department of defense is failing to provide voter assistance to military members. even their families and that is a violation of federal law. molly henneberg with the story. a group of republican senators are trying to get them know move in on the situation. and requires that the defense department set up a voter assistance office on every military base or installation, to help servicemen and women registered to vote and requested an absentee ballot. the pentagon s inspector general wrote in a report last week that quote, we attempted to contact 100% of the installation. and results were clear. our attempts to contact the ibao, stands for installation voter assistance offices, failed about 50% of the time. and republican senators kornyn, and barrasso and burr
the department of defense is failing to provide voter assistance to military members and their families. that s a violation of federal law. molly henneberg is live for us in washington with more on this story. hi, molly. heather, six republican senators are really upset about this and say the defense department s efforts to uphold the law are, quote, at best, a hollow exercise. the 2009 law requires that the pentagon set up a voter assistance office on every military base to help servicemen and women maneuver through the voter registration processes and/or to request an absentee ballot. republican senators cornyn, ayotte, imhoff, chambliss, by point to a new report by the pentagon s inspector general saying attempts to check on the offices, quote, failed about 50% of the time. and the senators say where there are voting assistance offices, quote, they located many of them in places that can be hard to find or else play no role in
new report is raising concerns that the defense department is not providing enough voting assistance on military bases that would violate the 2009 overseas voter empowerment act. now a group of senators is calling for action. medical medical is live in washington. all right. so this law requires voter assistance office on every military base. so is that happening? rick: the pentagon inspector general checked on those voter assistance offices and wrote in a report last week that, quote, we attempted to contact 100% of the installations, the bases, results were clear, our attempts to contact ivao s, installation voter assistance offices, failed, about 50% of the time. republican senators cornyn, ayotte, imhoff, chapel business and burr are alarmed by this and say it s a clear violation of the 2009 law which was designed to help servicemen and women register to vote and request an