Active-duty U.S. service members are complaining that the Pentagon has not given them enough absentee ballots to vote in time for Election Day, prompting three Republican congressmen to demand answers from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
Reps. Brian Mast, (R-FL), Bill Huizenga (R-MI), and Mike Waltz (R-FL) sent a letter to Austin on Wednesday, saying they have “grave concern over deficiencies in the Defense Department’s protocols” when service members claimed absentee ballots had not been made available to them because their base’s stockpile was “depleted and had not been replenished.”
The service members, who were not named in the letter, also complained there has been “inadequate education” on how they are meant to vote while deployed on active duty, and with just four days until Election Day.
