MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII, KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii -- Tune any television set to the warm cathode-ray glow of your favorite news channel, and you won't be able to escape it. Pick up a copy of a paper in town, and it crawls across the headlines and bursts from the margins. Even radio bandwidth these days is clogged with talk show pundits and sound bites. It's unavoidable in the blitz of our media-centric culture. It's time to get registered to vote and find out how to cast your absentee ballot.
An election can be hard to face with our modern media and its tendency to overload us with information and spin. In fact, more Americans avoid the polls altogether each year. Only half of the voting-age population made it to the polls in the last presidential election, according to poll figures from www.fec.gov/pages/2000turnout/ reg&to00.htm.
"Some people may see voting as a hassle, but it's very important. It's part of what makes America such a great country," said Capt. Mike Habba, commander of Headquarters and Service Company, Headquarters Battalion, Marine Corps Base Hawaii, and battalion voting assistance officer.
Most would agree that with our many freedoms and rights, it's easy to forget the importance of voting and undervalue the importance of a single vote. So much money and marketing is involved in electing a president, that an individual can feel irrelevant to the process.
Nevertheless, in a democratic country, no right should be more zealously guarded than the right to select official representatives to carry out the lawmaking and governing of our country, continued Habba.
"We're serving our country, and voting is one right that we've fought for since 1775," Habba explained.
Each unit at MCB Hawaii and its tenant commands-as well as at other military locations-has a voting assistance officer who is responsible at the unit level for assisting service members who wish to vote.
There are a number of ways Marines and Sailors can get registered to vote. They can get a Federal Post Card Application from their voting assistance officer or download the card from www.fvap.gov/ pubs/onlinefpca.html. This form will register service members and eligible family members in the state where their home of record is located. All states and territories, with the exception of American Samoa, Guam and Ohio accept it.
It's also important to use the form to update your address if you've just moved to Hawaii or haven't re-registered here, said Habba. Absentee ballots are not forwarded by the post office, so Sailors and Marines with an old address on record might not receive their ballots.
Marines, Sailors and their family members will be able to vote whether on base or in the field come election time, if they take the appropriate steps now.
Despite the pressure of withering media coverage, Habba also stressed the importance of making an informed decision once service members have been registered.
"With the news media, there's always a biased opinion. Depending on which way a particular media outlet slants, they'll try to put out more stories about a particular candidate," he explained. "You have to take everything you see or hear with a grain of salt. I would encourage service members to check out several different media sources."
Your unit's voting assistance officer can answer any additional questions about the voting process.