Military allegedly denied voting rights

Tuesday, 21 November 2000 11:47 (ET)

Military allegedly denied voting rights

SAN ANTONIO, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- A Texas lawyer said Tuesday he planned to file a lawsuit directly with the U.S. Supreme Court alleging hundreds in the military were denied their right to vote Nov. 7 because of widespread voter fraud.

San Antonio attorney Phillip E. Jones said he would carry the lawsuit to Washington to file it directly with the nation's highest court "because it's so important." The U.S. Supreme Court will accept such cases if time is a factor and the government is a defendant, he said.

"There have been large groups of military personnel who either didn't get their ballots when they ordered them in a timely fashion, or had their ballot intercepted and altered," he said.

Jones said his class action lawsuit would be filed by Wednesday on behalf of 350 named plaintiffs, including members of all branches of the service stationed in the United States and abroad. But he said there is a "good possibility" that tens of thousands of people are affected, including "a large percentage claiming legal residence in the state of Florida, which could paint a whole new picture for this election."

Many in the military stationed abroad or at bases in the United States list Florida or Texas as their state of legal residence because neither has a state income tax.

"We will ask the court, if they're going to hold up the votes in Florida anyway, that these people be allowed to have their registered voter cards sent to them by air mail, fill 'em out, and airmail them back, and they can include those in the final count," Jones said.

Jones, whose law office represents exclusively military members and their families, obtained a law degree after a career in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. He said he has been "overwhelmed" by the number of complaints he has received from military personnel since the election.

"A chaplain at Fort Lee, Va., called me and told me about a squad of privates who were in basic training, and their commander and first sergeant told them there 'wasn't time' to cast their vote this year," he said. "There are allegations that entire units were deployed to Bosnia the day before the election, when it was too late to obtain an absentee ballot. I'm retired military and in my entire military career, I was never deployed the day before Election Day."

Jones, who stressed he was not affiliated with either political party or candidate, blamed some of the problem on what he calls "mal-intent."

"In my opinion, based on what people have said, and the allegations that have been made, and the substantial quantity of allegations, it certainly raises an eyebrow in the most reluctant observer."

He called the allegations of voter fraud "the most widespread there has ever been."

"One documented case in Florida, one gentleman requested his ballot in May and again in August, and didn't get it, looked into it and found that someone had intercepted his ballot, signed his name, and sent it in. We have no idea if this was an isolated event, or if there are more incidents like this.

"If there is a prioritization of the right to vote, shouldn't that prioritization start with people who lay their lives down for that right to vote? If they applied for their ballots, and through no fault of their own, were not provided these ballots, that's an outrage."

Jones said if all of the military people who were denied their right to vote have their ballots counted because of this lawsuit, there is "no doubt" it would substantially affect the outcome of the presidential election.

In an unusual request, the lawsuit asks that if the Supreme Court denies the plaintiffs their vote in this year's election they should be exempt from paying federal income taxes for the next presidential term, or four years. It would award punitive damages to military personnel "who have been taxed without representation," Jones said.

-- Copyright 2000 by United Press International. All rights reserved.

Military allegedly denied voting rights

-- Ain't Gonna Happen (Not Here Not@ever.com), November 21, 2000

Answers

On the one hand we have a claim of an intercepted absentee ballot with a fradulent signature.

On the other hand we have Republicans _complaining_ that Democrats have compared signatures on the ballots with signatures in the roll books, even though this is Florida law.

Makes one wonder.

-- Pam (Pam@j.o.e.), November 21, 2000.