Americans want their soldiers to vote. But often they can't. Those are the first sentences of a recent post of mine in the Monkey Cage Blog by the Washington Post.
My book, The Soldier Vote, has been published by Palgrave-Macmillan. It tells the story of the uneven progress of enfranchising our military personnel, particularly those stationed overseas. We estimate that the voting rate of overseas-stationed service personnel during the 2012 presidential election at under 20 percent.
The book examines a fundamental tension in American democracy: we ask our soldiers to defend the right to vote, yet the nature of military service has historically made exercising that right extraordinarily difficult. From the Civil War to the present day, Congress, the states, and the military itself have struggled — often unsuccessfully — to ensure that those serving in uniform can participate in the democratic process they are sworn to protect.
Written by
Donald Inbody
Author, political scientist, naval historian, and amateur radio operator (ADØK).