Back on Aug. 12, I wrote about how the Department of Veterans Affairs had decided that allowing voter registration in some of their facilities was against the rules and ordered it halted. Here's an excerpt:
Which leads me to James Peake, the secretary of Veteran's Affairs. Seems that this gentleman issued a directive banning nonpartisan voter registration drives at federally financed nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and shelters for homeless veterans.
The reasons given? Well, voter registration would just about make it impossible to care for the patients. I mean, it takes all of about two minutes to fill out that damned card!
That excuse doesn't work? No worries...they have another to fall back on. Employees can't help the patients register because the Hatch Act specifically forbids federal workers from engaging in partisan political activities. I don't think anyone wants to tell them to which party to register their affiliation, so how can that be partisan political activity as defined in Hatch? In fact, it says right here that one of the permitted activities is assisting in voter registration drives.
Anyway - after much outcry from voter registration groups, advocates for disabled veterans, and the public as a whole, the VA has decided that granting these veterans the accessibility to the freedoms they fought to protect seemed like a good idea after all.
Score one for the good guys.
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