In 2009, Congress passed the MOVE Act.  The law was designed to protect military voters by mandating that ballots be sent at least 45 days in advance of the election to soldiers and sailors serving overseas.  This gives sufficient time for the ballot to transit back and forth.  Before the MOVE Act passed, the Department of Justice was unwilling to bring a case under the previous law if the ballots were sent 30 days before an election.  Unfortunately, empirically, this wasn't enough time to ensure that the tip of America's spear had time to vote.  Servicemen in forward operating bases in the Middle East needed more than 30 days.  So Congress gave it to them.

Now three states have asked the Pentagon for permission to not follow the new law.  They are Hawaii, New York and Delaware.  Under the MOVE Act, states can petition for a waiver, and the Pentagon gets to decide if they get one.  States have had plenty of time to prepare to follow the new law since it passed in 2009 and FVAP should reject the waiver applications.   Nor should citizens in New York, Hawaii and Delaware be pleased to learn their states have placed protection of military voters on the back burner.