This is a headline in a recent story posted by Steven Rosenfeld on the Alternet website:

Veterans Department Creates Roadblocks to Voter Registration for Injured Vets

VA Secretary says registering voters in VA facilities is a “partisan” distraction.

Senators John Kerry and Dianne Feinstein wrote to the VA last year and again earlier this year to ask that the VA enable voter registration for injured veterans at their facilities. The VA claims that registering voters would “divert substantial resources from our primary mission.”

The VA said no. They don’t want to do this and called the effort “partisan.” Instead of trying to figure out ways to help register this very special group of citizens to vote, they decided that they didn’t want to get involved in “partisan” activities, like voter registration, and decided to throw up some bureaucratic roadblocks to this common sense request instead.

Senator Kerry reacted to the news that the VA had turned down the request to aid in registering veterans in no uncertain terms:

“You’d think that when so many people give speeches about keeping faith with our veterans, the least the government would do is protect their right to vote, after they volunteered to go thousands of miles from home to fight and give that right to others. And yet we’ve seen the government itself block veterans from registering to vote in VA facilities, without any legal basis or rational explanation. I will keep fighting with Senator Feinstein to ensure that veterans aren’t facing unnecessary hurdles just to exercise their voting rights.”

The original letter to Secretary Peake at the VA included a plea from two sources who stressed the importance of making the registration process both easier and more accessible for for veterans. John Rowan, President of Vietnam Veterans of America, wrote:

“Veterans know the price of freedom; they’ve paid for it with their service, with the sacrifices they and their families have made. While only one-quarter, at most, of the veteran population utilizes VA facilities for their health care, designating VA medical centers – as well as community-based outpatient clinics and even regional offices – as voter registration agencies should help more veterans have the opportunity to fulfill their civic responsibility which they have sacrificed so much to preserve for all of us, and vote.”

The President of the Paralyzed Veterans of America, Randy L. Pleva, Sr., asked the VA to make it easier his membership to register at the VA facilities and Centers that they frequently used:

“Voting is the cornerstone of democracy and the members of Paralyzed Veterans of America and all veterans have served in the defense and promotion of self determination throughout the world. As veterans we believe that voting is not only our right but also our responsibility. To this end the Department of Veterans Affairs should serve as an example ensuring that every veteran that passes through its doors is afforded the opportunity to register and vote. It is through the exercise of our franchise that we ensure the perpetuation of our democracy and serve as an inspiration to others throughout the world.”

When people complain about the inefficiency and coldness of the government, they often talk about things like this. It’s not that the government tried something and found out that it didn’t work. It’s not a complaint about good faith efforts to get services delivered and about unexpected difficulties that caused things to go wrong. No, it’s about things that could have been done, in some instances pretty easily, but aren’t even tried.

There were outside agencies that offered to help with coordinating the registration drive. But the Veterans Administration, under its current leadership, decided against making it easier for veterans to register to vote without even trying. No wonder citizens get frustrated with government.