FORT KNOX, Ky. –
FORT KNOX, Ky. - Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes met with U.S. Army 3rd Recruiting Brigade Commander, Col. Eric Lopez and U.S. Army Lexington Recruiting Company Commander, Capt. Dustin Wallace, Aug. 21, at the State Capitol in Frankfort, KY.
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss ways in which the Army can make a positive impact in Kentucky communities.
Discussion subjects ranged from the Secretary of State's Kentucky Boots to Business program, which encourages and fosters entrepreneurship among active-duty military and veterans, the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) and getting the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) into Kentucky schools.
Boots to Business honors the service of Kentucky’s more than 330,000 veterans through encouraging and fostering entrepreneurship and helping them start new chapters in their lives on transition from the military. The Department of Defense’s Transition Assistance Program also sponsors a similar entrepreneurial education and training program offered by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
UOCAVA simplifies the process of absentee voting for United States military and overseas citizens by making the process more uniform, convenient, secure and efficient. Since 2014, more than 10,000 Kentucky military or overseas voters have used the online portal the Secretary created to request and receive absentee ballots. The portal drastically reduces the time it takes to cast ballots from overseas.
Secretary Grimes, who has advocated for both expansion of the Boots to Business program and voting rights for veterans and active-duty Kentuckians, also suggested various avenues of approach to get the ASVAB back into schools, Lopez said.
“It was a great visit,” Lopez said. “We’ll take her up on her offer to visit her again.”