Lori Trahan: “Under current law, our brave men and women serving our country in uniform are able to maintain their residency status…”

“Under current law, our brave men and women serving our country in uniform are able to maintain their residency status for the purposes of voting during deployment. Current law also protects voting residency status if a spouse of a servicemember is absent from their State in order to accompany the servicemember on a deployment. However, current law does not protect the residency status of a spouse if he or she is absent but without accompanying the deployed servicemember. My amendment fixes this loophole. It will ensure that these spouses may maintain their voting residency status, regardless of whether they accompany their spouse. Moreover, my amendment would extend the same protection to voting-age dependents. The absence of a servicemember who is deployed can be an enormous hardship on a family. It means a caregiver is no longer at home to share in parenting duties. In these cases, it is natural to rely upon friends and family, even those in another State, for support. However, these families should not lose the right to vote in their home district if they are absent while their spouse is deployed. Furthermore, my amendment extends those same protections to voting-age children. This is an amendment about ensuring those who sacrifice the most for the defense of our Nation are treated fairly and that they have a voice and a vote in our elections. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.”