WHAT A BLOODY APPALLING IDEA! - Veterans Day merged into Election Day!!!

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Current News : One Thread

[OG Comments: NO, absolutely not, I won't allow it!]

Veterans up in arms over balloting idea

Leaders fault commission's proposal to merge their holiday, Election Day

08/02/2001

By Carolyn Barta / The Dallas Morning News

Veterans have a new battle cry: Don't merge their holiday with Election Day to give people a day off to vote.

If Congress tries to adopt such a proposal, made this week by the National Commission on Election Reform, it will be over the vehement opposition of Texans in the nation's most powerful veterans groups.

"I think it's a ridiculous idea. Veterans Day needs to stay Veterans Day and Election Day needs to stay Election Day," said Conrad Robertson of Odessa, commander of the American Legion in Texas.

And John Knapp of Fort Worth, senior vice commander of Texas Veterans of Foreign Wars, said, "Everybody I talk to is dead-set against it."

Of 2.8 million American Legion and auxiliary members nationally, 90,000 are in Texas posts. The VFW has 2.2 million members nationally, with 130,000 in Texas, including auxiliary members.

Dennis Cullinan, director of legislative services for the national VFW, said grass-roots opposition to the proposal was strong. "There is enough confusion around Veterans Day as it is. To try to confuse it with Election Day would just be a travesty," he said.

Most schools and some businesses observe Veterans Day on the second Monday of November to allow for a three-day weekend rather than granting the holiday on Nov. 11, the original date for Armistice Day, the predecessor of Veterans Day.

Election Day has been the Tuesday after the first Monday in November since 1845.

The commission, led by former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, urged combining Veterans Day and Election Day every two years to make voting easier for workers and increase the availability of poll workers.

"If the citizens of this country are not voting now, giving them a holiday is not going to make a difference," said Mike Palmquist, American Legion adjutant at the state headquarters in Austin.

And Pat Mars, 5th District commander over 21 American Legion posts in Dallas County, said: "To us, Veterans Day is something special. Politicians may want people to come out and vote for them, but they shouldn't do it at the expense of veterans."

National and state leaders of the veterans organizations earlier this year opposed legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, that was similar to the latest proposal, and said they would oppose any future legislation.

The commission anticipated veterans' concerns and noted that the veterans groups "will have a decisive say in any adjustment in the Veterans Day national holiday." But it also suggested that such a change would not dilute the significance of Veterans Day. The four co-chairmen included three World War II veterans.

-- Anonymous, August 02, 2001


Moderation questions? read the FAQ