Veterans Denounce Executive Order Threatening Mail-In Voting Rights

For the men and women of the Unite for Veterans Coalition, absentee and mail-in voting is how millions of Americans cast their ballots while deployed overseas. When veterans swore an oath to the Constitution, they swore an oath to defend every American’s right to vote. This latest executive order directs the government to create a national voter eligibility list puts that right at risk.

"Like thousands of my fellow service members, I voted by mail when I was deployed," said retired Marine Lt. Col. Joe Plenzler, combat veteran and Unite for Veterans spokesperson. "No service member should come home to find that a federal database error has put their eligibility in question. And no president — Republican or Democrat — has the constitutional authority to control over who gets to vote."

The Constitution is clear: the administration of elections belongs to the states, not the federal executive. States have the authority to set the time, place, and manner of elections. This order places the power to define the electorate in the hands of federal agencies with no democratic accountability to the voters they would oversee.

The practical consequences for veterans and military families are alarming. Service members and veterans frequently move, deploy, and maintain records across multiple states and federal systems. The risk of delays , outdated information, or  errors wrongly flagging eligible veterans as ineligible is not something we can countenance. The men and women who served this country deserve better than to have their voting rights stripped away by fiat.

The Unite for Veterans Coalition calls our members, supporters, and all Americans who believe in the constitutional right to vote to speak out against this order and demand its retraction.

For press contact, please email: info@unite4vets.org

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