Pentagon to investigate why some military ballots lacked postmark

From CNN Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Defense Secretary William Cohen on Tuesday ordered the Pentagon's inspector general to conduct a full investigation of absentee voting procedures for military personnel overseas amid complaints that Florida officials disqualified many ballots that lacked postmarks.

"The secretary has asked the inspector general of the department to look at the absentee voting process as handled by the military and to recommend any changes that might be necessary to make it more efficient, more fair and more inclusive, and to make it easier," Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon said Tuesday afternoon.

"The secretary's goal and his instruction to the IG is to make sure that we have a system that makes every vote count."

Defense Secretary William Cohen

The investigation follows complaints that many U.S. military personnel whose votes arrived in Florida after the election were "disenfranchised" when their votes were disqualified because they were not postmarked.

The Pentagon says all military mail is supposed to be postmarked, either by mail sorting equipment or by hand, and that there may have been some confusion because military absentee ballots do not require a stamp.

"My understanding is that many of the ballots are mailed postage-free -- absentee ballots are mailed postage-free. So like franked mail on (Capitol) Hill, they frequently are not postmarked because there's not a stamp to cancel," said Bacon.

"So one of the things the IG will look at, obviously, are the postmarking regulations and procedures to make sure that there's no gap between what the regulations require and what the procedures produce."

Bacon said the investigation is aimed at producing recommendations to improve the absentee voting procedures in the future, and will no have effect on the current election controversy.

"My understanding of the Florida situation is whether the ballots comply with Florida regulations and law, that's up for the Florida authorities to determine," Bacon said.