thedrifter
11-02-08, 07:10 AM
Those who fight, but can't vote
Saturday, November 1st 2008, 11:46 PM
Staff Sgt. James Brower is a Marine who never complains about the direst dangers or the most trying discomforts, but he sure was complaining early Friday morning, loud and strenuously over the phone from Iraq.
"I'm supposed to be fighting for democracy and I can't even vote!" he told his mother, Elaine Brower.
He had been grumbling for two weeks about not receiving his absentee ballot and it had still not arrived. He told his mother that the other Marines in his unit also were still waiting and she could well imagine their frustration, with the historic election just four days away.
"The hype surrounding this election is so intense and those guys feel it," Elaine Brower said later on Friday. "They watch CNN. They have Internet access."
Even so, the mother was surprised that her warrior son was so passionate about a ballot.
"He's not into politics," she said. "But this time, he is hellbent on voting."
He did not mention a particular candidate. His surprising passion was clearly more fundamental than whether he favored Obama or McCain.
"I didn't even ask him who he's voting for," the mother said.
He simply wanted to exercise a right that was at the very core of the freedoms he has so often risked his life to defend.
He was 20 years old when he was among the first Marines in Afghanistan after 9/11. He subsequently joined the NYPD, but has twice been called back to active duty. He is now 27 and serving his second combat tour in Iraq, having survived six roadside bomb attacks without uttering so much as a syllable of complaint.
He does not grumble about going on night patrol with his sniper/scout team. His only gripe comes when he returns to the base and his absentee ballot is still absent.
His mood had not been improved by word that his unit will be moving to another part of Iraq in January to provide security for a new Iraqi election.
"He said, 'We have to go defend them so they can get to the polls, but I'm sitting here, an American and I can't vote,'" his mother recounted.
He did have one small bit of good news that his mother relayed to me, reporting that he had finally received the dried blueberries I sent him a month ago. She also told me about the absent absentee ballot.
I immediately called the city Board of Elections to ask about a Marine who had not received a ballot. The spokeswoman promised to get back to me, but apparently had more important things to do.
I went online and learned that military voters overseas who do not receive an absentee ballot in time can file a Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot.
His mother forwarded the information to her son, so he and his buddies just may be able to fill in a ballot and get it postmarked by the Nov. 3 deadline.
But the ballots must arrive by Nov. 17, which would require traveling at about twice the speed of dried blueberries.
That helps explain why 70% of the military absentee ballots filed in 2006 were never counted, a disgrace for which nobody was held accountable. The election authorities in Fairfax, Va., have already invalidated 98% of the military absentee write-ins because the witnesses did not provide a current address. ("Third bunker to the right.")
Even if James Brower and his comrades do manage to make the Nov. 17 deadline, the election will have long since been decided. They will have already learned the result without being able to feel they were as much a part of the decision as citizens who sit back home, fretting about their 401(k)s as if there were no war.
Whether Obama or McCain becomes the next President, the elections in Iraq are expected to go ahead in January as presently planned.
And James Brower and his comrades will be risking their lives providing security so Iraqis can exercise that sacred right to vote.
mdaly@nydailynews.com
Ellie
Saturday, November 1st 2008, 11:46 PM
Staff Sgt. James Brower is a Marine who never complains about the direst dangers or the most trying discomforts, but he sure was complaining early Friday morning, loud and strenuously over the phone from Iraq.
"I'm supposed to be fighting for democracy and I can't even vote!" he told his mother, Elaine Brower.
He had been grumbling for two weeks about not receiving his absentee ballot and it had still not arrived. He told his mother that the other Marines in his unit also were still waiting and she could well imagine their frustration, with the historic election just four days away.
"The hype surrounding this election is so intense and those guys feel it," Elaine Brower said later on Friday. "They watch CNN. They have Internet access."
Even so, the mother was surprised that her warrior son was so passionate about a ballot.
"He's not into politics," she said. "But this time, he is hellbent on voting."
He did not mention a particular candidate. His surprising passion was clearly more fundamental than whether he favored Obama or McCain.
"I didn't even ask him who he's voting for," the mother said.
He simply wanted to exercise a right that was at the very core of the freedoms he has so often risked his life to defend.
He was 20 years old when he was among the first Marines in Afghanistan after 9/11. He subsequently joined the NYPD, but has twice been called back to active duty. He is now 27 and serving his second combat tour in Iraq, having survived six roadside bomb attacks without uttering so much as a syllable of complaint.
He does not grumble about going on night patrol with his sniper/scout team. His only gripe comes when he returns to the base and his absentee ballot is still absent.
His mood had not been improved by word that his unit will be moving to another part of Iraq in January to provide security for a new Iraqi election.
"He said, 'We have to go defend them so they can get to the polls, but I'm sitting here, an American and I can't vote,'" his mother recounted.
He did have one small bit of good news that his mother relayed to me, reporting that he had finally received the dried blueberries I sent him a month ago. She also told me about the absent absentee ballot.
I immediately called the city Board of Elections to ask about a Marine who had not received a ballot. The spokeswoman promised to get back to me, but apparently had more important things to do.
I went online and learned that military voters overseas who do not receive an absentee ballot in time can file a Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot.
His mother forwarded the information to her son, so he and his buddies just may be able to fill in a ballot and get it postmarked by the Nov. 3 deadline.
But the ballots must arrive by Nov. 17, which would require traveling at about twice the speed of dried blueberries.
That helps explain why 70% of the military absentee ballots filed in 2006 were never counted, a disgrace for which nobody was held accountable. The election authorities in Fairfax, Va., have already invalidated 98% of the military absentee write-ins because the witnesses did not provide a current address. ("Third bunker to the right.")
Even if James Brower and his comrades do manage to make the Nov. 17 deadline, the election will have long since been decided. They will have already learned the result without being able to feel they were as much a part of the decision as citizens who sit back home, fretting about their 401(k)s as if there were no war.
Whether Obama or McCain becomes the next President, the elections in Iraq are expected to go ahead in January as presently planned.
And James Brower and his comrades will be risking their lives providing security so Iraqis can exercise that sacred right to vote.
mdaly@nydailynews.com
Ellie