4 JULT I960
VOLUME V,.NUMBER 27
As members of the Armed Forces,, we are being urged, and will be for months
^ to come, to take interest, and concern ourselves with the issues of the times.
xs Lms Decause it, is tnougnt. mat,
the services can deliver their votes
in one whooping block or that men
and women in uniform will be intimi
dated from above to do so?
That’s silly, of course.We vote as
individuals* according to our con
vMb.-ons and loyalties. This is our
right as American citizens.
But there was a time in our count
r£e£s history when he couldn’t take
pride in this. It wasn’t true. From
years before the Civil War, many
states feared service voters and had
laws against them. They felt that
Army posts could thus impose milit
ary control over neighboring commun
They had to cast it in person. The Civil
War, putting large numbers of vote-con
cious men in uniform, changed this situ
ation) yet in postwar years the restric
tions gradually slipped back. WWI saw
absentee voting readopted, but with al
most into million Americans overseas the
machinery for the exercise of their
right broke down.’
So its something t» think about on this
day of Celebrating of the signing of the
Declaration of Independenceffkir privilege
isnft as old as U,S* History. Thatfs the
more reason to determine we*11 use it
wisely'now.
ities•
In fact, in I860 only 13 of the 34
states gave servicemen the ballot —
and it wasn*t absenteel!
use your
VOTING PRIVILEGE