Veterans' Affairs Bans Voter Registration Drives Focusing on Veterans

The United States Department of Veterans' Affairs has decided to ban voter registration drives among veterans living in  federally run nursing homes, shelters for the homeless and rehabilitation centers across the country. The decision has drawn the ire of voters' rights groups.

The department's policy is "to assist patients who seek to exercise their right to register and vote," according to a V.A. directive issued on May 5. "However, due to Hatch Act requirements and to avoid disruptions to facility operations, voter registration drives are not permitted." The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from engaging in partisan political activity. However, veterans are not federal employees.

"This is politically motivated voter suppression," said Scott Rafferty, an attorney based in Washington, D.C., who has fought the Department (VA) in federal courts since 2004 over the right to assist veterans, including homeless vets, to register to vote at the VA campus in Menlo Park, California. "The VA is making its open campuses, even those where hundreds of homeless and aging veterans live, First Amendment-free zones."

"The Department of Veterans Affairs should serve as an example ensuring that every veteran that passes through its doors is afforded the opportunity to register and vote," said Randy L. Pleva, Sr., president of Paralyzed Veterans of America. "It is through the exercise of our franchise that we unsure the perpetuation of our democracy and serve as an inspiration to others throughout the world."

While only a quarter or less of the nation's veterans use VA hospitals for their health care, those who do include a large number of veterans with disabilities. The Veterans' Benefits Administration (VBA) provides disability compensation and pension to more than 2.7 million veterans each year (including John McCain). Reducing access to voter registration for veterans living in hospitals and nursing homes could prevent veterans with disabilities from registering in time to vote in November.