If you’re a service member, family member or overseas U.S. citizen and plan to vote by absentee ballot in the Nov. 3 election, it’s time to get serious, if you haven’t already.
All of the information about your state’s requirements and deadlines for voter registration, ballot requests and ballot returns is available at the Federal Voting Assistance Program site, FVAP.gov, and at the U.S. Vote Foundation site.
Deadlines vary by location, but as of mid-October, individuals could still register to vote in some states. For the best results, use the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA), which allows you to register to vote, as well as request a ballot. Some states allow you to email or fax the FPCA.
Federal Voting Assistance Program officials are advising those who have requested a ballot from their state election officials and haven’t received it to fill out a Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot, or FWAB, and send it in. States are required to accept these ballots if they meet requirements.
The Federal Voting Assistance Program, a Defense Department program, is the organization that is tasked with implementing the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, or UOCAVA. This law applies to service members and their families living away from their voting jurisdiction, stateside, as well as overseas. It also applies to U.S. citizens living overseas.
The Federal Voting Assistance Program is required to be non-partisan and exists only to provide information and tools for service members, family members and overseas citizens to be able to vote. Voting assistance officers in military units and locations on military bases are also available to provide information.
Again this year, the military and U.S. Postal Service are providing free Priority Mail Express service for military ballots coming from the overseas APO and FPO origins to election offices in the U.S.
The Military Post Office personnel will attach the USPS EMS Label 11-DOD to the voted absentee ballot. This applies to military family members, too, but is only available at the APO and FPO locations. Post office personnel will provide a receipt with the tracking number, allowing voters to track their ballot all the way back to their local election office.
This year, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed all commanders and supervisors across DoD to conduct a one-day stand down, no later than Oct. 15, to ensure time for service member training, processing and submission of the Federal Post Card Application, if they choose to vote by absentee ballot.
Military Times conducted a spot check of a few states’ UOCAVA deadlines, based on information on the FVAP.gov site:
California: Mailed registration requests postmarked by Oct. 19; online or fax registrations received by Oct. 19. No deadline for ballot requests.
Maine: Registration and ballot requests received by 12 p.m. Nov. 2.
Michigan: No registration deadline; ballot requests received by 2 p.m. on Oct. 31.
Minnesota: No timeline for registration or applying for a UOCAVA ballot, but voted ballots must be returned by mail.
Texas: Voters who haven’t previously registered can submit a FPCA by the Oct. 23 ballot request deadline.
Changes in the FPCA
Voting rights advocates have expressed concerns about changes defense officials made to the FPCA this summer before asking for public comment. DoD has since posted notices in the Federal Register for public comment on the changes, open through Nov. 9.
A new form removes one of the classifications that voters could check: “I am a U.S. citizen who has never resided in the United States.”
Some U.S. citizens who have never lived in the U.S. are legally eligible to vote under some state laws. Thirty-seven states and the District of Columbia allow U.S. citizens who were born abroad, but never lived in the U.S., to vote, said Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, president and CEO of the U.S. Vote Foundation.
Advocates are concerned that these voters who see their former category has disappeared may think they aren’t eligible to vote absentee. The voters are U.S. citizens who have spent most or all of their lives abroad and are passport-carrying taxpayers, she said.
This isn’t expected to be a huge change for military families, she said, but noted that military families are sensitive to changes in these forms which could affect voting rights.
Military voters are among those who have expressed confusion and concern about whether their old form of the FPCA still counts, said Sarah Streyder, executive director of the Secure Families Initiative. She’s assuring them they do count.
FVAP officials have notified state officials that the old form is still acceptable, and voters who have the old form on file don’t have to resubmit a new form. The old form and new form are both available on the usvotefoundation.org website.
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book “A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families.” She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
