Military Vote

THE FEDERAL VOTING Assistance Act of 1955 established a special office in the Department of Defense to encourage and track voting participation among military members. The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) of 1986 repealed both the 1955 act, and the Overseas Voting Rights Act of 1975. Military service members, U.S. citizens employed by the federal government outside of the country, and their families are covered by UOCAVA. Each federal department and agency with personnel covered by the act is required to have a Voting Assistance Program. The Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) collaborates with states to ease the absentee voting process. Military units or agencies with 25 or more members are required to have a Voting Assistance Officer to assist military and civilian personnel worldwide to participate in the democratic process. The Department of State also offers voting services to U.S. citizens overseas through its embassies and consulates.

UOCAVA requires that each state allow absent military and non-military citizens to register and vote by absentee ballot in general, special, primary, and run-off elections for federal offices. It also requires the use of federal write-in ballots for federal elections if members do not receive the state absentee ballot in a timely manner. Further, the act also requires that states, at the end of a presidential election year, submit a report to the president and Congress on the effectiveness of their assistance to uniformed members, and a separate report on their participation in the voting process.

The Election Assistance Commission, established by the Help America Vote Act of 2002, tracks the number of ballots cast by military members, but it does not track how they voted. During World War II, when academia tried to poll the military to see how they voted, laws made it illegal for them to do so. Scholars currently rely on national opinion polls that ask about veteran status, surveys of the political attitudes of high school students and their future plans, and non-political surveys of the social and cultural attitudes of the active duty military. Although it has been somewhat difficult to determine a military voting pattern, the general consensus is they tend to vote Republican by a margin of almost two to one. Enlisted members vote Republican at a margin of three to two, while Republican officers outnumber Democratic officers eight to one.

Candidate John McCain (left) meeting with veterans. Members of the military tend to vote Republican by a margin of almost two to one. Enlisted members vote Republican at a margin of three to two.

Historians believe that during World War II, most of the solders identified with the Democratic party because they had grown up during the Depression under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. By the 1960s, the military reflected the conservatism of the 1950s. During Vietnam, the military was even more conservative. After the abolition of the draft in 1973, the first all-volunteer force was primarily southern, rural, poor, and morally traditional. During Ronald Reagan's presidency, when defense spending was at an all time high, the military became more Republican and strongly political. More than 30 years later, the military still reflects the conservatism of the Republican Party, but has shifted slightly.

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