Sailors aboard the USS George Washington voted in this year’s election even as combat jets launched off the flight deck to support maritime security and stability operations near the Strait of Hormuz.
The aircraft carrier’s library served as the polling station for the George Washington crewmembers interested in exercising their right to vote, Navy officials said this week.
“We have sailors from all backgrounds working as a team, and oftentimes we’re so far away from home we think things don’t affect us,” said Navy Chaplain Steven Matkins, the ship’s voting assistance officer. “When you give people the opportunity to vote, you see how much we really care about things back home.”
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Capt. Nicholas DeLeo, commanding officer of the George Washington, said his sailors recognize voting as a fundamental civic duty that directly shapes the nation’s future, their forward-deployed operations, and their own careers.
“The opportunity to vote while deployed … is profound. It allows our sailors to directly exercise the very rights and freedoms they have sworn to defend,” he said in a statement. “No matter how far from home, every sailor can still participate in our nation’s elections.”
Capt. DeLeo called the get-out-the-vote drive aboard the George Washington a “powerful reminder that those who safeguard our republic are never excluded from it.”
Navy Seaman Gavin Naab cast his first election ballot as a sailor aboard the carrier. He said he was genuinely excited to participate in the democratic process.
“Your ballot can directly affect the policies enacted both at home and abroad, which has the power to alter the trajectory of your career, international affairs, and history as a whole,” he said.
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