VA Secretary Peake Urged to Stop Blocking Voter Registration

See this press release by that title. It begins:

Today, leading voting rights groups called on James B. Peake, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), to reverse a recent decision that prohibits VA offices and facilities from offering voter registration and potentially registering tens of thousands of veterans.

American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), Common Cause, Demos and the League of Women Voters urged Secretary Peake to approve future state requests to allow voter registration at VA agencies and offices. This would be a reversal of his ruling on a May 1, 2008, request by California Secretary of State Debra Bowen that he agree to the designation of VA sites in her state as voter registration agencies, as permitted under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz made a similar request on July 2, 2008.

"As a former secretary of state, I know how important it is for our veterans to be able to participate in our democracy," said Miles Rapoport, president of Demos and former Secretary ofState of Connecticut. "I urge James Peake to stop blocking voter registration by our vets."

The national voting rights groups - in conjunction with their grassroots state-based chapters around the country - also sent letters today to chief election officials in each state, calling on them to request that the VA agree to the designation of its offices
and facilities in their states as voter registration agencies.

"Designation of VA facilities as voter registration agencies is the single most important action that can be taken to help veterans participate in our nation's elections," said Bob Edgar, president of Common Cause. "We will be working with state election officials to make this a reality."

Report: Agencies Fail to Track Disabled Reservists' Complaints

See this piece from GovExec.com. It's very interesting, and it begins:

Federal agencies are failing to track employment complaints filed by returning military reservists with disabilities, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.

Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Defense Department has mobilized more than 500,000 reservists. But "as demobilized reservists eventually return to their civilian life, their civilian employment and the difficulties they face in dealing with re-employment matters remain areas of interest," GAO said in a letter to Congress.

Reserve soldiers are entitled under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act to get their old jobs back when they return from active duty, as long as they meet certain requirements. But some reservists who have incurred disabilities as a result of military service file complaints with the government over their inability to return to civilian employment.

Inadequate tracking, however, is leading to a failure to address such complaints, GAO found (GAO-07-259).

The four federal agencies responsible for assisting reservists with USERRA complaints -- the Defense, Justice and Labor departments and the Office of Special Counsel -- addressed about 16,000 informal and formal complaints between fiscal 2004 and fiscal 2006. But GAO found that no one agency had complete visibility over all complaints in the system and only a small percentage were reported to Congress.

The GAO report is linked in the excerpt above.