How are soldiers stationed overseas voting?
The blunt answer is that most soldiers deployed overseas aren’t voting at all.
Many soldiers simply feel preoccupied with other things. Like, say, getting killed in a war zone:
Car bombs rather than Obama, making it home rather than McCain dominate the talk among many U.S. Soldiers in Iraq’s deadliest city during the final countdown to America’s presidential election.
Dangers, distance from home and the dawn-to-dark effort in an alien environment push U.S. politics into a corner for many Soldiers – especially in combat outposts where television and the Internet are not readily available.
“Regardless of who wins the election, we are going to be here 15 months. And our mission is not going to be fundamentally affected, at least in the short term,” said Capt. Justin Davis Harper after returning from a patrol into the northern city of Mosul’s most violent zone.
But even those deployed soldiers who still wish to cast their ballot aren’t getting an opportunity to because of beurocratic red tape:
The voting process for troops overseas has been criticized as overly bureaucratic, antiquated and flawed.
Soldiers must request by mail an absentee ballot from the local election district where they last lived. Then they are sent a paper ballot to fill out and mail back. Some Soldiers said they never got ballots.
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“It’s cool to be able to vote out here and not miss out on what others at home are doing,” said Morton, adding that he sent in his request for an absentee ballot six months ago but only received it last week.
The number of absentee military ballots applied for that ultimately get counted is consistently low. In the last federal election, only about 30 percent of overseas military ballots were tallied, according to data from the federal Election Assistance Commission and the Pew Center on the States.
Most deployed soldiers (which are estimated to be well over 200,000 troops in several different countries) may not cast a vote but for those that will (including soldiers and veterans in the United States) their votes will be heavily favored for McCain.
How are soldiers stationed in the United States voting?
McCains extensive military experience rings loudest with military personnel who see a candidate that can sympathize with their needs greater than a candidate with zero military experience.
But there’s a catch in this election. The military has a large minority base in African-Americans and latinos who favor Barack Obama heavily.
A poll conducted by The Military Times surveyed 80,000 military subscribers in September. The outcome show a vast majority of service members favor McCain over Obama by a 3-1 margin.
Pay attention to the votes when divided by race though. It shows a whopping 79% of black military voters favoring Obama while all other categories show McCain firmly in the lead with military voters.
Check out the raw data here [pdf] to see a complete listing of how the U.S. military will vote.
