empowerment act to help with the voting process, martha. martha: so what does the department of defense say about all this, eric? reporter: the head of the pentagon voting program says registration is running about the same as in 2004, the last time an incumbent president was running and she says military voting assistance has never been better. she cites the way they get information out and social media and pentagon s voting assistances offices. at the end of the day what we re trying to do is to make sure that they have everything they need again to exercise that right to vote. it is a personal responsibility to actually execute that. reporter: by law ballots must be mailed by the local elections boards at least 45 days before the election which of course is really martha. martha: indeed it is. eric, thank you very much. eric shawn in new york. bill: you know later tonight the main event features the president. it is his turn on the main stage here in charlotte. what can we exp
the number of absentee ballots requested by members of the military, so far dramatically down, they say, according to the military voter protection project. they say in the crucial swing state of ohio, 3.3% of eligible military voters have so far requested ballots as of a week and a half ago. north carolina and virginia both are under 2%. in 2009, congress passed the military and overseas voter empowerment act. that was supposed to help smooth the process for them to vote. but critics question whether that is really being properly carried out. it was supposed to make it easier for service members to register and request an absentee ballot and ultimate participate. so with the numbers, it raised serious questions for us not only about whether our service members will have their voices heard on election day, but more importantly, whether that important federal law was actually implemented. but the head of the pentagon s voting program claims military voting assistance has