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Officials hail reversal of VA voter sign-up ban

Sep 10, 05:22 PM

Waterbury Republican American
ASSOCIATED PRESS

HARTFORD — Connecti­cut officials are applauding a U.S. Departmentof Veterans Affairs decision to reverse its policy against voter registra­tion drives in its facilities.

Connecticut was among more than 20 states that fought the policy,which the federal agency announced in May.

“Finally, after months of pressure from our efforts in Congress and from veterans across the country, the Vet­erans Administration was compelled to do the right thing,” Connecticut U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy, D-5th District, said in a statement.

“I am glad the VA finally came around, but federal leg­islation is still necessary in order to ensure that this nev­er happens again,” he said.

VA Secretary James P. Peake suspended registra­tion drives in May. He said the move was made “to avoid disruptions to facility opera­tions” and because of the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from en­gaging in political activities with government resources or on government time.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumen­thal had warned the VA that he and Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz might sue over the policy. They said it deprived dis­abled and homeless veterans of the right to participate in nonpartisan registrations, and that it hamperedefforts to teach them how to use Connecticut’s new optical­scan voting machines.

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