"I once lost all my freedoms – including the right to vote.  I was shot down over North Vietnam and spent six years as a prisoner of war in the infamous ‘Hanoi Hilton.’ At the time, I was 35 years old and had never voted in an election – the very right I was fighting to defend for others.  Unfortunately, it took my captivity to teach me just how sacred the right to vote is and why voting is important to every responsible citizen, in and out of uniform. I was one of the fortunate, I got another chance at freedom. I came home with a commitment to get involved, and the very first thing I did was register to vote. I haven’t missed voting in an election since."

-Captain Eugene "Red" McDaniel, former Vietnam POW, on the importance of voting

DEFEND AMERICA: VOTE!

DEFEND AMERICA: VOTE! is a special project of the American Defense Institute, (ADI) a [501 (c)(3)] non-profit, non-partisan educational think-tank dedicated to promoting the value of freedom and our responsibility for protecting it.

ADI’s project to motivate military personnel to register and vote was initiated in 1984, after the 1980 election when only 49% of the military voted. ADI’s initial efforts increased military turnout from 49% to 55.3% in 1984; from 55.3% to 63.5%
in 1988; from 63.5% to 80.5% in 1992.  During this same period, national voting participation rates declined, and ADI’s program has been cited by the Pentagon as
a significant contributor to the increase in voter turnout among the nation’s armed forces.

Founded in 1983 by retired Navy Captain Eugene "Red" McDaniel, a highly decorated Navy flier who was held prisoner in North Vietnam for six years, ADI is uniquely positioned to provide a multi-level approach to motivating military voters to register, request absentee ballots, and return the ballots in time to be counted. Captain McDaniel dramatically shares with servicemen and women his experience of having his freedom taken away, especially the right to choose his governmental representatives, and the Pentagon has made his powerful message the subject of public service announcements and motivational videos that are widely distributed to all military bases.

The objective of DEFEND AMERICA: VOTE!     is to increase the voting participation of those Americans who put their lives on the line for their country – the members of our armed forces – by motivating them to participate in the electoral process and by standardizing and simplifying the absentee balloting procedure. The specific objective for 1998 is to motivate and encourage the participation of absentee military voters in numerous states which have large numbers of military voters.

The American Defense Institute will conduct a media campaign consisting of the production and distribution of 30-second Public Service Announcement to TV and radio stations throughout the United States, press interviews with military media and local civilian press and paid media spots on commercial TV and radio stations.

Also, ADI will place voting material directly in the hands of military personnel by mailing them a carrier envelope that will have a federal registration and absentee ballot request form (FPCA) allowing immediate registration to vote for federal offices and request for an absentee ballot, special instructions for filling out the forms and mailing them, instructions for contacting the Pentagon’s Voter Information Center (VIC) and how to use the DoD's toll free hotline (DSN: 223-6500 and commercial: 703-693-6500) to obtain information about candidates and issues, and a motivational letter from Red McDaniel on the importance of voting in the 1998 election.

Approximately three to four weeks after the first mailing, service members
will receive another communication– a reminder postcard to make sure they have received their absentee ballots and remind them of their responsibility to vote, the importance of the election and the need to exercise their right to vote immediately.

Military personnel and dependents make up nearly 4.5 million Americans. There is no other segment of the U. S. population with more incentive to vote and that is more directly affected by the legislative and executive decisions of elected officials than members and families of the U. S. armed forces. For example, the decision to downsize the military – closing and realigning bases; reducing force levels and realigning force structure; and canceling weapons systems – is of direct concern to military personnel and their families.

The support of concerned patriotic Americans is essential to the continued success of this important program to include our servicemen and women in the electoral process. To ADI and Captain McDaniel, "Voting is not just a right, it’s a responsibility."

Send mail to rdt2@americandefinst.org with questions or comments.

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