American Views Abroad

 
Wednesday, September 22
The Web site maintained by the Deptartment of Defense and responsible
for assisting all overseas Americans to register and vote has been
blocked from several foreign Internet service providers used by
non-military U.S. citizens. Three newspaper articles report on the lack
of access to the Federal Voting Assistance Program
(www.fvap.gov). The International Herald Tribune at
www.iht.com and USA Today at
www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections.
In Salon Farhad Manjoo asks why the Pentagon would do this and if it is
worried that non-military overseas voters are leaning towards Kerry.
The official explanation is that the blocked ISPs could be havens for
"hack" attacks. However the Defense Department maintains many sensitive
Web sites and has no problem protecting them from hackers. According
to the Salon article an unnamed Defense Department official stated
"This is a completely partisan thing." The official further described
the Pentagon as "extremely diligent"in registering soldiers abroad and
has ignored its mandate to help overseas civilians. Private citizens
who live abroad are considered particularly progressive. One Zogby
survey showed them supporting Kerry over Bush by 55 - 33 percent.
www.salon.com.

One important resource for private citizens is www.overseasvote2004.com.
Members of American Voices Abroad have contacted the ACLU and are
exploring the possibility of getting an injunction . Private citizens
are urged to write their Senator and Congressman www.congress.org about this.


- posted by Gloria @ 6:46 PM