced democracy around the globe. Enactment 
of the Veterans Voting Support Act is the very least we owe our citizen 
soldiers for their many sacrifices on our behalf. I urge all Senators 
to support the Veterans Voting Support Act and help us to enact this 
critical measure into law before next November's midterm elections.

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