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Voting Information for the 2008 Primary and
General Elections
October 2007
This is a reminder that in just three months we will be
entering the U. S. presidential and state primary season. Five
primaries are currently slated for January, another 20 are
scheduled for February, and the rest take place from early
March through early October. Registration for the first
primary (the District of Columbia) closes December 10, 2007.
We encourage you to act now so that your opinion is heard –
not only in the November 2008 presidential and general
elections, but also in the presidential primary and state
primary elections! The official U.S. Government website for
overseas absentee voting assistance is the Federal Voting
Assistance Program (FVAP) website
www.fvap.gov.
Generally, all U.S. citizens 18 years or older who are or
will be residing outside the United States during an election
period are eligible to vote absentee in any election for
Federal office. This includes primary, run-off, and special
elections that occur throughout the year, as well as the
general election in November 2008. Some states allow overseas
voters to vote in elections for state and local offices, and
for state and local referendums.
Voting eligibility and residency requirements are
determined by the various U.S. states, and are available
on-line at
http://fvap.gov/pubs/vag.html.
Your "legal state of residence" for voting purposes is the
state where you last resided immediately prior to departure
from the United States. Voting rights extend to overseas
citizens even though they may no longer own property or have
other ties to their last state of residence, and even if their
intent to return to that state may be uncertain. For those who
have never resided in the U.S., sixteen states, to date, allow
eligible U.S. citizens to register where a parent would be
eligible to vote.
To register to vote and/or apply for an absentee ballot,
you can use the Federal Post Card Application
(FPCA). The on-line
version, the OFPCA, is accepted by all states and territories
except American Samoa and Guam. Voters from American Samoa and
Guam must use the standard form of the FPCA, available at the
Consulate General or through many American civic groups. The
on-line OFPCA form must be completed legibly, printed, signed,
dated, and mailed to your local election officials. Your state
may allow faxing to speed the process, but you will still need
to send in the original by mail. Use an envelope and affix
proper postage. The official U.S. Government website for
overseas absentee voting assistance,
www.fvap.gov,
has a wealth of information about absentee voting, including
the state-specific instructions for completing the FPCA form,
links to state and local officials, and a downloadable
emergency ballot for use by those who register in time but
fail to receive an official ballot.
As a general rule, you should try to send in the FPCA so
that it reaches your local election officials at least
forty-five days before the first election in which you are
eligible to vote --- ample time for them to process the
request and send you a blank ballot. If applying for both
registration and an absentee ballot, you may want to mail the
FPCA earlier. One FPCA will qualify you to receive all ballots
for Federal offices for the next two regular Federal elections
(through 2010). However, we recommend that you submit a new
FPCA in January of every year, and whenever you move, to
ensure that your most recent mailing and e-mail addresses are
on file with your local election officials.
Under normal circumstances, most states and territories
begin sending ballots to overseas citizens 30-45 days before
an election. However, if you haven’t received your ballot
within three weeks of your state’s ballot receipt deadline,
and you are required to return your voted ballot by mail, you
should download, complete, sign, date, and send in a Federal
Write-in Absentee Ballot (FWAB), available at
http://www.fvap.gov/pubs/onlinefwab.html.
Make sure it is witnessed if required by your state. If
you subsequently receive your regular absentee ballot, execute
it and return it regardless of when you receive it. Court
decisions sometimes require late counting of ballots voted by
Election Day, but received by local election officials for a
specified period of time following Election Day.
Be an Educated Voter
Non-partisan information about candidates, their voting
records, and their positions on issues is widely available and
easy to obtain via the Internet. Use the links appearing on
the FVAP website at
http://www.fvap.gov/links/otherlinks.html
, read your hometown newspaper
on-line, or search the Internet to locate articles and
information.
The Voting Assistance Officer at the
(enter your post here)
is also always available to answer questions about absentee
voting. To contact the Voting Assistance Officer, call (enter
phone number here) or send an e-mail to (enter
your email address
here – VoteXXX@state.gov).
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