Vern Evans
As America nears the home stretch before the Nov. 5 election, it’s time for those in the military community to make sure they’re squared away if voting by absentee ballot, officials say.
If you’ve already registered to vote, requested your ballot and received your ballot, fill out that ballot and return it as soon as possible, said Scott Wiedmann, director of the Federal Voting Assistance Program, or FVAP. Give it plenty of time to get back to your local election officials.
About three-fourths of the 1.4 million active duty service members are eligible to vote by absentee ballot because they are stationed away from their voting residence, according to FVAP. In addition, their family members can vote by absentee ballot.
Over the years, FVAP, postal officials, lawmakers, local and state election officials and others have worked to shore up the processes for getting absentee ballots to local election officials in time to be counted.
Your voting residence is within your state of legal residence or domicile. For service members, it is typically the same address listed on your Leave and Earnings Statement.
Check the deadline for your returned ballot based on your state. According to FVAP.gov, the Military Postal Service Agency also has recommended mailing dates for the Nov. 5 election, although officials recommend returning the voted ballot as soon as you receive from you election officials.
Those recommended dates include:
From a ship at sea: Oct. 1.
From outside the United States: Oct. 24.
Stateside: Oct. 31.
And again this year, military members and eligible family members living overseas are able to use the free expedited mail service, using the Label 11-DoD at their military post office.
Military absentee voters, whether voting from overseas or from another location in the U.S. when they’re away from their voting residence, have certain protections under federal law. The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, commonly referred to as UOCAVA, applies to military members and their eligible family members who are away from their voting residence, as well as U.S. citizens living overseas. Among other things, UOCAVA requires states to transmit absentee ballots to UOCAVA voters who have requested them, no later than 45 days before a federal election.
Need to register to vote?
If you haven’t registered to vote, you still have time. The FVAP.gov site can help. Voting assistance offices at military installations can also provide specific information. The services also provide voting assistance officers at the unit level; if you can’t find assistance locally, you can contact your service branch voting action officer.
Military absentee voters can use the Federal Post Card Application, or FPCA, to both register to vote and to simultaneously request their absentee ballot from their local election jurisdiction. Some states allow voters to send their FPCA electronically. You can download the FCPA from the FVAP.gov site. Deadlines for requesting the ballot also vary depending on the state. Voters can find specifics on states’ deadlines on the FVAP site.
Don’t assume you’ll automatically receive an absentee ballot if you voted by absentee ballot in previous years. FVAP officials encourage military voters to send the FPCA every year and when they move.
Voters can also request absentee ballots through state applications.
However, officials encourage the use of the FPCA among military absentee voters and U.S. citizens living overseas. Returned ballots requested using the FPCA were counted by local election officials at a higher percentage than ballots requested through state applications, according to an analysis of the 2020 general election conducted by FVAP.
Tips to help your vote get counted
FVAP reminds absentee voters to provide a complete mailing address to their local election officials, whether they are overseas or stateside.
States have reported that common reasons for ballots to be rejected are missed deadlines for ballot returns, and missing signatures on their voted absentee ballot package, Weidmann said.
So FVAP encourages voters to stay up-to-date with their respective state’s deadlines, as well as the absentee voting requirements of their state.
What if you don’t receive your ballot in time?
If voters haven’t been able to receive their requested state ballot by mail or electronically, Weidmann said, they should download a Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot, or FWAB, from FVAP.gov and submit it. If the state absentee ballot arrives after the FWAB has been sent, voters can fill out and mail that state official ballot, too. Only one ballot will be counted. On average, the number of FWAB downloads have been about 50% below the numbers from 2020 at this point in the election cycle, he said.
More resources
-Check the status of your registration and ballot through your state site at https://www.fvap.gov/links#verification
-Check your state’s specific deadlines at https://www.fvap.gov/military-voter
-Add election dates and reminders to your mobile calendar at https://www.fvap.gov/calendar-alerts
-The non-partisan Overseas Vote Foundation also offers extensive information and assistance in the absentee voting process.
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.
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