Capt. Samuel F. Wright, JAGC, USN (Ret.)

Fairfax County is Virginia’s wealthiest and most populous county.  Fairfax County is in the forefront of facilitating election participation by members of the armed forces, especially those serving in Afghanistan and Iraq and on ships at sea, where mail service is often slow and intermittent. (more)

On September 23, 2010, Officer John Doe (not his real name) and the Military Voter Protection Project (MVPP) filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, Greenbelt Division, against the Maryland State Board of Elections (MSBE).  The lawsuit contends that the MSBE violated the United States Constitution, the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), and Maryland law by disenfranchising military personnel and family members with respect to non-federal offices on the ballot in the general election to be held on November 2, 2010. (more)

In the 2008 general election, as in all other recent elections, a substantial minority (in some places a majority) of the military personnel who tried to vote by absentee ballot were disenfranchised through no fault of their own.  Because of late primaries, ballots access lawsuits, and other problems, the printing and mailing of unmarked absentee ballots is all too often delayed until just a few days before Election Day.  Military personnel at sea or in places like Afghanistan simply do not have sufficient time to receive their ballots, mark them, and return them on time. (more)